On Wednesday the Black Lives Matter at School rallies went down extremely well. Students, parents and educators took part in the event and it attracted turned out around 2,000 educators in Seattle joined by wearing Black Lives Matter shirts.

The rallies were to call for racial equity in education.

The Seattle Times reported:

The purpose of the day was to affirm that “black lives matter in the public schools,” according to organizers, who are members of Social Equality Educators, a group of educators within the Seattle teachers union. Teachers also wanted to show their support for John Muir Elementary, which had its “Black Men Uniting to Change the Narrative” event canceled last month after receiving a threat over teachers’ plans to wear Black Lives Matter shirts.

Before school started Wednesday at Chief Sealth International High School, dozens of educators and students gathered outside the building and held up banners and signs.

DeShawn Jackson is a teacher at John Muir Elementary in Seattle. The school was inundated with hateful messages after conservative news outlets posted stories about the school’s teachers planning to wear Black Lives Matter shirts during an event to present black men in a positive light. The teachers say they wanted the event to focus on students, rather than serve as a political message.

Seattle teachers hope their cause isn’t lost amid noise over Black Lives Matter shirts
About 60 Chief Sealth educators had ordered the shirts beforehand. Some of the shirts said “Black Lives Matter” and “#say­hername,” a reference to Sandra Bland, a black woman who died in police custody in Texas. Those shirts had an image of a fist. Others wore shirts that said “Black Lives Matter” and “We Stand Together” with an image of a tree.

The event, although not organised by the district corresponded with Seattle Public Schools’ “day of unity,”, which aims to bring attention to racial equality in education.

Read more in the Seattle Times here.