Stephen Decatur Magnet School has students perform in “unity walk” as part of the “Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action” despite BLM movement’s defense of Hamas

The Stephen Decatur Magnet School of Leadership, Exploration, and the Arts in Brooklyn, New York, updated its school website to currently show a message on the homepage promoting “Black Lives Matter in Schools Week of Action Feb. 5-9.” This popup message provides a schedule for the week, which includes a “student led unity walk to Restoration Plaza” for Monday. The message also includes a link to a press release from the school. The press release explicitly states that this “unity walk” is for middle school students:

On Monday, February 5, 2024, join our student leaders in Grades 6, 7, and 8 on a peaceful community walk beginning at 1:00pm from 272 MacDonough Street, Brooklyn, NY 11233. The entire Middle School 35 community of students, educators, and families will walk in unity throughout the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood from Fulton Street to Restoration Plaza. Students will lead with the unifying statement “WE ARE ALL EQUAL, WE STAND TOGETHER”, wearing t-shirts and carrying posters of their own designs to share why Black Lives Matter at our school and in our community.

The press release then takes the issue a step further by explaining that Black Lives Matter activism is now embedded in the school’s curriculum: “Classroom curriculum throughout the year integrates aspects of the Black Lives Matter movement including: deepening knowledge of Black History through Social Studies, Science and Mathematics; and expressing impactful messages and meaningful narratives through Visual Arts, Dance, French Language and English Language Arts. We are thrilled to support our young Activists, Artists, Scientists, Mathematicians, Writers, and World Change-Makers in their journeys forward!”

The school then adds in the press release: “Black Lives Matter at School is a national coalition of educators organizing for racial justice in education. We encourage all educators, students, parents, unions, and community organizations to join our annual week of action during the first week of February each year.”

The school also posted the press release on X promoting this “unity walk.” The school additionally posted a schedule of the week’s events on X on February 3, 2024.

Black Lives Matter at School recently appeared to show support for the terrorist group Hamas. On October 17, 2023, Black Lives Matter at School published a statement accusing Israel of “settler colonialism, land dispossession, occupation, blockade, apartheid, and attempted genocide of millions of Palestinians.” The organization said the curricula taught to students “must include Palestinian existence, resistance, culture, global contributions, and the ongoing struggle to realize a free Palestine.” This was only days after Hamas attacked Israel.