Although Black Lives Matter flags displayed in Wellesley buildings earlier this year—first at the middle school, followed by Wellesley High School—received little attention outside the school community, the subsequent introduction of such flags at the elementary and pre-K levels has triggered a response from those who say the banners have no place in the public schools.
A letter to The Swellesley Report editors equates the BLM flag with anti-Semitism. The 50 signers call for the flags to be removed from the Wellesley Public Schools saying, “…recent crimes against Jews have been a direct result of BLM’s political and violent rhetoric. Physical assaults against Jewish people have been reported to authorities in, just to name a few, California, Arizona, Illinois, New York, New Jersey and Florida. The BLM flags cause a lot of fear for Jewish students, and that should not be tolerated…we do not seek to take the flags down because we do not believe in the fundamental cause of liberty for everyone. We seek to take them down because they are political in nature and are divisive.”
School administrators say that a history of systemic racism against Black Americans is reason enough to keep the flags as a way to communicate to their Black students, faculty, and staff that their presence is valued.
BLM vs. BLM
Wellesley Public Schools Superintendent Dr. David Lussier makes a distinction between the Black Lives Matter organization and the flags that have been raised in the schools.
Lussier said in an email, “The decision to display Black Lives Matter flags at any of our schools has been the result of conversations at those schools among staff and parents. (And students at the secondary level.) There is no district-wide mandate that this must be done, but we fully support this practice. We don’t see this as any type of political statement but rather a reinforcement of our belief in the dignity and safety of our Black students, staff, and families. This is also not an endorsement of the political organization of the same name (which has a different logo.)”
Lussier says the Wellesley Public Schools have worked closely over the years with the Anti-Defamation League, an anti-hate organization founded in 1913 in response to an escalating climate of antisemitism and bigotry. The organization has expanded its mission over the years to include exposing extremism, delivering anti-bias education, and fighting hate online. The Wellesley Public Schools report to the ADL incidents of antisemitism that have occurred in the district. The ADL uses the information, along with that from schools and organizations across the country, to track trends.
“The ADL takes a similar approach to BLM,” Lussier continued, “and does not consider the flag nor the slogan to be antisemitic. Like WPS, the ADL views the BLM sign as an affirmation of support for the Black community and draws a distinction between this broader social movement and the specific agenda of the BLM political organization.”
Wellesley’s banners and flags
Black Lives Matter activities have picked up in Wellesley over the past few years, from the installation of yard signs to the organization of vigils and protests. This has included Wellesley High School students walking out of classes in a 2019 protest organized by Young Ethnic Scholars. Then in May 2020, hundreds filled the streets of Wellesley to protest against injustice and police brutality after George Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis.
Black Lives Matter and We Believe Black Lives Matter or We Believe That Black Lives Matter banners started appearing in school buildings earlier this year, initially at Wellesley Middle School and Wellesley High.
Wellesley High School Principal Jamie Chisum in a letter to the WHS community wrote in March, “So, this week we put up the donated flag in our cafeteria. We believe in black lives matter and that is what this flag represents. Our flag does not advocate for any political position or agenda. It does not mean only black lives matter, but that black lives matter as well. The raising of this flag breathes life into all four of our Core Values: Respect for Human Differences, Cooperative and Caring Relationships, Commitment to Community, and Academic Excellence. We clearly must do more than simply hang a flag to truly honor all of these values for our black students, staff, and visitors, but we believe this is a lasting symbol to remind us of the need to continue our work towards equity.”
Since then, a steady stream of activity has taken place at schools for younger students. Dr. Charmie Curry, director of diversity, equity & inclusion at Wellesley Public Schools, last week shared an update with the Wellesley School Committee on the past year’s accomplishments, including racial justice lessons during which students discussed and reflected on the Black Lives Matter movement (about 33 minutes into Wellesley Media recording).
“I always love to see how students are taking in important current day topics” and writing about it, she said.
The Fiske Elementary School Council in March posted an agenda item on a Black Lives Matter flag, which included the point that “We need to make sure the goal of placing the flag is not misunderstood by being clear on the purpose.”
Hardy Principal Grant Smith welcomed back families from April vacation by informing them about plans to hang a “We Believe Black Lives Matter” flag in the gym. “The WMS decision sparked conversation amongst WPS administrators, faculty and staff about the need for a flag in each of the district’s buildings. At Hardy, we are committed to affirming the statement that We believe that Black Lives Matter,” he wrote.
Bates and Hunnewell Elementary Schools did likewise with announcements they would be displaying “We Believe Black Lives Matter” and “We Believe That Black Lives Matter” flags, respectively, in their gym and front hallway.
The most recent development, as the Wellesley Public School year winds down, took place at Wellesley’s PAWS pre-school. Director Becca Zieminski informed families on June 7 that on “Thursday, June 10th, the new Black Lives Matter and LGBTQIA+ flags will be installed at P.A.W.S. All classrooms will then create individual classroom flags that represent the children in each classroom and the smaller classroom flags will be added to a larger unified PAWS flag that will be hung up in the school.”
Beyond Wellesley
The Massachusetts Teacher Association endorses support for what it calls “The Black Lives Matter at School movement,” which is aimed at engaging classrooms and communities to support racial and social justice. Black Lives Matter at School is centered around ending “zero tolerance” policies and replacing those policies with restorative justice programs in all schools; hiring more black teachers; and mandating black history and ethnic studies in preK-12 schools.
Some Massachusetts schools, including in Marblehead, have met resistance from residents.
School districts in some other parts of the country are not on board with such movements. At Robert E. Lee High School in Jacksonville, Fla., an English teacher hung a Black Lives Matter flag outside her classroom in support of students processing the death of Reginald Boston, a 20-year-old Black man. Boston was shot to death in Jacksonville by police on Jan. 21, 2020 during an undercover police operation.
The district told the teacher to remove the flag on the grounds that the display violated policy on political speech by employees. The teacher refused to comply, and was reassigned to non-teaching duties. A lawsuit was filed last month in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida alleging the teacher’s First Amendment rights have been violated.
Not just a matter for the schools
While much of the Black Lives Matter activity within the Wellesley School System has remained within that community, School Committee Chair Linda Chow at last week’s committee meeting said one challenge remaining is that of educating and engaging with the whole community. “I see that there’s a great opportunity to collaborate between the schools and the town,” she said.
The Town of Wellesley has discussed bringing in a diversity, equity & inclusion consultant and has launched a civil discourse program to help the community address difficult topics civilly. Those efforts are still in relatively early stages.
When someone tells you what they intend to do, it is a pretty good idea to believe them The corollary to that is that when someone dissembles and prevaricates, the opposite is true. Both are on display in the discussion about the BLM flag display in Wellesley schools.
Dr. Lussier claims that the BLM flags at all Wellesley schools are “the result of conversations at those schools among staff and parents.” He goes on to state that the BLM flag display “is also not an endorsement of the political organization of the same name . . .” and that it is not reflective of “support . . . for the specific agenda of the BLM political organization.” Both of these statements are demonstrably false. With respect to parental involvement, I spoke to the principal of my child’s elementary school who admitted to me that the decision to bring the BLM flag to the school was never discussed with the PTO. The principal further informed me that the decision to display the flag was determined by a “committee.” Documents obtained from WPS prove that the committee consisted entirely of school staff personnel. Not a single parent was on the committee. As to WPS support for the “BLM political organization,” note that the pronouncement of the committee’s decision to display the flag actually copied, word for word, an entire paragraph from “BLM at Schools,” an arm of the six national corporations comprising “BLM, Inc.”, an extremely political organization. Similarly, the “reading list,” obtained from WPS, accompanying the flag announcement to be used in the WPS BLM curriculum, featured a book recommended by and featured in BLM at Schools for “Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action, Unit Topic: Children and Youth as Changemakers, Grades: 2nd and up.” The accompanying WPS teacher “resources,” again set out in WPS documents, include “D.C. Area BLM (Teaching for Change),” “BLM Instructional Library” and “Black Lives Matter at School” (multiple times). It also includes an entire page on “#BlackLivesMatter” discussing the history of the “activist movement” dating from 2013 (when BLM, the political organization began) and a “call to action,” as well as page entitled “Black Lives Matter in 2020,” discussing the worldwide growth of BLM, the political protest organization. In short, WPS under Dr. Lussier, the School Committee and the individual school principals is in up to their elbows in the advocacy and recommended curriculum of BLM—the extreme political organization.
And what is that curriculum and why is it extreme and political? Don’t take my word. Just Google BLM at School and you can read it for yourself. It contains a complete curriculum with “lesson plans” and “classroom resources,” the very curriculum that WPS is instructing educators to teach to our children. It features an article entitled “Talking to young children about the Guiding Principles of the Movement for Black Lives,” by Lalena Garcia, the very author quoted by a WPS elementary school principal in a statement adopted from the WMS Leadership Team. Those “Guiding Principles” include “the disruption of Western nuclear family dynamics” in favor of the “collective village.” The curriculum seeks to “bring [the history of the Black Panther Party] to the classroom.” That history advocates that “technology and means of production should be taken from the businessmen and placed in the community,” the “American racist has taken part in the slaughter of over 50 million Black people,” “housing and the land should be made into cooperatives,” “all black people should arm themselves for self defense,” “all black people should be released from the many jails and prisons,” and “our major political objective, a United Nations-supervised plebiscite to be held throughout the black colony in which only black colonial subjects will be allowed to participate for the purpose of determining the will of black people as to their national destiny.” This emphasis on and adoration of the Black Panthers is repeated over and over again throughout the BLM at School materials. There are calls for defunding the police. There are recommended “activity ideas” for teachers in “Grades 2nd and up” such as having students “Stage a hallway protest,” “go out into the neighborhood for a youth march,” and “create protest signs.”
BLM at Schools is not shy. They are up front in proclaiming their goals and the means to achieve them. They are serious and should be believed. Dr. Lussier, the School Committee and the individual school administrators of WPS are, on the other hand, pretending to be ignoring the political and divisive teachings and tactics of BLM in Schools while stealthily embracing them and teaching them to our children in lieu of academic subjects. They should not be believed. This deceptive and hidden agenda is most definitely not one of teaching our children to consider and think critically about both sides of a political issue. It is a one-sided indoctrination agenda that flies in the face of the published goals and standards of WPS. It has no place in our schools and should be stopped.
I want to support independent journalism but it has to let all voices be heard from both sides of the controversy Civil discourse and opinions from both sides should be heard. Cancel culture is rampant.
I support the authors of this letter and thank the Swellesley Report for publishing it and enabling the town dialog. It’s too bad that Lussier and the administration hadn’t enabled public dialog prior to their virtue signaling because some see BLM as just replacing the KKK as the Democrats’ foot soldiers again. HERE is the PBS version of history and other versions are more damning to the Democrats: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/grant-kkk/
The Wellesley school system has gone off the rails with aggressive wokeness, if that is now a word. With such a highly educated town population, I’m really surprised that it had gone unchecked. The 2021 WHS graduation ceremony kicked off with a CRT rant that should be published in the Swellesley Report for all our neighboring towns to witness and also those considering a possible move to our town. “Birthing persons” who are looking at a potential home in Swellesley may be interested.
For a deep dive into CRT, I recommend everyone read “Cynical Theories” by Pluckrose & Lindsay.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynical_Theories
The Black Lives Matter message is only political in the sense that it advocates for social and racial justice, by drawing attention to the ongoing racial prejudice and oppression inherent in our communities, schools, workplaces, government and law enforcement. According to Data USA, “In 2018, there were 6.49 times more White (Non-Hispanic) residents (22.6k people) in Wellesley, MA than any other race or ethnicity.”, while only 2.42% (705) of the town’s residents identified as Black or African American, 2.8% (829) as multiracial, non-Hispanic, and .56 % (166) identified as Black or African American Hispanic. Further, the “median household income in Wellesley, MA [was] $188,908.”–more than 2x the state median average. In short, although Wellesley may be more politically progressive than other parts of our state, it is unquestionably a town whose citizens are predominantly white, affluent and subsequently privileged.
As one who works closely with young people, I have heard many stories from them over the years about the regular microaggressions and overt racism that BIPOC and AAPI teens experienced at the hands of Wellesley residents, shopkeepers, restaurants and police officers. Thus, I’ll admit that when residents began putting BLM signs up in their yards last summer, marching in local BLM demonstrations and posting to their Facebook pages in support of the movement, I was pleasantly surprised. I was proud to be a member of this town. However, those signs and posts mean nothing if we don’t stand behind the ideals of the movement even when the momentum and media coverage wanes. C.S. Lewis once said, “Integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is watching.” So, who are we REALLY, Wellesley? Are we truly committed to social justice or merely armchair activists? Do we honestly BELIEVE that Black Lives Matter, or is that sign in our front yard there because Karen and Wendy and all the other moms in our hot yoga class just jumped on the BLM bandwagon? Maybe we don’t want our brown and black neighbors to think that we weren’t listening when George Floyd told the world he couldn’t breathe…that we were too busy planning our long weekend to Cabo.
In its own words, the ‘Black Lives Matter’ Movement ” was founded in 2013 in an effort “to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes. By combating and countering acts of violence, creating space for Black imagination and innovation, and centering Black joy, we are winning immediate improvements in our lives” (About). In addition to this, BLM “affirm[s] our humanity, our contributions to this society, and our resilience in the face of deadly oppression” (About). When an elementary or high school, when a business or homeowner flies the BLM flag or poster, it shines as a beacon of safety and security for all of our students. It not only says “You belong here…You are safe here;” it also says “I see you.”
That is the type of community I want to be a part of and I’m proud of the WPS for taking this first crucial step towards greater inclusivity. While I appreciate the letter written by concerned citizens, I am deeply troubled by its effort to equate BLM with anti-Semitism. Criticizing a nation’s government and pointing out its civil rights violations is a far cry from hate speech. Recognizing the “interrelatedness of all communities and states”, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. argued in his Letter From a Birmingham Jail that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” It is not uncommon for people to find comfort and solidarity in their shared experiences, particularly when those experiences are rooted in direct, cultural or structural violence. Is it surprising that Black and brown Americans supporting BLM might see similarities between their own suffering and that of the Uyghurs, the Syrians, Tigrayans, the Australian Aborigines and yes, the Palestinians? It shouldn’t be. Does recognizing and standing in solidarity with a people oppressed by a government or system equate a hate crime? Absolutely not.
ALL of us have an obligation to stand up and speak out when oppression and disenfranchisement occurs. This is true whether the offender is an individual, a group of individuals or an entire nation. We must be willing to point out and call out false or nefarious statements when they occur. The letter written by concerned Wellesley residents, though perhaps not intended, not only disempowers and devalues the professional decisions of our teachers and school administrators, but it also places little faith in our young people’s ability to listen and read discerningly, think critically or act independently. More distressing, however, is the authors’ willingness to push the decades’-old narrative that paints civil and human rights activists of color as un-American, communistic, uncivil and in this most recent case, sponsors of terrorism.
Dr. King warned that far more dangerous to civil rights wasn’t the Ku Klux Klan but “the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action” (Letter From a Birmingham…). We owe our children…we owe this world better. We need groups like BLM in our communities. We MUST speak…and teach truth to power. Let our schools do the hard work that so many of us are too busy or too self-involved to do ourselves–to teach our children to love one another–to see the humanity in one another. To understand that until Black Lives Matter and Asian Lives Matter and Immigrant Lives Matter and yes, Palestinian Lives Matter; that until they do, none of our lives truly matter.
Ok so according to you Lynn, BLM is a purely social justice eye opening organization created to make the world a better place. How lovely that would be. I seem to remember a great deal of rioting, burning, looting, assault and battery also associated with this movement. Black owned businesses were particularly at risk and to this day not one dime of the millions of dollars raised by BLM has gone to help anyone of color victimized by the rioters.
As a Jew I must also ask you why Palestinian lives matter to you but Jewish lives don’t. We didn’t make your list.
You seem very clear about all this so maybe you can tell me why it is ONLY the Jews who are never allowed to feel threatened or scared or marginalized? Why are we the only minority that has to justify being victims of hate crimes with sources or statistics to satisfy the doubters. ANY OTHER people targeted for hate are immediately surrounded with empathy and compassion and fund raisers and yard signs. But Jews? Not so much. When BLM makes a point of siding with the “Palestinian Resistance” please understand this is not a benign statement to the Jewish people. We have EVERY right to call them out and we have EVERY right to be afraid of a movement that seeks the destruction of our Homeland. As horrible as this is for us It is only one small part of this movement’s hidden agenda. There is a great deal about BLM that parents should be aware of since it appears that the WPS is going to make their rhetoric part of the public school curriculum. You may be able to talk your way around the antisemitism but that is just the tip of the Marxist, anti family, anti America agenda that BLM espouses.
What’s the problem we as adults we understand but your kids understand the situation that’s going on this is their lives so just accept it
“BLM formally endorsed Hamas along with the destruction of the Jewish State”
This is a blatantly false and purposely politically divisive statement.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/05/23/fact-check-black-lives-matter-supports-palestinians-not-hamas/5206977001/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2021/05/19/heres-how-fox-news-spread-a-false-narrative-black-lives-matter-is-standing-with-hamas/?sh=4d834cf35114
https://factcheck.afp.com/black-lives-matter-did-not-voice-support-hamas
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/may/20/viral-image/no-black-lives-matter-didnt-say-it-stands-hamas-te/
“On May 19, Fox News published a story on its website with this headline: “Black Lives Matter says it stands with Hamas terrorists in Israeli conflict.”
By the end of the day, though, the headline had changed to say that “Black Lives Matter ‘stands in solidarity’ with Palestinians, vows to fight for ‘Palestinian liberation.’”
But not before people took screenshots of the original headline and started to share it on social media.
These posts were flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed.”
To some residents of Wellesley, facts still matter.
1. Difficult to take a comment seriously when the commenter fails to use their name. Anonymous comments are like anonymous “sources.”
2. Even more difficult when the “reasoning” behind the commenter’s statement consists entirely of references to media sources. I do not see much in the way of argument
3. Missing seems to be the 2015 speech by the founder and then CEO of BLM at Harvard Law School. Hard to find a more anti-Israel set of statements.
4. But most importantly, the comment demonstrates just how political and controversial BLM is. The very name, the organization, and its declared Marxist principles generate political division and controversy. This divisiveness has no place in our schools.
1. These comments and the letter to the editor you signed, sir– are now easily googled on the internet. I have no desire to link my name to this lamentable conversation that exposes bare bigotry and the deliberate spreading of false information in Wellesley. My comment only sought to set the record straight, not to draw attention to myself as you clearly have.
2. The article clearly states that the Jewish Jewish Anti-Defamation League “views the BLM sign as an affirmation of support for the Black community and draws a distinction between this broader social movement and the specific agenda of the BLM political organization.” Perhaps the ADL is also secretly in on the “Marxist takeover of the United States” as well?
3. Your entire premise “BLM formally endorsed Hamas along with the destruction of the Jewish State” which you previously stated on this site is patently false. My verifiable sources proved the provenance of that falsehood. You provided zero evidence to counter—your attempt to alter the conversation away from this blatant Hamas/BLM falsehood by bringing up yet another right-wing talking about a speech at Harvard in 2015 further proves your complete lack of credibility in this conversation. That you dismiss out of hand any source that does not conform to your worldview is also very telling.
This however, is no surprise, given that the original letter to the editor contained this whopper of a lie about BLM:
“That organization has publicly proclaimed, on its Twitter feed and elsewhere, that it avidly seeks to destroy the State of Israel and to murder millions of Jewish people in the process.“
This kind of bigoted fear mongering and blatant false propaganda is simply disgraceful and unamerican. Full stop.
What I find most troubling of all is in a follow up comment to the letter to the editor, you stated “The letter to the editor was a message for unity, not division via identity politics.”
The disconnect here is absolutely mind blowing.
The BLM flag is inherently hateful, political and anti-police. If it must be displayed in our public schools, then it should be done alongside the thin blue line flag to show welcome and equal respect for our school resource officers.
Thank you for the completeness of this article and for the clarity of Dr. Lussier’s statement, “Wellesley Public Schools Superintendent Dr. David Lussier makes a distinction between the Black Lives Matter organization and the flags that have been raised in the schools.”
The author of this article promised me, when I submitted the letter to the editor mentioned in her article, that if she wrote a follow-up article she would definitely seek input from some of the 53 signatories to the letter. She chose not to do so. What might she have learned if she had spoken to any of us? First, she would have understood that our letter was not an exercise in identity politics. The entire thrust of the letter was that political expression has no place in our schools. The letter was signed by a broad and diverse group, including those of many faiths. The example of the effect on Jewish parents and students of the schools’ endorsement of BLM was just that—an example. It was a timely one in that when the letter was written Hamas was raining down rockets on Israel and BLM formally endorsed Hamas along with the destruction of the Jewish State. To bring the BLM banner into the schools in the midst of such a political firestorm was a rather blatant and obvious example of just why political positions should not be part of the school curriculum. Yet, the article seeks to make the point of the letter into a Black/Jewish binary choice, precisely the opposite of our letter’s emphasis on community unity. Second, she would have learned that Dr. Lussier was wrong about parents being consulted on the BLM flag decision. How do I know.? I spoke to the principal of my child’s school who admitted to me that there was no consultation with the PTO and no outreach or prior announcement to parents. Third, she might have found that ADL does not speak for all Jews. ADL has become a group with strong political views. This is like saying that today’s ACLU speaks for all civil libertarians. Dr. Lussier’s use of the ADL as a shield is an inappropriate instance of cherry-picking. Similarly, she would have learned that unlike the implication from the WHS Principal, the BLM flag displays are much more than a symbol of abstract ideals. They are part of an entire curriculum, with slide shows on “white privilege,” reading lists and “read alongs” for younger learners. Finally, she might have learned that parents throughout the nation are speaking up against the introduction of CRT and the BLM curriculum in schools. This is not some isolated concern of a school district in the Deep South involving a school named after Robert E. Lee. Examples abound, including in blue areas like NY City and Loudon County VA. Our letter sought unity and apolitical education rather than indoctrination. Instead we received a one-sided rebuttal on an issue of importance and great interest in our community.
Nicely said Neal. There was NO consultation with the parents about BLM flags in the schools. Their insistence that its non-political is gaslighting, common tactics from the SuperIntendant et al.
Hang one flag…….the American flag.
Stop with ideology, identity politics and white guilt. Ultimately you are helping no one. Focus on what you are charged with doing, and do it well……..educating children, not indoctrinating them.
Thank you! This is very, very helpful. And, in developmentally appropriate ways, this whole set of complex and subtle issues offers a valuable teachable moment for students, in fact for all of us. Please, can’t we talk nicely about this?