The Department of Justice is targeting parents concerned with their children’s education after education industry special interests call them domestic terrorists. They call protests over CRT and COVID protocols “threats of violence.”
Summary
Earlier this week, Attorney General Merrick Garland instructed Department of Justice employees to focus attention on an alleged “disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence” against school employees and school board members.
- The directive comes a week after the National School Boards Association wrote to the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security urging them to treat “acts of malice, violence, and threats” towards school employees as “a form of domestic terrorism.”
- The Associated Press incorrectly fact-checked this claim, saying the NSBA never said the Justice Department should “label parents who protest at school board meetings as terrorists.”*
- Parents from across the country and groups representing parents concerned with their children’s curriculum are pushing back, saying the NSBA and the Justice Department is trying to “immunize” school boards from criticism and silencing those who protest critical race theory-style curriculum.
- Republican politicians are also criticizing the DOJ for the memo, including Sen. Mike Lee who told the Attorney General it should “not interfere with the rights of parents” to address their concerns with school officials.
- This incident is being considered “a new front in the nation’s culture wars” as “competing political tribes” in America are “alienated from each other.”
- NPR did not address or attempt to quantify the “increase” in violence and threats the DOJ and NSBA alleged to be occurring.
- The New York Times reported “the Justice Department’s announcement was met with widespread praise.”
- Time.com said the DOJ’s efforts are in response to “contentious protests” at school board meetings over COVID-19 restrictions and critical race theory, and quoting the NSBA calling protesting parents “angry mobs.”
- The Daily Signal highlighted the grilling of a DOJ official during a Senate hearing in which the official refused to condemn the looting, rioting, and property destruction of left-wing activists but argued the First Amendment does not protect what the Daily Signal calls “parents who express their views to local school boards.”
- The New York Post highlighted the response from parents on the DOJ’s memo, with one parents advocacy leader calling Attorney General Garland out for his “declaration of war” on parents.
- Fox News raked AP over the coals for its false fact check claiming the NSBA did not label parents “domestic terrorists.”
Author’s Take
The Associated Press’ trickery with the wording of the NSBA’s letter is classic media bias. No, there was no sentence in this letter that said “Protesting parents are domestic terrorists.” But the contortions they perform to justify not only the letter but the DOJ’s response is typical.
This is also the second time the Biden administration has bowed to education industry special interests, with teachers’ unions shaping COVID protocols for schools behind the scenes with the Centers for Disease Control.
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© Dallas Gerber, 2021
