Its Censorship Broward High School Told to Stop Selling Yearbook Because of BLM Spread
A Broward County high school was told to stop selling its yearbook because of a Black Lives Matter spread. The students who created it are calling it censorship because thats what it is.
The yearbook staff included pages documenting the BLM movement as part of their coverage of the year. District officials apparently took issue with that editorial choice.
Local 10 News reported on the controversy and the student response.
Yearbooks are historical documents. They record what happened during the school year. BLM protests were major events. Excluding them would be the political choice not including them.
Student journalism faces unique pressures. Adults controlling distribution can silence student voices over content that makes them uncomfortable.
The students involved are learning a hard lesson about power and speech. Their work was apparently fine until someone with authority disagreed.
Whether the yearbook gets released with the BLM content depends on how much noise gets made. Public pressure sometimes works. Sometimes it doesnt.
The irony of censoring content about a movement protesting systemic racism is apparently lost on the officials involved.
Controversy June 2021
