High School Students Learn About 13 Guiding Principles

High school students at Capital City Public Charter School, with the guidance of their U.S. history teacher Ben Williams, learned about the 13 guiding principles as a part of the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action. The activity started with students answering the questions,

What does Black Lives Matter mean to you and what do you know about the Black Lives Matter movement?

Students responded with the following answers:

Black Lives Matter makes me think of a great community.

It means supporting and advocating for the livelihood of Black lives, especially people who face police brutality.

Students discussed how Trayvon Martin's death inspired the Movement for Black Lives and made connections between the Abolitionist movement, the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Panther party, and Black Lives Matter Movement. Mr. William's taught about how this was all connected as the long history of the Black Freedom Struggle for justice.

As students watched a video interview of Patrisse Cullors, a co-founder of BLM, they wrote questions and notes they had about the movement. Students then discussed systematic and structural issues faced by people of color.

The class wrapped up by doing a 13 guiding principles jigsaw activity. Students were divided into groups and were given two to three guiding principles to discuss with their group members. Here are some of their reflections during the discussion.

Black Villages: "Creating community where we build and support each other"

Globalism: "As Black people we are connected as a community. We are strong and we matter."

Diversity: "Black Lives Matter is a peaceful movement"

Unapologetically Black: "We're not sorry for being who we are...we're more than what people say"