Florida high school pauses yearbook distribution over pages on Black Lives Matter

A Florida high school temporarily halted distribution of its student-run yearbook amid concerns over pages covering the Black Lives Matter movement.

A Florida high school temporarily halted distribution of its student-run yearbook amid concerns over pages covering the Black Lives Matter movement. Administrators at West Broward High School in Pembroke Pines, about 18 miles southwest of Fort Lauderdale, paused sales and distribution of "The Edge" last Friday "while the concerns were carefully reviewed," according to a statement from Broward County Public Schools. Elise Twitchell, a senior at West Broward High School and co-editor-in-chief of "The Edge," showed Miami ABC affiliate WPLG the yearbook pages at the center of the controversy. A two-page spread shows students participating in protests in support of Black Lives Matter, which was kickstarted in 2013 in response to the fatal shooting of unarmed Black teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida and the subsequent acquittal of his killer, local vigilante George Zimmerman. The racial justice movement has since become a global organization that says it aims to "eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes." Black Lives Matter gained momentum last year following the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes. The two pages in "The Edge" depict the history of the movement and include the names of Black men, women and children who have died at the hands of police.