A video of a nine-year-old Minnesota girl confronting her school board about the installation of Black Lives Matter posters in her school has gone viral, showing her blasting them for banning political messages in schools yet permitting the BLM posters to be posted. “You have lied to me,” she charged. “Get the posters out of our schools. Courage is contagious so be courageous.”
The girl, who said her name was Novalee, spoke at the Lakeville Area School Board meeting on June 8. Lakeville is a suburb of the city of Minneapolis, where George Floyd died in 2020 and where the BLM protests around the nation originated.
Novalee stated, “The other day I was walking down the hallway at Lakeview Elementary School to give a teacher a retiring gift. I looked up onto the wall and saw a BLM poster and an Amanda Gorman poster. In case you don’t know who that chick is, she’s some girl who did a poem at Biden’s so-called inauguration. I was so mad. I was told two weeks ago at this very meeting spot: no politics in school. I believed what you said at this meeting.”
“So at lunch I went up to my principal to tell him about the BLM poster and that I wanted it down,” she continued. “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.’”
“I was stunned. When I was here two weeks ago you told us to report any BLM in our schools,” Novalee claimed. “Apparently you know they are in our schools because you made the signs. 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.”
“We all know: Changing the colors or the fonts of posters does not change the meaning. I am nine years old and I know that. You expect me to believe that you did not know what you were doing by making these posters? Come on, people,” she challenged.
Novalee then segued to her own beliefs: “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. MLK said I have a 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.”
“I have Asian, Mexican, white, Chinese, black friends and I don’t care. I like them because some of them make me laugh; some of them are sweet and kind, sporty, or share the love of God. They are just my friends,’” she asserted.
She charged, “You have lied to me and I am very disappointed in all of you. You cannot even follow your own rules. If you were gonna do that, why do we follow any rules we deemed unfair or ridiculous? I’m not following your mask rule anymore then.”
She concluded, “Get the posters out of our schools. Courage is contagious so be courageous.”