Education / Schools

High School Students At School That Banned BLM Flags Treat Black Classmates Like Slaves

Did the kids do this during History or Economics?

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(Photo by Getty)

Kids, man. An Oregon high school made the news recently after it got out that their students were participating in mock slave auctions. And no, this was not a school assignment. This bit of extracurricular enjoyment looked to be student organized and student inclusive, with black classmates and their photos being circulated as play chattel. Everyone knows the saying “those who don’t know their history are doomed to repeat it,” but I think that this is a great example that some find joy in repetition, and would be at a loss if the cycle were lost over a little thing like “accurate depictions of history.” It’s not a surprise that this same school’s board decided to ban BLM and Pride flags back in August, with one woman testifying that:

“The BLM and LGBTQ ideology and curriculum are shattering the innocence of children, promoting racial divide and negatively impacting the lives of our children forever.”

Yes. What innocence.

This story resonated with me because I taught a class of mostly black St. Louis high schoolers constitutional law a few months before the widespread pandemic BLM protests. As my joy for seeing people use their First Amendment-protected right to protest shifted to horror as I saw police officers attack them in broad daylight, I thought of and feared for my students. I was worried that they may have taken Tinker v. Des Moines to heart and organized protests in support of black life, like the ones that happened not too far off in Ferguson, and gotten hurt in the process. Thankfully, their attention to my lesson plans may have been mitigated by their fixed staring at their phones.

I hope that the black students at Newburg High School know that if they want to protest or organize against the board that they will be supported, that their black lives matter — even, and especially if, they are queer — and that Newburg High gets sued if shit like that keeps happening.

Newberg High School Students Participated in Virtual ‘Slave Trade’ [KGW]
Newberg School Board Votes To Ban BLM, Pride Flags And Signs In District Buildings [KGW]
How The Philadelphia Police Tear-Gassed A Group Of Trapped Protesters [NYT]

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Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s. Before that, he wrote columns for an online magazine named The Muse Collaborative under the pen name Knehmo. He endured the great state of Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com.

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