She drew her friends holding hands. Her principal called it racist.

TLDR:

• A 7-year-old drew her friends holding hands in different skin tones and wrote “any life” — and got called to the principal’s office for it.
• Her teacher had introduced “Black Lives Matter” in class; the girl simply echoed what she’d learned at school.
• A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that first graders do have First Amendment rights — reversing a lower court.
• The principal denies calling the note racist or banning the girl from recess; a lower court must now sort out the facts.

A 7-year-old California girl drew four oval figures in colors ranging from orange to brown — her friends holding hands — and wrote “any life” above them. Her school principal called it racist. Now a federal appeals court has ruled she had a First Amendment right to pass that note.

The girl, identified in court documents only as BB, was a first grader at Viejo Elementary School in 2021 when she gave the drawing to a Black classmate. BB said she didn’t know what “Black Lives Matter” meant — she wrote it because her teacher had read a book about it in class, and she’d seen the slogan posted at school. She added “any life” because, she said, “all lives matter.”

The receiving classmate, identified as MC, thanked BB and wasn’t offended. But MC’s mother complained to Principal Jesus Becerra, who BB says told her the note was “not appropriate” and “racist” and banned her from recess for two weeks. Mr. Becerra denies both claims.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that schools must meet constitutional standards even for the youngest students. “Elementary students’ speech is protected by the First Amendment,” the three-judge panel wrote. The case now returns to a lower court to determine what actually happened — and whether the school overstepped.

Read more:

• Court rules first graders have First Amendment rights in Black Lives Matter dispute