A Michigan teacher resigned after school district officials slammed her Black Lives Matter curriculum suggestions for Black History Month.

For three years, special education teacher Katelyn Thomas has taught grades one through five. She says that she suggested the Black Lives Matter curriculum to Mason Public School district leaders in an email ahead of Black History Month. Leaders of BLM have urged educators to use the month of February to teach about diversity, racial injustice, and other factors facing the Black community.

The email, which was sent to the Mason Board of Education, the superintendent, the special education director, and the school principal, included a link to Black Lives Matter at School, which is the organization’s education initiative. The link included several helpful resources, according to Thomas.

“If Mason Public Schools would stand behind this big of an action, it would be a very powerful statement to our community and to all the stakeholders involved.”

She added that the resources she sent were not controversial. Instead, it included information on Black women and multigenerational families.

After making the suggestions, Thomas was ordered to attend a meeting where she was verbally reprimanded by leadership staff for allegedly violating the district’s policy on controversial topics. The school board defines these as “a topic on which opposing points of view have been promulgated by responsible opinion.”

Ronald Drzewicki, the Mason Public Schools Superintendent, said that the district reviews all teaching material before approving them to be used in the classroom. He claims that the “process takes time and must be followed to verify accuracy and consider the age-appropriate nature of the content before information is shared with students.” He maintains that the district would never deny its teachers the opportunity to teach about diversity, calling the claims “simply not true.”

Mason Public Schools district data shows that only about 2% of students and 1% of staffers are Black.

In her resignation letter, submitted on February 12th, Thomas said that her values and “integrity as a person do not align with this district or the policies and practices currently in place.” Thomas is married to a Black man, and their children are biracial, which is why the subject is of particular importance to her.

She slammed the district, saying that denying emotionally impaired students the opportunity to be educated on diversity, equity, and current events facing Blacks in America is “shameful.”

A Utah charter school is facing backlash after announcing on Friday that it allowed parents to opt-out of Black History Month curriculum.

The Hill reports that Maria Montessori Academy Director Micah Hirokawa announced in a post to the school’s private Facebook page. Hirokawa said in his post that “a few families” asked not to participate in the curriculum. He did not provide an exact number of families or their reasoning for opting out. 

“Reluctantly, I sent out a letter to our school community explaining that families are allowed to exercise their civil rights to not participate in Black History Month at the school,” Hirokawa wrote in the post.

In celebration of Black History Month, the school is adding the curriculum to its regular social studies and history lessons. They will also make an effort to celebrate African Americans’ achievements and recognize their role in the country’s history, he told the local news outlet the Standard-Examiner. 

According to the outlet, only three of the school’s 322 students are Black. This equates to about 1% of the student body, while approximately 69.6% of students are white.

The school, which bases its instruction on the Montessori method, has been open for a little over a decade. Hirokawa was hired last April after the former director, René Baker, stepped down for reasons that were not disclosed.

Keke Wyatt is getting dragged on Twitter after she seemingly attacked pro-Blackness and compared the Black community’s oppression to the Black, mixed-race biracial community.

On Tuesday, the ladies of Fox Soul‘s “Cocktails with Queens Hosted by Claudia Jordan” discussed a video posted online by Milan Christopher‘s live stream of “The Mahne Tea.”

In the clip, Christopher tries to explain the years of oppression Black people have faced. “In the real world and reality, Black people have been segregated, persecuted, hunted down, killed, stolen from, humiliated,” Christopher says right before getting cut off by Wyatt, who can be seen rolling her eyes in the video. Wyatt chimes in and says, “And so have Mexicans, and so have other people, honey.” 

While she’s speaking, Christopher asks Wyatt to let him continue speaking without cutting him off. “When you talk, I have been nothing but quiet and respectful,” Christopher says. Christopher asks again can he finish talking, and Wyatt says, “Okay, pro-Black, praise God, go head, sweet sugars.” Wyatt then chats with someone in her background while Christopher is asking for time to speak without interruption. She then cuts in and yells, “You have to understand, Black people are not the only people that have been oppressed. They are not the only ones my ni**a.” The conversation ended up making it to Twitter, and Black Twitter reacted. 

“Tbh Keke Wyatt grew up with more privilege than the average black women even though she claim 2b black if she wanted she could pass 4White,if ppl r oppressed they r newly oppressed ok boo u need 2sit down & shut the hell up your career already gone,” one person wrote. 

The conversation became a topic on the Fox Soul show, and some of the ladies agreed that Wyatt missed the point. “Cocktails” co-host and friend of Wyatt, Syleena Johnson, shared her take on the matter. “A lot of times when Keke tries to make a point sometimes she’s very misunderstood,” Johnson said. “Keke would tell me stories about how it was hard for her on both sides,” Johnson said, referring to her friend’s biracial background. “So, her anguish and concern is genuine. But, because of the way Keke sometimes expresses herself, because she’s just real raw and cut, it doesn’t always come out as cute and pretty with a bow on it.”

What are y’all’s feelings?

However, it wasn’t declared a national observance until 1976 when President Gerald Ford made the decree which has been routinely practiced with each sitting President thereafter. 

At the heart of this initiative, is a recognition of both the power and lack of education as it pertains to the African Diaspora and the numerous contributions made to society by other Black people. 

Each year, Black History month celebrations tend to highlight a “who’s who” of notable contributors, but aside from familiar names like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Harriett Tubman, Sojourner Truth and Fredrick Douglas, are you really well versed in the history and current state of affairs of your culture? 

Are you aware that in 2019 there are still notable Black “firsts” being made? Which further highlights the disparities between access and opportunities between African Americans and people of other cultures? Do you have a deep understanding, love and appreciation that we are literally standing on the shoulders of people who, for centuries, lost their lives, shed blood, sweat, and tears, often with the intent to lay a better foundation for later generations? 

More importantly, do you understand that one of the most influential figures in Black History is, you? Yes, you. What does your life’s work mean for the betterment of society? Or, are you complacent with living each day for your own pleasure and benefitting off the hard work and sacrifices of a few who are willing to do the work? While everyone isn’t meant to be a public figure or martyr for the cause, we each have a responsibility to make an impact on this world no matter how big or small.  What will your legacy be?

Black History Month (BHM) is just a few days away and Nike is ready to set the tone for 2019 with its BHM themed collection. 

The collection was inspired by “an assortment of national African patterns, brought together onto modernized prints in a theme of Afro-futurism in sport,” according to the brand’s press release. 

The Ballerific Kicks will include some of Nike’s classics like the Lebron 15’s, Kyrie 5’s and Air Jordan 1’s.

Each sneaker is designed with the culture in mind, and will feature Afrocentric detailing, including kente cloth accents and the branding of applicable words such as “Equality”.

The Senior Creative Director for Nike Basketball, Jonathan Johnson Griffin, described how the collection aligns with the athlete and the improvement of their community.

“In sport, there’s a movement happening where athletes are inviting others to discover the full side of who they are, through finding their voices and improving their communities,” he says. “We wanted that movement to inspire this year’s design.”

The prices will range from $110-$200, and they’re expected to drop February 1.

Will you be grabbing a pair?

Last week, the dining hall served a menu based on racial stereotypes, which included a watermelon-flavored water, red Kool-Aid, ribs, collard greens, and macaroni and cheese.

The menu choices were deemed as “inexcusably insensitive” and the university was “shocked to learn of the drink and food choices,” said Hamilton in a statement Wednesday.
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In response to it all, the dining hall’s food services provider will now be enforcing a staff sensitivity training.
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“This assortment of food is problematic due to the inherent stereotypes associated with black people and southern soul food cuisine, as well as a lack of consideration for Black people in the Diaspora,” reads the statement from the Black Student Union, “These drink options perpetuate harmful stereotypes that have existed about the black community for decades, and show an extreme level of cultural insensitivity.”
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When students asked dining hall employees about the menu, the dining hall’s food service director reportedly told students that the meal was planned by black employees.
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Hamilton insists that the menu, which was organized by the food services provider Aramark, was not previously discussed with the university.
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Nia Harris was one of the first students to bring attention to the matter. “This is what it’s like to be a black student at New York University. You go to a dining hall during February and you see ‘Black History Month Meal’ plastered outside the entrance. You walk inside the dining hall only to find ribs, collard greens, and mac and cheese,” Harris wrote in a Facebook post which also included a screenshot of the email she sent to dining services.
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Harris, a 19-year-old sophomore at the institution, said she doesn’t believe the employees were intending to be disrespectful, but that the decision was instead made out of ignorance.
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Aramark has fired two employees that organized the menu. The company claims that the entire controversy was due to the actions of one employee who has been suspended. “The individual acted independently in a way that runs counter to our values and compromised our longstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion,” said Aramark Regional Vice President Victoria Pasquale in a statement.