Hidden intentions
Letter to the Editor published in the Hudson Star Observer
Extremist groups excel at establishing brands that hide their real intentions. They use existing culture wars to gain support and eagerly create strife where none exists.
Extremist groups use words like “family,” “justice,” and “freedom” in their names, while being hostile to America’s goal of “liberty and justice for all.”
Mom’s For Liberty is one such group. Liberty is “the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one’s way of life, behavior, or political views.” Both their words and actions prove that Mom’s For Liberty is actually hostile to the notion of liberty.
Mom’s For Liberty is not a collection of community-based groups working to improve schools. It is a fringe group founded by Republicans and funded by ultra-conservative groups and individuals. Members have called for segregating LBGTQ students into “special classrooms”.
Hostility to LBGTQ children and their families partially explains why Mom’s For Liberty has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. They also want to sanitize America’s history by objecting to and banning books about race. Books about Martin Luther King, Jr., Ruby Bridges, civil rights protestors and school segregation, have been targeted for removal.
Discussions about police brutality during the struggle for civil rights are criticized as giving a “negative view of firemen and police.” Images of the use of high-pressure hoses, attack dogs and mounted police using clubs to scatter children and other non-violent protests should logically call into question such tactics, but wouldn’t an informed discussion of why such tactics were wrong be better than pretending none of it ever happened?
Mom’s For Liberty isn’t content just to remove books that accurately depict America’s history, but is also partnering with right-wing publishers to donate books supporting their extremist agenda. Americans must see them for what they are; a fringe group committed to using censorship and propaganda to control public schools.
Mom’s For Liberty members have made threats, including death threats, against teachers, administrators and school board members. At least one false report of child abuse has been made. Western Wisconsin residents must act to support our education communities if similar tactics are used here.