An elementary school in the nation’s capital held a spirit week encouraging young students to show up to school wearing colors inspired by Black Lives Matter and the ‘Pride’ flag, according to materials obtained by The Daily Wire.
For the first week of Black History Month, Seaton Elementary School in Washington, D.C., held a “Black Lives Matter at School!” spirit week that urged students to focus on race and sexual identity.
Students were encouraged to wear red to represent “the blood that unites people of Black African ancestry.” On Tuesday, they were told to wear black to represent “members of the black community,” and on Wednesday to wear green to represent “the abundant natural wealth of the continent of Africa.” Students were told on Thursday to “wear colors inspired by the Inclusive Rainbow Flag,” showing an image of the “Pride” flag with designation for those who identify as transgender. On Friday, students were told to “wear logos inspired by BLM or historical black colleges and universities.”
Credit: The Daily Wire
Schools across the country have been criticized by parents for emphasizing identity politics while educational achievement lags. A school in the San Francisco area paid $250,000 to an organization called “Woke Kindergarten” to train teachers about racism and develop curriculums. Despite the money spent on the program, math and reading scores at the school have continued to decline, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
While Seaton has a history of emphasizing diversity and equity, less than half of the students meet either reading or math expectations in the most recent school year, according to District data.
Located in D.C.’s Shaw neighborhood, the school has about 353 students in kindergarten through fifth grade, most of whom are black or Latino. Only 39% of students at Seaton met math expectations and just 33% met English expectations in the 2022-2023 school year.
The revelation of the spirit week comes as no surprise as the school’s website makes it clear that it focuses heavily on racial, ethnic, and sexual identity. Seaton’s website has a whole section devoted to “Diversity and Equity @ Seaton.”
The section features a quote from Learning for Justice, an initiative of the leftist Southern Poverty Law Center, that says: “All oppression — including that of LGBT individuals, refugees, immigrants, Muslims, women, people living in poverty and people with disabilities — negatively affects all lives.”
The school says that it holds a “Black Lives Matter” week every year organized by the BLM at Seaton “to promote the significance [of] the BLM movement and Black History” and to “celebrate black excellence locally (in the DMV area) and throughout history (past, present, and future).”
Last year, Seaton listed guiding principles for “BLM @ School” week, including “unapologetically black,” “diversity,” “black families,” “black villages,” “restorative justice,” “black women,” “queer affirming,” “transgender affirming,” and “globalism.”
For the “unapologetically black” principle, which was listed as applicable to all students, the school said that it was part of the “Black Lives Matter movement.” For “black women,” the guidelines say that “there are some people who think that women are less important than men” and that “all people are important and have a right to be safe and talk about their feelings.”
“Queer affirming” means that “everybody has a right to choose who they love and the kind of family they want by listening to their own heart and mind.” The principle of “transgender affirming” means that “everybody has the right to choose their own gender by listening to their own heart and mind. Everyone gets to choose if they are a girl or a boy or both or neither or something else, and no one else gets to choose for them.”
Finally, “globalism” means “that we are thinking about all the different people all over the world, and thinking about ways to keep things fair everywhere.”
Screen Shot: Seaton Elementary.
The school recommends teachers read politically charged books to their students, including reading “Julian is a Mermaid,” a book that appears to allude to transgenderism, and “When We Say Black Lives Matter” to those in pre-K or younger.
Kindergarteners are recommended similar books, including “Calvin,” a story about a young girl who identifies as a boy. “Calvin has always been a boy, even if the world sees him as a girl. He knows who he is in his heart and in his mind but he hasn’t yet told his family,” the book’s description says.
Teachers are also pointed to give students Black Lives Matter coloring books and teach them Black American Sign Language.
Seaton previously worked with the leftist Human Rights Campaign on an anti-bullying program that provided “LGBTQ-specific training and resources for elementary teachers.” The HRC has attacked states that have banned doctors and medical providers from performing transgender procedures on children.
Later this month, the school is bringing in an organization called SMYAL to teach families how they “can help make our school community even more welcoming for all students, including those who identify as LGBTQ+.”
SMYAL says it’s for “LGBTQ youth ages 6-12 to find a safe(r) space to hang out and meet new people, access resources, and gain support.” The D.C.-based organization puts on programs at schools that “play games, read books, make arts and crafts, learn about the LGBTQ community and its history, and celebrate being wonderfully, uniquely ourselves!”
In June 2023, representatives from the HRC and D.C. Public Schools Supervisor Lewis Ferebee showed up to Seaton to present it with an award for being “one of only 25 schools in the country to be recognized for creating and nurturing an inclusive school community.”
“We believe that it crucial for our students to understand their identities and the world around them,” Seaton states. “Understanding Equity and Diversity is a crucial piece in helping our students grow into scholars. To learn more please click on the different pages below.”
Like many schools in the D.C. area, Seaton remained closed for months during the COVID pandemic and did not open for in-person instruction until early 2021.
Seaton’s principal Veronica Torres did not respond to a request for comment.
