Oklahoma Superintendent Doesn’t Seem to Understand a Black Mother’s Outrage
Oklahoma Superintendent Doesn’t Seem to Understand a Black Mother’s Outrage After Her Children Were Punished for Wearing BLM T-shirts
An Oklahoma mother says her 8-year-old son was punished for wearing a Black Lives Matter shirt to school. Ben Stapleton, a third grader at Charles Evans Elementary School in Ardmore, was informed by the principal during gym class to turn his Black Lives Matter shirt inside-out on April 30.
“It made me mad and sad,” he told KXII 12. “They pulled me out of P.E. and told me to put my shirt inside out and then I started playing.”
Ben’s mother, Jordan Herbert, says she contacted the school on Monday and was told by the superintendent that her son wouldn’t be punished if he’d refused to flip the shirt inside-out. However, she suggested administrators took advantage of the fact that Ben was young.
“Y’all know he knows nothing about politics or his rights, so y’all make him turn it inside out because you don’t like it,” Herbert said. Herbert wrote on a Facebook post that she was initially told the shirt was not allowed citing political views can’t be expressed on clothing worn in school.
“My son is 8, he has no idea about politics,” Herbert wrote. “Wearing a Black Lives Matter shirt has NOTHING to do with politics. He’s simply saying his life matters.”
Last week, Herbert decided to send all three of her sons to school in Black Lives Matter shirts. Along with a note declining to have their shirts turned inside-out.
Herbert says Ben and his 5-year-old brother Rodney were kicked out of class and forced to remain in the principal’s office for the rest of the day. Herbert’s oldest son, Jaelon, who is in middle school, was not punished for wearing the shirt.
In an interview Herbert called the punishment “modern day segregation.”
Ardmore City Schools Superintendent Kim Holland told the The Daily Ardmorite, “It’s our interpretation of not creating a disturbance in school. I don’t want my kids wearing MAGA hats or Trump shirts to school either because it just creates, in this emotionally charged environment, anxiety and issues that I don’t want our kids to deal with.”
The dress code makes no clear mention of politics, however, it says the principal has the final say about what is appropriate. Holland says it’s normal for students to be sent to the principal’s office for inappropriate clothing.
“Most of it has not been an issue until this lady here has been angry about it, and I wish she weren’t so upset,” Holland said. Herbert, her sons and other members of the school community came together outside of the elementary school on last Wednesday to protest the school’s handling of the incide.
A few parents posted images to Facebook of their children heading off to the school in Black Lives Matter shirts to show their support.
Herbert says she isn’t looking into legal action, however, she still wants the school officials to understand why her family chooses to wear Black Lives Matter clothing.
Herbert shared on Facebook last week that her son was targeted by students at the school who told him his life didn’t matter. Herbert says she has contacted with the principal regarding the incident.
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