SALEM, Ore. – When Judson Middle School seventh-grader Auzeen Seiffert entered her design for the school yearbook, she saw kids having fun in a lollipop wonderland with blue trees and candy cane lined pathways.

Her classmates also liked her design – which Seiffert described as “two friends playing in a Candyland-like park” – and voted to make it the yearbook cover for 2015-16, The Statesman Journal reports.

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The artwork was inspired by the board came and played off the school theme of “Life is Sweet.”

But school officials saw a resemblance of one of Seiffert’s characters to “Little Black Sambo” – a beloved childhood character from the late 19th century that turned into a racial flashpoint in the mid 20th century – and ultimately decided to pull Seiffert’s drawing at the last minute, after the yearbooks arrived from the printer, according to KGW.

“There was worry that it might be misinterpreted,” Salem-Keiser School District’s director of middle school education Matt Biondi said. “We try to make sure when we’re conveying something to the community that it be the most respectful to the widest audience.”

Biondi ultimately made the call to can the controversial picture after principal Matt Biondi initially raised concerns because the colors on the yearbooks were deeper than the original picture, and he said staff were concerned it might offend someone.

“Let me make it clear that we absolutely don’t think the child did anything wrong,” Biondi said. “We know that she had no intent and that it was innocently done.”

KGW reports:

There are lollipops, candy canes, blue trees with what appears to be fuchsia-colored cotton-candy leaves, one pale character modeled in the Japanese anime style expressing love via a little heart in a speech bubble while another, taller, darker-skinned character with blue hair is saying “life is sweet” in a larger speech bubble. The blue-haired character is carrying the pale one piggyback style. …

Kruska said the colors were more intense and that they were deeper. Staff expressed concern that some might be offended by the image of a dark-skinned child carrying a white one. Others mentioned its similarity to the cartoon “Little Black Sambo,” based on the children’s book about a South Indian boy by Helen Bannerman that was banned amid allegations of racism in the mid 20th century, Kruska said.

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“I see it as just two kids playing,” said Seiffert, 13. “Not two kids of color.”

Seiffert’s older brother Shaheen Seiffert, told the news site the family posted a picture of the student’s drawing on social media with a message about school officials’ concerns and none of the more than 500 commenters thought it was offensive.

“She has been drawing since she was four, and she also won a contest when she was at Wright Elementary School,” he said. “She’s very good and we’ve had to keep her in colored pencils, paper and other drawing tools since as long as I can remember. She loves it, and this has just made her so sad.”

But local civil rights “leaders” don’t see it the same way, and allege school officials made the right decision to yank the picture because it’s “simply not acceptable” for a white girl to piggyback on a black boy.

“If the portrayal had been a black child and a white child holding hands, it’d be what we hope for, all children playing together,” Benny Williams, president of the Salem Keizer NAACP, told KGW. “But given the stark colors now, it harkens back to an uncomfortable time when blacks were depicted as subservient.

“Even without knowing the child, I have to say first impression is key,” he continued. “In these times we live in, a black boy carrying a white girl on his back is simply not acceptable.”

Local art experts, however, disagree, and contend the decision to remove the picture will likely crush the girl’s artistic soul.

“I see nothing offensive in this drawing,” gallery owner and art consultant Mary Lou Zeek told the news site. “I see it as free expression, which is what art is supposed to be. Poor girl, once you start shutting these children down, it’s difficult to come back.”

The principal acknowledged that Seiffert was more than disappointed by the district’s decision, the Statesman Journal reports.

“To see her so heartbroken was hard, but we’re encouraging her to enter again next year,” Kruska said. “We want to encourage her and I’m sure she’ll be at the top again.”

Seiffert said she plans to try again next year, but still doesn’t understand why her artwork was removed to begin with.

“I’m pretty upset right now,” she said. “I really don’t understand when everyone like it so much. I mean, everyone loved it.”