California middle school bans student-made protest clothing after stopping impromptu rap performance

A middle school rap show, orchestrated spontaneously by three students, received a swarm of attendees, leading the school to call the police and discipline those involved. Protesting their punishment, another student distributed self-made T-shirts to fellow pupils, but the school banned them, citing concerns about further disruptions, as well as a potential “mob or riot.”

Key Players

Dylan Arevalo, who went by the stage name Lil Pickle, is an eighth grader at Cabrillo Middle School in Ventura, a coastal town in Southern California. He and two other students, one of them nicknamed Big Curry, the other nicknamed something the Ventura County Star referred to as “barely unprintable,” performed their song “Crack is Whack” during lunchtime.

Lorelle Dawes, the principal of Cabrillo Middle School, defended her disciplinary decisions. 

Gage Kushner, a friend of Arevalo’s and a fellow eighth grader, created merchandise in support of the rap group that read “Justice for Lil Pickle.” Presley, his younger sister, is in seventh grade. Kenny, his father, works as an officer for the Santa Barbara Police Department. 

Further Details

On March 18, 2022, Arevalo and his friends announced on social media they would perform their anti-drug song “Crack is Whack” at lunchtime.

Expecting to see about 40 people at the performance, Arevalo told the Ventura County Star he was surprised when hundreds of students swarmed the back of the school to listen. Immediately, administrators shut the gathering down and called the police as a precaution. 

Later, in an email to parents, Dawes wrote that no one was injured or adversely affected. But Arevalo said he and his friends were reprimanded. Each had to serve a week of detention and write an apology; the alternative was to face suspension. 

In protest over the rappers’ punishment, Gage Kushner printed more than a dozen shirts and a hat that read “Justice for Lil Pickle,” hoping to sell them to his peers. 

On March 21, students who arrived at school wearing the shirts were told by school officials to take them off or cover the text. 

Outcome 

Kushners may press charges against Cabrillo Middle School

Kenny Kushner said he was shocked at first when he heard students were not allowed to wear Lil Pickle clothing. He said he was considering pressing charges, as his daughter Presley had been sent home after refusing to remove her Lil Pickle shirt. 

“There’s a bigger issue about overreach that government has gotten into,” Ron Bamieh, a local civil rights lawyer and friend of the Kushner family, said. “Schools think they can just control everything.” Discontented parents cited U.S. Supreme Court decisions in cases like Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, which arose out of disciplinary actions against high school students who wore black armbands to school to protest the Vietnam War. The 1969 ruling held that students did not lose their Free Speech rights on school property. In order for school officials to justify the suppression of speech, the court said, they had to prove the conduct in question would “materially and substantially interfere” with school operations. 

Dawes hinted at such reasoning, writing in email to Kenny that banning the merchandise was meant to prevent further disruptions, as the ​“frenetic energy around Little Pickle” might have led to another “mob or riot,” the Ventura County Star reported. 

‘Justice for Lil Pickle’ ban lifted

On March 23, the school lifted the Lil Pickle merchandise ban. Dawes noted there was less risk of disruption, since more time had passed.

As of April 27, 2022, there were no further developments.