When the faculty at Mountain Home High School approved a fundraising idea for their homecoming dance, no one would have predicted that it would become a source of protest and garner nationwide attention — but that is exactly what happened. The school decided a good way to raise funds would be to allow students to paint a mural in a particular parking spot for a charge of $45. Each student had to get their design green-lit by school staff before any painting occurred. Yet, when one student decided to use her parking spot to paint a mural of a Black woman with a gold crown resting upon her afro with the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag written beneath it, the picture went viral and controversy ensued.

Once the Mountain Home School District Superintendent James Gilbert caught wind of the mural, it was decided that it (and the rest of the parking space paintings) needed to be removed because it violated school policy. "The issue has absolutely nothing to do with the content in the student murals," Gilbert said Monday. "The district does not allow students to paint parking lots with murals, just as we wouldn't allow students to paint lockers or desks."

Once students found out that the mural would be removed, the students launched a peaceful, silent, sit-in protest. Dozens of students gathered in the parking lot, surrounding the mural, with signs that said "NO EXCUSES" and another sign of Desmond Tutu's famous quote, "if you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor." The students are protesting not just for the right to paint murals in parking spots, but mostly in support of what that particular mural represents.

Across the street, a collection of a dozen students started a counter-protest with them waving Confederate flags, despite the fact that Idaho wasn't even a state until 25 years after the Civil War ended, saying that their message is that "all lives matter."

In response to the protest, Superintendent James Gilbert has stated that he has no problem with the protest. "The students have done absolutely nothing wrong and I support their right to protest and take civic responsibility regarding social issues that impact their lives," he said. Yet, despite his approval in their right to protest, the only decision left for the school supervisors is deciding when to actually remove the murals.

Clark Williams, the father of the girl who created the mural, believes that the mural has been unfairly politicized when all their daughter was attempting to do was express herself creatively.

"It took something that should have been art — a work of art, or a student expressing themselves — and they've made this big political agenda out of it," Williams said.

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