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RICHFIELD, Minn. (KMSP) - A family outreach worker at a Richfield elementary school believes she was suspended after planning to wear a Black Lives Matter shirt to school as part of a planned protest.

Jessi Martinez wanted to wear the t-shirt to Richfield STEM Elementary, along with several other educators at the school, on the Friday before Martin Luther King Jr. Day. She never got the chance to wear the shirt, claiming the district banned the protest.

Two days prior to the planned protest, a group of 13 educators informed the principal of their plans to wear the shirts as a simple way to stand with students of color, or so they thought.

From there, the district office got involved. In a statement, the superintendent says administration shared the viewpoint that not including the entire staff could result in the division of staff. The statement goes on to say the following week Richfield Public Schools organized a district wide equity event that was an inclusive opportunity for all staff, adding throughout this process no discipline of staff was ever discussed or taken.

The full statement is posted on the districts website.

Fast forward to this week and Martinez says she was suspended on Monday.

The group Social Justice Education Movement says this is a pattern they've seen the district take against teachers speaking out. The group claims four teachers also planning to wear the BLM shirts have had their positions cut, and other staff feel intimated. Martinez, who has been the family outreach worker for the school for five years, believes she's the latest target.

The full statement from Social Justice Education Movement is posted here.

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Richfield educators fear possible retaliation for Black Lives Matter shirts - KMSP-TV

The production, written by a Ball State duo, is part of IndyFringe's OnyxFest, which spotlights black playwrights.

"Black Lives Matter (Too)" is one of the plays on the 2017 slate for IndyFringe's OnyxFest.(Photo: Photo provided/Dena Toler)

When Angela Jackson-Brown and Ashya Thomas wrote their play "Black Lives Matter (Too)," they set some goals.

They wanted to infuse thework which comprises scenes, poetry and music with human connections. They wanted to plant hope that triumphs in even the most difficult situations.

And when the play premieres this weekend, they want to use black people's stories from slavery through the present to unpack a term that has seen controversy. The work will be part of IndyFringe's OnyxFest, which spotlights work by black playwrights.

"A lot of these vignettes are going to be difficult to sit through, and that's intentional," Jackson-Brown said.

"We want to take people to uncomfortable places because so often we don't really talk about race in a constructive way. So we thought through the theater, oftentimes, people can be reached in ways that they can't through politicians or through lectures."

IndyFringe Executive DirectorPauline Moffat makes a habit of waiting until the festival itself to see the plays, but she is familiar with the strengths ofJackson-Brown. Her work has been part of IndyFringeandDivaFest, which highlights women playwrights.

Jackson-Brown "has such an incredible understanding of life and death, and ... the way she treats death is incredibly moving," Moffat said.

For "Black Lives Matter (Too)," Jackson-Brown, who is an assistant professor in the English department at Ball State University, teamed up with Thomas, who just graduated from the school. The two began collaborating on the play after Thomas turned in a particularly strong project, Jackson-Brown said. The OnyxFest work is Thomas' first play.

The darkened theater offers anonthreatening space to understand what Black Lives Matter means, Jackson-Brown said.The "(Too)" at the end of the play's titleclarifies the unspoken understanding that black people aren't saying they're the only ones who matter, she said.

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"It's simply a matter of, we've made too many strides to go backward," Jackson-Brown said. "So let's all remember what we came through during the '50s and the '60s, and let's not try to do things that are going to move us back to that place."

While race and relationships between black men and womenare part of the characters' journeys, Jackson-Brown said they sought an emphasis on self-love and a balance of storiesthat allowed characters to show their strength.

"We're not just exposing issues related to white and black, but we're also looking at issues related to black folks in general, problems that exist within our own community," Jackson-Brown said.

Meet the playwrights: Q&A from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Thursday.

"The Quilting": Mijiza Holiday.8 p.m. Saturday,7 p.m. Sunday and4:30 p.m. May 20at IndyFringe Indy Eleven Theatre, 719 E. St. Clair St.

Black Lives Matter (Too): Angela Jackson-Brown and Ashya Thomas. Produced by Jackson Brown Entertainment. 7 p.m. Friday, 6 p.m. Saturday and9 p.m. May 19at IndyFringe Basile Theatre, 719 E. St. Clair St.

Truth The One Man Show: Ryan Bennett. 7 p.m. Sunday, 7 p.m. May 19 and9 p.m. May 20at IndyFringe IndyEleven Theatre.

Cost:$15 at the door, $18 online (including fees), $13 students and seniors.

Call IndyStar reporter Domenica Bongiovanni at (317) 444-7339. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Read or Share this story: http://indy.st/2q61NrU

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'Black Lives Matter (Too)' play aims to unpack the term and share humanity - Indianapolis Star

Rozonda Chilli Thomas, a member of the all-black female hip-hop group TLC, came under fireon social media when she insisted that all lives matter instead of aligning her views with the Black Lives Matter movement.

During a May 9 interview that made waves Wednesday on social media, Thomas faced questionsfrom UKs Channel 4 News about being a black female in America, as well as herthoughts on the Black Lives Matter movement.

Another issue thats been highlighted in both the USA and the UK is the Black Lives Matter movement, reporter Jasmine Dotiwala began. Did you guys feel strongly about it when it was kicking off in America? Did you go on any marches? Did you go on any anti-Trump marches?

Thomas answered:

I personally didnt go into any marches, or anything like that, but for me, all lives matter, you know what I mean? Because there is a time when different groups are targeted for different things, you know what Im saying? So, I just think that, just the whole you know what happened with the police brutality against these young black boys and stuff like that, all of that kind of stuff is wrong, even if it was a caucasian teen kid that this was happening to or whatever. Its just not right.

She said that law enforcement sometimes takes things too far and that those in law enforcement should be vetted more heavily.

Some people take that authoritative position, and go crazy with it obviously, Thomas said. I think that before people are hired in these positions, they need to do some kind of better background check on them, or mental stability kind of check on them to see if they can really handle being in a position like that.

Tionne T-Boz Watkins another member of TLC and a former Celebrity Apprentice contestant added her two cents about policemen, claiming that copsstick together: That color sticks together too, blue, they stick together. Theyre not going to tell on each other.

Watkins also noted that she doesnt care about President Donald Trump, noting that his presidency doesnt affect her life.

I dont care about Donald Trump, Watkins said. God is my president, so I just feel sorry for people it affects, but I dont care about him.

When asked if they think Trump is a scrub, T-Boz laughed before adding, It doesnt bother me I worked on Celebrity Apprentice when he wasnt president and I wasnt too fond of him then. So I dont care really.

Twitter users disagreed a lot:

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Social media rips black pop star for disagreeing with Black Lives Matter movement - TheBlaze.com

Groups affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement are giving a huge Mothers Day gift to women in jail: freedom.

Agroup of organizations including Southerners on New Ground, the Movement for Black Lives, Color Of Change has raised over $250,000 to bail more than 30 women out of jail this week, according to the Nation.

The women have not been convicted of crimes. Rather, they have been awaiting trial and cannot afford to pay bail, The Nation reports.

The groups efforts are culminating in an event it callsNational Mamas Bail Out Day as it seeks to draw attention to the arrests and subsequent jailing of people who are accused of committing low level offenses.

There are around 450,000people who are jailed without being convicted of crimes, according to areport from Marketplacethat came out last October. Under former President Barack Obamas administration, the Department of Justice argued that it is unconstitutional to hold defendants in jail because they cannot afford to meet bail.

Marbre Stahly-Butts, a leader inthe Movement for Black Lives, one of the organizations involved, said thatNational Mamas Bail Out Day is what is being done in the immediate term to address concerns about bail payments.

Stahly-Butts told the Nation,

We have to be doing that.But we also can be collecting our resources to make a direct impact on the material conditions of our people who are in cages right now.

According to the Nation, the Mothers Day initiative is a result of a January meeting ofblack-led organizations focusing on bail reform.

In Memphis alone, the Black Lives Matter chapter located in the city worked to raise $35,000 to bail women out for Mothers Day. Organizer Erica Perry told local Memphis station News Channel 3,

Were asking our community members to think how they spend Mothers Day, how they celebrate and honor the women who they love.

If the Black Lives Matter movement is successful in this latest initiative, there are a number of mothers who might be celebrating in much more comfortable a fashion than theyd imagined.

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Joseph is a Senior Writer, Editor and early member of the Elite Daily team. He studied Journalism and Media Studies at Rutgers University and will probably call Jersey home forever.

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Black Lives Matter Groups Bailing Out Women For Mother's Day - Elite Daily

The Black Lives Matter movement is working to have an impact on the lives of black women in dozens of jails across the country this week by providing them with their freedom, just in time for Mothers Day.

The women have not been convicted of crimes, but they remain in jail because they have been unable to pay the bond or fines that would allow them to go home to their families as they await trial.

The Nation reports that organizers with Southerners on New Ground, the Movement for Black Lives, Color of Change and other groups have raised more than $250,000 for what theyre calling National Mamas Bail Out Day.

Many of the women are in jail for low-level offenses like loitering or small-scale drug possession. The groups, which are continuing to raise funds, will pay for their release.

As The Nation notes, black women make up 44 percent of women in jails, and nearly a third of women in jail nationwide have serious mental-health issues.

The Mothers Day bailout will free at least 30 women in Atlanta, Houston, Minneapolis, Los Angeles and other cities nationwide. The idea for it came from a January gathering of 25 black-led organizations that wanted to collaborate on bail reform.

From The Nation:

Mary Hooks, co-director of the Atlanta-based LGBTQ organizing project SONG, offered an idea shed been developing with other activists who had noticed the disparate impact that money bail and jail-related fines and fees has on LGBTQ communities. Hooks campaign ideawhat she describes as using our collective resources to buy each others freedomwas welcomed by the larger group. And because event organizers emphasize the ways race, class, and gender identity all play a role in criminalization, they have an expansive understanding of who qualifies as a mother. When we talk about black mamas, we know that mothering happens in a variety of ways, Hooks said. Whether its the mothers in the clubs who teach the young kids how to vogue, or the church mothers who took care of me. Women who are birth mothers and chosen mothers are eligible to be bailed out.

Arissa Hall, a national Mamas Bail Out Day organizer and project manager at the Brooklyn Community Bail Fund, told The Nation that Mothers Day, with its idealized notions of family and womanhood, is the right moment to force an examination of women in jails.

All mothers are not celebrated, Hall said, adding that this is especially true of women who struggle with poverty, addiction and mental-health issuesin other words, the women who fill our jails.

Black moms especially have not been granted that title of motherhood, Hall continued, going on to describe how slavery shredded kinship bonds. Black women, she noted, have historically taken on caretaker roles that have put them in charge of other peoples children and away from their own.

Hall has been researching the way bail works in the cities and counties where the organizers plan to help women out.

Its a myth that folks dont come back to court when released on their own recognizance, she told The Nation, explaining that upward of 95 percent of people helped by bail funds return to court for their scheduled appearances. People will come back to court regardless of whether or not bail is set.

In Halls experience, what it takes to get people to their court dates is phone-call reminders and bus or train fare.

Bail corrupts the concept of justice in that the people who cant pay to get out of jail will eventually resolve their cases through a plea, Hall said. We dont force our court system to do what its actually supposed to do, which is give people a fair trial.

Read more at The Nation.

Monique Judge is a journalist, womanist and big hair enthusiast who drinks way too much coffee and has an unending love for words.

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Black Lives Matter Activists Bail Black Women Out of Jail for Mother's Day - The Root