Arkansas Daycare Kicks 6-Year-Old Out Over Black Lives Matter T-Shirts, Mom Says

The mother of a 6-year-old said a daycare in Arkansas kicked her daughter out because she was wearing Black Lives Matter-themed T-shirts.

Deval Brockman, the child's mother, said one of the directors of His Kids Preschool in Russellville told her, "I am not going to tell you how to raise your child but you need to reevaluate how you're parenting her," according to the Little Rock-based TV station KARK 4 News.

The conflict began last month when the 6-year-old wore a T-shirt to daycare that read, "All lives can't matter until Black lives matter," Brockman told the station. The T-shirt's message caught the attention of the daycare directors, one of whom Brockman said called her to discourage her from sending her daughter to school in the future wearing clothes with similar messages.

When the young girl arrived at the daycare center a few days later wearing a shirt with a raised fist pictured on the front—the Black Power symbol that is a common sight at Black Lives Matter protests—Brockman told KARK 4 News she was asked to not bring her daughter back.

In a statement Patricia Brown, a director with the daycare, shared with KARK 4 News, His Kids Preschool said it had concerns regarding the political nature of the T-shirts.

"We feel a childcare environment is not a place for a parent's political views to be addressed or played out, regardless of race," the statement read.

Brockman told KARK 4 News she contacted the state to inquire whether the T-shirts her daughter had worn were prohibited. She said the state told her that, as long as no profanity appeared on a child's clothing, it was okay to wear to school.

Newsweek reached out to the Arkansas Department of Human Services' Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.

The Black Lives Matter movement has picked up a significant amount of steam in recent weeks as protesters gathered in response to the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old man who died while in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25. Clothing and signs with messages like, "I can't breathe," "Black Lives Matter" and "Say their names" have become common in the U.S. and around the world as people of diverse racial backgrounds voiced support for the movement and demanded an end to violence against Black Americans.

Though millions of people have demonstrated in support of the movement, it does not have unanimous support in the U.S. Earlier this week, President Donald Trump, who has resisted efforts by protesters to coordinate police-free zones in places like Seattle and Washington, D.C., said a Black Lives Matter mural painted in New York City was a "symbol of hate" and has referred to some protesters as radicals and anarchists.

From Brockman's point of view, the messages that were depicted on her child's clothing were not intended to invite divisive politics into the classroom.

"It's not political," she told the station. "It's everyday life. It's all over the news."