The students of an Idaho high school wanted to creatively express their feelings about the Black Lives Matters movement and asked permission to paint a tribute mural in one of the Mountain Home High School parking lots. They got permission as well as other students to paint in the spots. The murals would eventually fade away by graduation, and if not could be pressure-washed away.
The problem came when a member of the media asked one of the students for a public comment and hateful racist adults, some with “All Lives Matters” signs, came crawling out of their holes to counter-protest the Black Lives Matter murals. From across the street, they waved Confederate flags—and came over to offer the kids “fried chicken” and “watermelon,” which are common symbols of racist stereotypes. Seems like the only racist thing the adults didn’t do was paint their faces black and then put a white sheet over themselves. I’ll reiterate. The kids at the school, of all color, have been totally accepting of the Black Lives Matter protest but they are not accepting the shameless behavior by the protesting adults. Here is a tweet by one of the students:
Here is another tweet by a student:
And here is compilation tweet by one of the students showing some of the racist and deplorable remarks by some adult residents.
School officials are discussing what to do. Mountain Home High School superintendent James Gilbert addressed the situation Tuesday night in a meeting where some of the press was present. He stressed that the students have done absolutely nothing wrong and he supports the protest. He said he has an issue with how the media is portraying the story and said the problem has been created by adults—not by the kids. Gilbert said they are also taking safety and regulations into consideration.
Protests and racism are sadly a prominent part of our country and since Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump began campaigning and adored by white supremacists, it seems the blatant racism is in full throttle and it’s shameful beyond words. Thoughts are with the safety of the children, and by the way—how great are they?