Fox News by Kendall Tietz 7/24/2024
Mom outraged after judge okays school punishing child for writing ‘any life’ below Black Lives Matter sketchA California judge sided with a school district in its punishment of a young girl over her message alongside a Black Lives Matter drawing, concluding it was not protected by the First Amendment because of the age of the students.
Chelsea Boyle's first-grade daughter, known as B.B. in legal filings, was punished by her teachers and principal at Viejo Elementary School in 2021 for including the phrase "any life" on a drawing she made and gave to her friend, according to court documents reviewed by Fox News Digital in a lawsuit filed by Boyle in California
The picture showed the words "Black Lives Matter" with four round shapes in various different tones of brown, beige and yellow intended to represent her and her friends. B.B., who was seven at the time of the incident, testified in court that she gave the drawing to her friend to make her feel comfortable after her class learned about Martin Luther King Jr, according to the suit.
When the friend brought the picture home, her mother saw the drawing and emailed the school, stating that she would not "tolerate any more messages given to [her] at school because of her skin color" and that she "trust[ed]" the school would address the issue, according to court documents. The principal, identified in court documents as Jesus Becerra, allegedly confronted B.B. and told her the drawing was "inappropriate" and "racist."
"It was heartbreaking, really, to realize that this is what schools and children are subjected to and what it's come to," Boyle told Fox News Digital. B.B. was banned from drawing pictures at school, forced to issue a public apology and prohibited from enjoying recess for two weeks as punishment.
"The drawing included a phrase similar to ‘All Lives Matter,’ a sentence with an inclusive denotation but one that is widely perceived as racially insensitive and belittling when directed at people of color," U.S. Central District Court Judge David Carter stated in his ruling. While the judge admits that "B.B.’s intentions were innocent," he gave "great weight to the fact that the students involved were in first grade," concluding that the drawing "is not protected by the First Amendment," Judge Carter ruled.
Boyle brought the lawsuit in 2023, on behalf of her daughter, against the Capistrano Unified School District (CUSD) after she found out about the incident, arguing it was a violation of her daughters' First Amendment rights.
Boyle said she was totally unaware of what happened to her daughter until another parent from the child's class told her about it. After learning about the incident, Boyle brought it up to her daughter.
"My first question was, why didn't you tell me about it?" Boyle recalled to Fox News Digital. "She said: 'Because I got in so much trouble at school, I didn't want to get in trouble at home.'"
"He forced her to apologize in front of everybody," Boyle said of the school principal. "She was confused, she actually went into the classroom and apologized again to that other little girl, still confused. The other little girl was confused about it and she said, 'That's OK.'"
More:
https://news.yahoo.com/news/mom-outraged-judge-okays-school-090041929.html
