A 6-year-old girl was kicked out of a daycare center for wearing Black Lives Matter shirts
- A 6-year-old girl was kicked out of her daycare center in Russellville, Arkansas, for wearing a Black lives Matter shirt.
- The girl's mother said she told that her child wasn't allowed to return because the shirts were encouraging racism, NBC-affiliate KARK-TV reported.
- The daycare told the news station that a childcare environment is not a place for a parent's political views, "regardless of race."
A 6-year-old girl was kicked out of her daycare center last week for wearing shirts that represent the Black Lives Matter movement, her mother told NBC-affiliate KARK-TV.
On June 25, kindergartner Journei Brockman wore a BLM t-shirt to the His Kids Learning Center in Russellville, Arkansas. The girl's mother, Deval, said she got a call from a school staffer, who told her the daycare did not agree with the shirt's message and would "prefer it if you didn't send her to school in it again," according to KARK-TV.
After Deval reported the incident to the state, she said she was told that her daughter may continue wearing the shirt as long as it did not contain profanity.
The girl reportedly went to the daycare center the next day wearing a different shirt that featured a symbolic raised fist. When Deval picked up her daughter, she claimed she was told the shirts were encouraging racism, and that she was no longer welcome at the daycare.
"If I'm supporting something, I'm going to wear it, my child is going to wear it, to help say that our voice needs to be heard," Deval said.
Deval said she was upset at the decision and at a staff member's suggestion that she ought to "reevaluate" how she's parenting, according to KARK-TV. Deval added that she plans to continue teaching her daughter about equality.
Patricia Brown, the daycare center's director, reportedly released a statement: "We feel a childcare environment is not a place for a parent's political views to be addressed or played out, regardless of race."
For Deval, the Black Lives Matter movement isn't about politics.
"It's not political, it's everyday life, It's all over the news," she told KARK-TV. "Right is right and wrong is wrong."