SEATTLE _ About 2,000 Seattle educators wore Black Lives Matter shirts at their schools Wednesday to call for racial equity in education.
Schools across the district held "Black Lives Matter at School" rallies before classes began for the day. Students, parents and teachers also wore stickers and buttons emblazoned with the "Black Lives Matter" slogan.
At Chief Sealth International High School, about 60 educators had ordered the shirts. Some of them gathered outside the building and held up banners and signs.
Teacher Diana Romero said she decided to wear a shirt "to support our black brothers and sisters in support for justice." As a Latina, she said she has seen firsthand the unfair treatment of people of color by police officers.
A sixth-grade class from Denny International Middle School wore Black Lives Matter stickers. Denny teacher Ben Evans brought them to Chief Sealth so they could see how their voices can be heard, he said. Many of his students are aware of racial inequities already, he added.
"They need to know that there are ways they can be heard," he said.
The event isn't sponsored by the district, so teachers were told to leave before students started arriving. But members of the Black Student Union (BSU) remained until the start of classes.
For BSU President Precious Manning, 17, the rally and shirts represented the international school coming together in solidarity. Black Lives Matter means making sure everyone is included, she said.
"Black Lives Matter means _ don't leave us out,'" she said.
