Civil liberty groups are joining conservatives sounding warnings about the Biden administration instructing the Department of Justice (DOJ) to crack down on concerned parents attending school board meetings. Critics say the move to involve the FBI is meant to scare parents from voicing their concerns over critical race theory.
The DOJ on Monday ordered the FBI to work on curbing what it called “harassment” against school administrators after it said the number of such incidents spiked in the past year. The DOJ’s move came days after the National School Boards Association (NSBA) pushed the Biden administration to take action against the rise in “malice, violence, and threats,” which the association said could constitute “a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes.”
“Parents are speaking out against Critical Race Theory in schools. Now the Biden administration is cracking down on dissent,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) tweeted in response to the DOJ announcement.
“At his confirmation hearing, Merrick Garland promised not to follow the Obama model of weaponizing DOJ to target & persecute his political opponents,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said. “Just a few months in, he’s already breaking that promise.”
Parents are speaking out against Critical Race Theory in schools. Now the Biden administration is cracking down on dissent. https://t.co/jvdi2kB7rp
— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) October 5, 2021
Blake Masters, a Republican running for U.S. Senate in Arizona, stated, “It can happen here. It’s happening here. Your government is being weaponized against you.”
The Daily Wire’s Andrew Klavan and Matt Walsh also blasted the DOJ announcement.
“Interesting that harassing a female Senator in a rest room is ‘part of the process,’ but mothers standing up for their children is criminal activity. Another snapshot of leftism,” Klavan said, referencing Biden’s reaction to Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (AZ) being followed into a bathroom by activists over her stance against the White House’s $3.5 trillion “reconciliation” package.
Walsh said: “Leftist activists can come to your house with bullhorns. Film you in the bathroom. Loot your business. Burn police stations. The FBI does nothing. But if conservative parents raise their voices at a school board meeting, they’re hunted down as terrorists. The law is dead.”
For its part, the NSBA celebrated the Justice Department’s decision calling for a crackdown on people “intent on causing chaos and disrupting” school board meetings. The association pinned the disruptions on outsiders, not parents angry about school curriculum or mask mandates.
https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1445192650613735424
“The individuals who are intent on causing chaos and disrupting our schools — many of whom are not even connected to local schools — are drowning out the voices of parents who must be heard when it comes to decisions about their children’s education, health, and safety,” NSBA CEO Chip Slaven said in a statement. “These acts of intimidation are also affecting educational services and school board governance. Some have even led to school lockdowns.”
“The U.S. Department of Justice’s swift action in response to NSBA’s request is a strong message to individuals with violent intent who are focused on causing chaos, disrupting our public schools, and driving wedges between school boards and the parents, students, and communities they serve,” Slaven said. “We need to get back to the work of meeting all students’ needs and making sure that each student is prepared for a successful future. That’s what school board members and parents care about.”
–DailyWire