A 9-year-old student in Minneapolis was seen berating her school board in a viral video for images of "Black Lives Matter" and Amanda Gorman posted on the walls of the school after she was told political posters were not allowed.
The girl, known only as Novalee, spoke at the Lakeville Area School Board meeting in Lakeville, Minnesota, just 30 minutes outside of the city where George Floyd was killed over a year ago.
"I was walking down the hallway at Lakeview Elementary School to give a teacher a retiring gift," she said at the meeting on June 8. "I looked up onto the wall and saw a BLM poster and an Amanda Gorman poster."
Novalee added: "In case you don't know who that chick is, she's some girl who did a poem at Biden's so-called inauguration."
Amanda Gorman, 23, was the first person to be named National Youth Poet Laureate.
"I was so mad," the 9-year-old student said. "I was told two weeks ago at this very meeting spot: no politics in school. I believed what you said at this meeting."
She said that at lunch, she went to her principal "to tell him about the BLM poster and that I wanted it down."
"He said, 'It's not coming down. I was like, 'Yeah, it is, because the school board said on May 25 no BLM or politics in school.' He said, 'That's weird; they were the ones who made them,'" she recalled for the board.
She claimed that she was "stunned," and further objected to the posters.
"Apparently, you know they are in our schools because you made the signs," she exclaimed. "I said there should be no BLM in schools, period. Doesn't matter what color you make the posters and the fonts you use; we all understand the meaning: it is a political message about getting rid of police officers, rioting, burning buildings down while King Governor [Tim] Waltz just sits on his throne and watches."
Her speech continued to call out the board by stating that she personally did not believe in the ideology of the Black Lives Matter movement. "I do not judge people by the color of their skin. I don't really care what color their hair, skin, or eyes is. I judge by the way they treat me," she said.
She added that Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream, "that one day my four little children will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character, that dream has come true."
"I do not care or look at the color of skin, but you make me think of it. You have lied to me and I am very disappointed in all of you. You cannot even follow your own rules. Get the posters out of our schools," Novalee concluded.
A Lakeville Area Schools spokesperson told Newsweek, "The posters referred to in the public comment at the board meeting on June 8 are part of a series of eight district-branded inclusive posters to support creating school communities where every student knows they are respected, valued and welcomed."
They added the posters included "two posters with the words 'Black lives matter' in support of our Black students and to acknowledge the social justice movement associated with this statement," but that the district does not permit branded logos pertaining to the organization itself.
