Black Girl Handcuffed, Fingerprinted During Rosa Parks Re-enactment At FL School: NAACP

OSCEOLA, FL — A Florida preschool is facing scrutiny after the NAACP claimed a Black child was handcuffed and fingerprinted during a role-play activity focused on civil rights activist Rosa Parks.

In a letter sent to the Florida Department of Children and Families, the NAACP said the incident happened at Building Brains Academy, a childcare center located in Osceola. According to the NAACP, a 2-year-old Black girl was "handcuffed and fingerprinted by a white peer" during the role-play activity.

The organization said it was made aware of the incident when the girl's parents sent photographs of the activity.

Photos of the re-enactment shown to NBC News by the NAACP show the girl's peer pretending to "fingerprint" her with paint and holding her hands behind her back. According to NBC News, the photos were shared with parents after the event.

"The gravity of this incident extends beyond the immediate parties involved, reflecting a broader issue of mishandling and suppressing Black history education in Florida," the NAACP said in a letter to the school.

Speaking with NBC News, the girl's parents pulled her from school following the incident and claimed the school offered no apology for what happened.

"Rosa Parks was a woman that we would teach our daughter to look up to, but now our memory is stained. This is something we’ll have to grow around and see how we can tell her this story differently," the girl's mother, who asked not to be named, told NBC News.

When contacted by NBC News, a school spokesperson denied that the school had refused to apologize.

In a statement sent to Fox 35 Orlando, school officials said the photos don't offer "a complete or accurate representation of the full lesson about the importance of equal rights."

"Our school believes in and teaches the importance of equality, of standing up for our rights, and of speaking up when we see something isn't right," the statement read. "We teach these lessons not to celebrate the wrongdoings of others in the past, but to encourage our children to prevent such actions in the future. We deeply regret the assumption that our teachers, our leadership, or our administration would in any way choose to make a child feel uncomfortable or negatively singled out."

The statement continued, saying the class had "spontaneously decided to act out the elements of Ms. Parks’ story, including her arrest for refusing to give up her seat at the front of the bus."

Still, the NAACP Center for Education Innovation and Research said they are still seeking a formal apology for the incident. The group also requested the Florida Department of Children and Families conduct a comprehensive audit of instructional practices at Building Brains Academy and childcare centers.

In a letter to the school, the NAACP called on school officials to compensate the girl's family for expenses incurred and implement "more thoughtful and age-appropriate Black history activities."

"The portrayal of Rosa Parks should be a source of empathy, not a means to inflict pain," Dr. Adora Nweze, NAACP Florida State Conference president, said in a statement. "Our educational institutions must commit to inclusive and accurate historical representations and teachings that preserve the emotional well-being of all students."