Nearly 40 advocacy groups representing more than 20,000 families in Wisconsin ripped into President Joe Biden and Democrat Gov. Tony Evers for the new wave of potential mask mandates and lockdowns facing their state.
In the letter, organizations including We The Parents, Wisconsin United for Freedom, and No Left Turn in Education Wisconsin pledge to reject any mask requirements on children in schools
“Simply put, these are not your children. They are ours and they too, are Americans with rights. They are our responsibility and our most beloved. They are not yours,” the letter states.
The parents also said they would refuse to allow the government “to use your private sector counterparts to enforce invasive mask mandates on our children in various stores or at community activities” and “subject our children to any further local, regional, or national lockdowns or movement restriction.”
“We have watched the last week unfold in abject horror – observing our government institutions and leaders failing our children at every turn, again,” the letter continues. “Your renewed calls for lockdowns, enforced mask mandates, and masking in schools is not rooted in science and is objectively cruel to the most vulnerable in our society, our children. We believe that you are in fact aware of this and continue to play political games with our children, despite our efforts to work with you over the last twelve months.”
Just this week, the Biden administration endorsed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s newest mask recommendations for vaccinated Americans. Some schools in Wisconsin were already planning on requiring face coverings for everyone even before the most recent CDC decision. Now, the state’s health department is doubling down to back the CDC’s flip-flop and encourage children as young as two years old to mask up.
“We must protect our children as they head back to school this fall, along with all other Wisconsinites who are at an increased risk for being hospitalized from COVID-19. Vaccines and the additional protection from wearing masks are the best combination of tools to achieve this goal,” Wisconsin Department of Health Services Secretary Julie Willems Van Dijk said.
While Biden also threatened another round of lockdowns and Evers is known to go back on all of his pandemic promises, the parents said they refuse to give up their parental choice.
“We are strong. We are united. We are in control. We have never and will never co-parent with the government,” the letter concludes.
