A middle school principal in Tennessee has issued an apology after sparking controversy over the school’s Black History Month theme.
The theme is “All Lives Matter”, which is seen as a more or less rejection of the “Black Lives Matter” movement.
Jessica Arnold has a daughter in the sixth grade at East Ridge Middle School. She said she received a newsletter from the school Sunday about the theme.
"Whoever thought that was a good idea really just refused to think critically about this or willfully ignorant about it or just doesn't want to educate themselves about it and that disturbs me from the educators of my children,” she said.
Arnold said she wasn’t the only one who thinks it is wrong.
"Most people were like what, like seriously,” she said.
Arnold said it is a political statement and she doesn’t want to see politics or religion associated with public schooling.
"No matter what they are doing, they are marginalizing a good bit of their student population,” she said.
Principal Christy Caldwell Drake sent an apology to the community Monday night.
"I want to apologize for not more fully considering the context of that theme, as my inspiration for it was taken from a mural within our school that states ‘where every child matters’. As a black woman in leadership, I embrace civil rights, black history month and the sacrifices that have been made by those who came before me.”
