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During an appearance on Hannity, civil rights attorney, and former teacher, Leo Terrell discussed the troubling popularity of Black Lives Matter at School materials being used across the country. Launched in 2016 by a group of teachers, Black Lives Matter at School has a massive presence in schools in every state across the country. While many may feel a sense of comfort that their governor or legislature claimed to have banned Critical Race Theory/BLM, the reality is that teachers have the ability, and power, to bring in materials provided and created by BLM. In fact, even in Florida, where the governor and legislature have been leading the fight to keep some of these materials out of the classroom, the state’s largest school choice organization is a major supporter of Black Lives Matter. 

“Let me be very clear, Black Lives Matter is trying to hijack Black History Month. Who do they represent? Who is the leader of Black Lives Matter? They are trying to destroy the heritage of Black History Month. Frederick Douglass, Jackie Robinson, Dr. King, none of these people are part of Black Lives Matter. Black Lives Matter is an extremist organization that does not represent 99.9% of black Americans. They are trying to take over Black History Month. I say no. And I say to you, you can’t find a leader in the black community who would support Black Lives Matter, because they don’t represent the community,” said Leo Terrell. 

One of the main reasons BLM and other radical leftists groups are able to “hijack” Black History Month is the failure of conservative think tanks and “educational” nonprofits to develop usable educational materials for teachers to use during Black History Month. With these radical groups now essentially in full control over what students learn during Black History Month, many right-leaning parents and individuals have a negative view of Black History Month. In a YouTube poll on one of PragerU’s YouTube channels, out of over 77,000 voters 77% of people stated that Black History Month is not “helpful.” 

Black History Month highlights the incredible achievements of inspirational figures whose accomplishments overcoming adversity are timeless examples that will motivate children for generations to come. Still, some people even ignorantly and wrongly argue that there should be no such highlight of black history. Sadly, this perception has increased in popularity over the years, and it’s reflected in the lack of resources available to teachers that are not tainted by radical leftist groups. 

If conservatives and moderates do not want the radical left and BLM to control what is being taught during Black History Month, they must start doing the work necessary to have a presence in the classroom. We at The Locke Society have developed at least six lessons that educators can use during Black History Month. 1776 Unites, with their incredible amount of funding has only created over a dozen lesson plans that educators can work off of to fit into their Black History Month curriculum. The left, through their various well-funded organizations, have created hundreds to thousands of lesson plans for every grade level. 

Complaining about the wealth of resources the radical left successfully gets into classrooms across America is a long tried tactic that has failed miserably for obvious reasons. Awareness and complaining have no impact on the radical left’s control as they simply keep moving forward. We must start introducing exceptional alternative materials that are up to modern teaching standards so that they could be used in classrooms across America like the resources of the radical left. These materials must also reflect content that can strategically fit into curricula, not be so random that teachers have no way to include it in their units. Until then, radical groups like BLM will continue to dominate teacher resource lists and classrooms across America.