PUEBLO — A Pueblo parent is upset after she says her child received materials with subliminal anti-police messaging on them in a school supply kit. In the kit was a coloring page with the letters "A.C.A.B." on it. But that's just the start of it.
When the parent heard about a free school supply drive--she was in.
"I had a few things I still needed to get, so I thought, oh shoot, that'd be awesome," she told News 5.
The drive this past Monday was put on by the group 'Community Resources United' in partnership with the Pueblo Education Coalition.
Hosted at the El Pueblo History Museum, parents could drive through the parking lot and be handed a bag with the supplies they needed.
"It had a little zip pencil case with a couple highlighters and pencils," the parent said.
Also inside was coloring page.
"It was just a loose single coloring page. And it said 'All Cats Are Beautiful' and it had cats on it," she said.
But as her child began coloring, something caught her eye. Blending in with the border of the image were the letters "A.C.A.B."
"I noticed the A.C.A.B letters written on the side of the border. And it kind of triggered something in my brain," she said. "It was like, I've seen that before, I recognize A.C.A.B."
A quick internet search confirmed her suspicions.
"When you look it up on Google, that's the first definition that pops up for ACAB, is 'All Cops Are Bastards'," she said.
The acronym has gained popularity during recent protests.
"You'll see that phrase very often when it comes to opinions about protests," she said."
But there was more in the bag.
"I ended up coloring the folder that she was coloring on, and I see the defund the police flier," she said.
The flier offered reasons for defunding the Pueblo Police Department. Also inside was a car window sticker reading "All Cats Are Beautiful" next to the letters "A.C.A.B."
"The person who has the sticker doesn't even know," the parent said. "That's why I think that's dangerous. Because if somebody sees A.C.A.B and says oh that person is one of those kind of people that doesn't like the police, now they have a target on their car."
On Wednesday, a spokesperson for the El Pueblo Museum told News 5 the museum had nothing to do with what was handed out, and did not know the items were included until we told them.
Community Resources United offered the following statement:
"Several community groups participated in our giveaway either through the donation of their time or through school materials. In return, they were allowed to include materials that were put into a folder approved and assembled by CRU alone. As the organizing party we, and we alone, approved all materials. The overarching goal was to provide students with free supplies, which we accomplished. While we recognize some of the materials included perspectives from donating groups, we also trust parents taking advantage of this resource could discern what materials would be best to give to their children. Pictures of kittens escaped us as being divisive or derisive. Through our screening process, we felt materials related to taxation and funding are materials for tax payers and matters of public knowledge. The newsworthiness of these objections to free school supplies simply negate the hard work of our organizers."
The Pueblo Education Coalition did not return News 5's request for comment Wednesday.
