In a recent report, it has come to light that students at PS 321 William Penn in Brooklyn, New York, were given a coloring book titled "What We Believe: A Black Lives Matter Principles Activity Book" to celebrate Black History Month. The book, designed by Black Lives Matter at School, apparently promotes the principles of the Black Lives Matter movement, covering topics like Queer Affirming, Transgender Affirming, and Restorative Justice. 

Teaching Radical Politics and Trans Affirmation

According to The Free Press, the coloring book, distributed to students from kindergarten to fifth grade, includes 13 Black Lives Matter movement tenets, emphasizing principles such as hiring more black teachers and redirecting funds from law enforcement to counselors.

As the book's description says, the book presents principles created by activists. Each principle provides writing prompts, space for children or adults to express their thoughts, and a coloring page. One principle in the book is Empathy, which is described as 'engaging comrades with the intent to learn about and connect with their contexts.'

In the Transgender Affirming section, the book guides students to read a particular story about a girl undergoing a gender transition to become a boy. Subsequently, students are prompted to consider questions such as, 'How do you feel when someone dictates what you can or cannot do based on your gender?'

Another principle, Black Villages, is defined as challenging the mandated Western nuclear family structure. Meanwhile, the Intergenerational principle promotes a communal network without age-based discrimination.

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Concerns Among Parents and Educators

Some parents expressed concerns about the content of the coloring book. One parent, whose grandparents fled communist China, objected to the use of the term 'comrade,' stating that it harkens back to Communist times and is not suitable for elementary school. Another parent, whose family escaped from the Soviet Union, drew parallels between the book's language and the propaganda songs from their childhood.

One parent only learned about the coloring book because their child had to take classes remotely due to a snow day. They emphasized that this was part of the regular classwork, not homework, and suggested that without the snow day, they might not have known about it.

Some parents argue that the coloring book falls short of educating their children about Black history, contending that it presents contentious ideas as indisputable facts. According to a fourth-grade student's mother, the book lacks specificity, failing to detail enough and omitting references to specific individuals, leaving it vague and generalized.

Parents recognized that certain lessons from the coloring book and the broader "Black Lives Matter" curriculum, like the value of forgiveness, seemed harmless. However, they contended that other lessons were grounded in revolutionary politics.

Brandy Shufutinksy, the Director of Education at the Jewish Institute for Liberal Values, expressed her offense at the curriculum, asserting that it 'demonizes the nuclear family.' Shufutinksy, who holds a doctorate in international multicultural education and is Black, criticized the framing of the nuclear family as a form of white supremacy.

Phil Wong, a parent and former president of Community Education Council 24 in Queens, criticized the racial justice aspect tied to the coloring book. Wong emphasized that if schools aim to teach racial justice, the materials should focus on figures such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Tubman, as he believed recent movements have overlooked these historical names in history classes.

PS 321 William Penn has yet to respond to requests for comments from The Free Press and other media.

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