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Parents’ rights organizations including Florida-based Moms for Liberty are the latest to be added to a list of ‘hate and anti-government groups.’
A new report from the Southern Poverty Law Center has added it, among others, to their ‘Hate Map’ as part of the release of their ‘Year In Hate and Extremism 2022’ report.
In previous years, groups to be included on the list were akin to neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan the addition of anti-government groups the list has increased from 733 ‘hate groups’ in 2021 to 1225 ‘hate and anti-government extremist groups’ for 2022.
Moms for Liberty was founded in early 2021 by conservative women in Florida, has quickly expanded its presence across the country.
It has landed national media attention for its efforts to fight COVID safety measures in schools, ban books, limit discussion about race and LGBTQ identities and populate local school boards with conservatives.
Moms of Liberty co-founders Tiffany Justice (left) and Tina Descovich (right) blasted the decision to label their organization as a ‘hate group’ by the Southern Poverty Law Center
A new report from SPLC added Moms for Liberty – among 11 others – to their ‘Hate Map’ as part of the release of their ‘Year In Hate and Extremism 2022’ report
According to the new SPLC report schools have been on the ‘receiving end of ramped-up and coordinated hard-right attacks.’
Parental rights groups appear to have had an exponential growth according to SPLC ‘spurred by the right-wing backlash to COVID-19 public safety measures.’
They’ve been described to have ‘grown into an anti-student inclusion movement that targets any inclusive curriculum that contains discussions of race, discrimination and LGBTQ identities.’
‘At the forefront of this mobilization is Moms for Liberty, a Florida-based group with vast connections to the GOP that this year the SPLC designated as an extremist group,’ the report reads.
‘They can be spotted at school board meetings across the country wearing shirts and carrying signs that declare, ‘We do NOT CO-PARENT with the GOVERNMENT.’
‘The group hijacks meetings, preventing officials and parents from conducting their normal proceedings.’
The report goes on to claim that groups like Moms for Liberty have ‘similar rallying cries’ to those who ‘opposed school desegregation.’
‘Galvanizing supporters around supposed ‘parental rights’ and ‘family values’ is nothing new – similar rallying cries were adopted by those who opposed school desegregation during the civil rights movement and by the Moral Majority of the 1980s,’ it said.
Moms for Liberty was founded in early 2021 by conservative women in Florida, has quickly expanded its presence across the country
Moms for Liberty landed national media attention for its efforts to fight COVID safety measures in schools, ban books, limit discussion about race and LGBTQ identities and populate local school boards with conservatives
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‘These political slogans have been used repeatedly because they are effective, framing the organizing of far-right activists as something done solely out of real concern for children.’
It added: ‘But Moms for Liberty activities make it clear that the group’s primary goals are to fuel right-wing hysteria and to make the world a less comfortable or safe place for certain students – primarily those who are Black, LGBTQ or who come from LGBTQ families.’
President and CEO of the SPLC and SPLC Action Fund, Margaret Huang, celebrated the report as a way of ‘taking on’ and ‘exposing’ extremists.
‘Taking on the most hateful factions in our country is critical to dismantling white supremacy and advancing the civil rights of all people,’ Huang said.
‘We are exposing a concerted effort by hate groups and extremist actors to terrorize communities and gain control of public institutions by any means necessary.
‘These groups are descending on Main Street America and disrupting people’s daily lives, too often with dire consequences for communities of color, Jewish people, and the LGBTQ+ community.’
The SPLC is one of the most widely recognized research organizations tracking hate and extremism in the United States.
But have been criticized for designating some groups as extremists when they’re merely taking a political position.
Moms of Liberty co-founders Tiffany Justice and Tina Descovich blasted the decision to label their organization as a ‘hate group’ and told Fox News that they’re dedicated to empowering parents.
President and CEO of the SPLC and SPLC Action Fund, Margaret Huang, celebrated the report as a way of ‘taking on’ and ‘exposing’ extremists
‘Two-thirds of Americans think the public education system is on the wrong track today. That is why our organization is devoted to empowering parents to be a part of their child’s public school education,’ they said in the statement.
‘That is our fundamental goal, which began just two years ago when teacher’s unions locked students out of schools during the pandemic.
‘Empowering parents continues to be our mission today and that has fueled our organization’s growth – like wildfire to now 45 states in the country.’
The co-founders went on to say that ‘name-calling’ parents who want to be part of their children’s education as ‘hate groups’ or ‘bigoted’ further exposes ‘what the battle is all about.’
‘Who fundamentally gets to decide what is taught to our kids in school – parents or government employees?’ they said.
‘We believe that parental rights do not stop at the classroom door and no amount of hate from groups like this is going to stop that.’
Moms for Liberty joins 11 other right-wing parents rights’ groups in the annual report.
