Response to National School Board Association Accusation of Parents Engaging in ‘Domestic Terrorism’
10/06/2021
Press Release
The Honorable President Joe Biden
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20500
The Honorable United States Attorney General Merrick Garland
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20530
Ms. Viola M. Garcia and Mr. Chip Slaven
National School Board Association
1680 Duke St. Fl. 2
Alexandria, VA 22314
School board and their elected allies take vicious aim at concerned parents and our rights to access to government.
At the beginning of the October 2021, parents around the country were alarmed to learn that the National School Boards Association has “ask[ed] [President] Biden to Review Whether Parent Confrontations over CRT Constitute ‘Domestic Terrorism’.”
At a time when news headlines read like parody and satire, we regret to report that this is genuine, not parody. Merrick Garland, the United States Attorney General, who wields the might of our federal law enforcement, has dignified the request by agreeing that unspecified “threats” from opponents of racial and gender indoctrination may be illegal. The threat to US is clear — shut up or feel the weight of the federal government at your doors.
We have seen nothing akin to “domestic terrorism”. Parents of all races and backgrounds are rising up in opposition to efforts to indoctrinate our children. They have engaged in open forums with school boards (their elected officials) to object to the teaching of critical race theory and other manipulative concepts to minors, as well as the use of overtly sexual and blatantly pornographic materials in the classroom.
Parents by right of both federal law and natural law are the first educators of their children. The notion that school boards are immune from accurate objections to teachings that undercut fundamental parental rights is an abomination of American constitutional rights to petition. There is a First Amendment right to petition government for redress. It is explicit in the Constitution: the “right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances” shall not be abridged. The First Amendment applies to all levels of government: federal, state, and local. It certainly applies to public school boards.
We view it both remarkable and disturbing that a “school board association” can attempt to undo the United States Constitution in order to immunize government boards from the people’s petitions “for redress of their grievances.” It is more disturbing yet that the Attorney General of the United States dignified the notion with an agreeable pronouncement.
Attempts to bar parents from speaking is nothing less than an attempt to abridge the constitutional right of petition. If it happens that a school board views as obscene what is being presented in classrooms, then the correct outcome should be to correct the teaching, not to mute the parent.
The tactic of tarring an entire movement as “terrorists” because the movement poses uncomfortable questions is patently unconstitutional.
No Left Turn in Education (NLTE) immediately calls on Attorney General Merrick Garland, and President Joe Biden, to totally disavow these smears and attempts to chill legitimate debate and dissent. And we call on the National School Board Association to apologize to the parents of all backgrounds who are courageously defending their children’s interests in the face of propaganda, indoctrination, and totalitarianism in the classroom.
Dr. Elana Yaron-Fishbein
Founder and President
No Left Turn in Education
Cosigned by:
American Majority
#ArmyofParents
Back on Track America
Integrity Alliance USA
Moms for America
Moms for Liberty
National Society for the Advancement of Black Americans
The Reason We Learn
“No CRT at CUSD”, Cupertino, California
Families Political Action Committee, PAC, Missouri
Parents Changing Education Missouri
Saint Charles County Parents Association, Missouri
Missouri Prosper
Chinese American Citizens Alliance Greater New York
Education First Alliance, North Carolina
Stop School Indoctrination Now, Rhode Island
Bedford County Patriots, Virginia
Breathe VA, Virginia
Hanover Patriots, Virginia
HanPat School Partnership, Virginia
Parents Unite Alleghany Virginia
Powhatan First Virginia
Richmond Jewish Coalition, Virginia
The Virginia Project
Unmask the Children of King William Virginia
Unmask Virginia
VA Beach Back 2 Basics
VA Back2School – Henrico County, Virginia
Virginians for America First
Christopher Homes, Candidate for the Virginia House of Delegates, District 72 https://christopherholmes4delegate.com/
Angela Allen, Candidate for School Board, Goochland County, Virginia https://www.voteangelaallen.com/
Ann Parker, Candidate for Campbell County, Virginia School Board
Ann Parker for School Board
Alliance for Parents Rights, Wisconsin