Students at an Arizona high school walked out of class Monday morning in protest that the school had banned a sophomore girl from wearing a Black Lives Matter T-shirt.
Mariah Harvard, a 10th-grade student at Buckeye Union High School, wrote in a Facebook post with more than 2,000 shares that the school’s vice principal asked her to remove her Black Lives Matter T-shirt because it created “a disruption in the learning of education.”
The vice principal asked Harvard to change into a plain white T-shirt because of a previous argument she had with “a young caucasian boy who said ‘black lives don’t matter’ and ‘that shirt is meaningless,'” Harvard wrote.
Harvard was joined by nine other students, their parents and representatives of civil rights organizations on Monday as they gathered outside the school in demonstration, the Arizona Republic reported.
In a statement, the Buckeye Union High School District said it was working with staff, local leaders and Black Lives Matters representatives to “turn the incident involving the black lives matter T-shirt from a negative situation into a positive learning experience.”
More Must-Reads From TIME
- Jane Fonda Champions Climate Action for Every Generation
- Biden’s Campaign Is In Trouble. Will the Turnaround Plan Work?
- Why We're Spending So Much Money Now
- The Financial Influencers Women Actually Want to Listen To
- Breaker Sunny Choi Is Heading to Paris
- Why TV Can’t Stop Making Silly Shows About Lady Journalists
- The Case for Wearing Shoes in the House
- Want Weekly Recs on What to Watch, Read, and More? Sign Up for Worth Your Time
Write to Mahita Gajanan at mahita.gajanan@time.com