California teachers were right to severely punish girl, 7, for writing these words under Black Lives Matter drawing she gave to friend, judge rules

A California judge has ruled that teachers were right to punish a seven-year-old girl over a Black Lives Matter drawing because 'she's too young to have First Amendment rights.'

The first grader was banned from recess and drawing pictures at Viejo Elementary in Orange County after she added the words 'any life' below Black Lives Matter on a picture she drew and and gave to a black friend.

The picture showed the words 'Black Lives Matter' with four round shapes in various different tones of brown, beige and yellow, which was intended to 'represent her friends' who were 'racially-mixed'. 

The girl's family filed a lawsuit last year against the Capistrano Unified School District, claiming her First Amendment Rights were violated during the 2021 incident.

But US Central District Court Judge David Carter ruled that 'Students have the right to be free from speech that denigrates their race while at school'. Carter added that the drawing was not protected by the First Amendment because of the age of the girl, named B.B. in the suit, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle. 

Judge Carter wrote: 'An elementary school … is not a marketplace of ideas... Thus, the downsides of regulating speech there is not as significant as it is in high schools, where students are approaching voting age and controversial speech could spark conducive conversation.'

Moreover, Judge Carter wrote, 'a parent might second-guess (the principal’s) conclusion, but his decision to discipline B.B. belongs to him, not the federal courts.'

Carter added that 'Undoubtedly, B.B.'s intentions were innocent... B.B. testified that she gifted the Drawing to M.C. to make her feel comfortable after her class learned about Martin Luther King Jr.'

B.B. was punished by her school after her friend, known as M.C. in the suit, took the picture home, where a parent saw it and found it offensive, emailing the school and demanding they take action.

This prompted principal Jesus Becerra to tell B.B. the drawing was inappropriate and racist. He then punished B.B. by making her publicly apologize on the playground to her classmates and teachers. B.B. was also banned from recess and from drawing pictures for two weeks.

However, B.B.'s mother Chelsea Boyle did not learn of the incident until much later, when she took action.

Boyle said she didn't think her daughter did anything wrong: 'I was immediately angry, I didn't know what had happened, I knew it was wrong fundamentally.

'My daughter's rights were taken away, and I just started reaching out to find out what compelled speech was. I didn't know what it was until I spoke to attorneys,' she told Fox News.

The case will now head to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, with attorney Caleb Trotter telling the San Francisco Chronicle that Carter's ruling could set a dangerous precedent for elementary students.

Trotter said: 'If that view is allowed to survive and spread, the speech rights of countless elementary students around the country could be at risk. That was what really concerned me.'

Judge Carter, meanwhile, finalized his ruling by pointing out that both B.B. and M.C have moved on.

Carter said: 'B.B. and M.C. have undoubtedly moved on from this incident that occurred three years ago. 

'B.B. stated that the Drawing did not strain the friendship between them... They have taught us an important lesson about moving on.'