A recent ruling by U.S. District Judge David Carter has determined that a first-grader in California, referred to as B.B., does not have First Amendment protection for a drawing she made. The case began when school principal Jesus Becerra punished B.B. for giving a drawing to a classmate after a lesson on Martin Luther King Jr. and Black Lives Matter.
The drawing, which included the phrases “Black Lives Mater” [sic] and “any life,” was intended to express empathy. However, Becerra deemed the drawing “racist” and “inappropriate,” resulting in B.B. being barred from drawing at school and losing recess for two weeks. B.B.’s mother, Chelsea Boyle, was not informed about the incident until a year later.
Boyle filed a lawsuit, but Judge Carter dismissed the case in February. Carter wrote, “Giving great weight to the fact that the students involved were in first grade, the Court concludes that the Drawing is not protected by the First Amendment.” He argued that elementary schools are not “marketplaces of ideas,” allowing administrators to regulate speech more strictly than in high schools.
The Pacific Legal Foundation, which represents the plaintiffs, criticized the school’s response, stating, “The school’s massive overreaction to a young child’s innocent drawing reflects a worrying trend of race obsession in public education.” Boyle expressed her frustration, saying, “My daughter’s rights were taken away.”
The case is now being appealed to the Ninth Circuit, with a decision expected within a year.
