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Dear John,
The Southern Poverty Law Center has placed Republican-funded Moms for Liberty on its list of extremist anti-government organizations, alongside the KKK and the Proud Boys. Facebook has already banned the KKK and Proud Boys under its policy to “remove content that praises, substantively supports or represents ideologies that promote hate, such as nazism and white supremacy.”
It’s time for Facebook to apply this policy to Moms for Liberty.
In the short time since Moms for Liberty was founded in 2021, it has become one of the most influential groups pushing hate and racism in the country. With 285 chapters in 45 states, it boasts a membership of over 110,000, using incendiary rhetoric to advance an anti-inclusion agenda in public schools.
An Indiana chapter of the group used a Hitler quote on the front cover of its newsletter to motivate members to act: “He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future.”
Advocating violence is a Moms for Liberty tactic. Arkansas member Melissa “Missy” Bosch, indicted for making terroristic threats toward faculty and staff of Cabot School District, including a specific threat to shoot a school librarian, said “If I had any mental issues, they would have been plowed down with a gun by now.”
Facebook’s “Policy toward Dangerous Organizations and Individuals” must apply to Moms for Liberty. Click here to tell Facebook: Don’t give Moms for Liberty a platform for hate. Ban this dangerous extremist group now.
It’s fair to say that the group puts a high priority on owning the youth.
They have joined forces with the violent white supremacist groups the Proud Boys andOath Keepers, QAnon conspiracy theorists, and Christian nationalist organizations to harass and threaten teachers, librarians, and school boards across the country, seeking to enforce their vision of America, and opposing any discussion of the history of race or the existence of sexual orientations or gender identities outside their narrowly-defined norm.
Moms for Liberty is the driving force behind the dramatic increase in book bans in schools and libraries across the United States. At least 1,477 book bans, affecting 874 unique titles have been implemented so far this year. The group also threatens educators’ lives and livelihoods, as a Reuters special report found teachers, librarians, and school administrators “living in fear” of the group.
How far will Moms for Liberty go to erase LGBTQ+ students from public schools and the public discussion? Florida Moms for Liberty member Crystal Alonso, interviewed by MSNBC, offers this solution:
“The kids that do have their, you know, they’re confused, or they are gay or whatnot, ...like for example children with autism, Down Syndrome, ...they have to be put into separate classrooms, ... I think that for children that identify differently, there should also be like a specialized ... something for them.”
Founder Tiffany Justice uses violence-adjacent rhetoric designed to increase the level of threat members feel justified to make. For instance, she refers to the National Education Association as “The K-12 Cartel - also known as the National Teachers Union.” Actually it is neither a union nor a cartel, but calling it a cartel calls up images of extreme drug-related criminal violence.
Moms for Liberty associates itself with gun culture to the extent that one local chapter’s meetings are punctuated by continuous gunfire. Colorado county chairperson Darcy Schoening tweeted, “Due to threats from the left, we made the decision to move all future Moms for Liberty meetings to DCF Guns East [a gun range] upstairs conf room. It is safe, impenetrable by protestors or otherwise. Now WE have a #safespace as the libs call it.”
Whatever extremes Moms for Liberty goes to establish its so-called “safe spaces,” Facebook cannot be one of them. Please add your name now and call for Facebook to bar the organization as a dangerous hate group.
Thank you for helping to limit the violent and hateful rhetoric of this group from the public forum.
Robert Reich
Inequality Media Civic Action
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