Wisconsin school district holds t-shirt contest for BLM group some consider antisemitic

A school district in Wisconsin is holding a t-shirt design contest for students to promote a controversial organization critics accuse of having antisemitic and socialist ties.

The group, called Black Lives Matter at School (BLMS), has sparked backlash for a statement after the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel this month, accusing Israel of “settler colonialism, land dispossession, occupation, blockade, apartheid, and attempted genocide of millions of Palestinians.”

Milwaukee Public Schools first posted the contest on Oct. 12, several days before BLMS shared its statement on Oct. 17. However, the group has publicly expressed similar views in the past, 

BLMS argues in its statement that what students are taught “must include Palestinian existence, resistance, culture, global contributions, and the ongoing struggle to realize a free Palestine.” It also claims the “ways that U.S. imperialism has fueled and supported apartheid and war crimes” must be “directly” named.