By the time Biden Attorney General Merrick Garland realizes what an incredibly stupid memo he wrote to the president accusing parents of ‘”harassment and intimidation” of school board members, his boss will probably be a lame-duck president ready to be put out to pasture.
Republicans couldn’t have drawn it up any better. What’s the best way to show how radical the Biden administration is? How about threatening parents with a federal investigation because they want a say in what their children are being taught?
That parental pushback will take substantive form on October 17, when there will be a “Not a Domestic Terrorist” rally in front of the Department of Justice Building.
📣 We invite @NSBAPublicEd exec director + AG Merrick Garland to hear mama, papa + grandparent bears at our pep rally for parents this Sun, Oct 17, 3 PM at the corner of Constitution Ave NW + 9th St NW, in front of… @TheJusticeDept! They need to come + apologize to #wetheparents pic.twitter.com/18lvaQjRUP
— Asra Q. Nomani 🐻Mama Bear “Domestic Terrorist” 🧸 (@AsraNomani) October 15, 2021
The parental pushback issue has roiled the Virginia gubernatorial race. Democrat Terry McAuliffe made the gaffe of the race — so far — when he said he didn’t “think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.” His opponent, Republican Glenn Youngkin, is firing with both barrels, blanketing the state with $3 million in ads about education.
That, along with Garland’s stupidity, has given a sizable edge on the issue to Republicans.
“This campaign is about making Virginia the best state, the best place to live and work and raise a family, and there is nothing more critical to Virginia’s future than education. Education has the power to lift people up, to lift people out, to provide opportunities that they can only dream about, to realize the most vivid dreams. It gives every child a chance – every child – and when I’m governor, we will all be about giving every child a chance, to learn, to grow, to succeed, to believe. That’s what Virginia is all about,” Youngkin told the Daily Caller.
Aside from the political pablum, Youngkin sounded all the right notes: “opportunity,” “dreams,” “future.” These are the issues that concern parents, not “white supremacy” or “systemic racism.”
Ian Prior, executive director of the Virginia-based Fight for Schools, told the Daily Caller that the COVID-19 pandemic caused many parents who were “traditionally not involved with politics” to become more active, as their children struggled with virtual learning and local schools slow-walked reopening.
Then, the creation of the “Anti-Racist Parents of Loudoun County” Facebook group “turbo-charged” education concerns, Prior said.
In recent decades, parents have demonstrated a willingness to let teachers have their way with their children as far as indoctrinating them. With the debate over CRT and arrogant, out-of-control school boards, that may be changing.
A poll commissioned by Fight for Schools and conducted by Public Opinion Strategies found that among voters in Fairfax and Loudoun counties, 86% of Republicans, 57% of independents, and 23% of Democrats oppose the teaching of critical race theory.
“This is truly a grassroots, parents-led movement,” Prior said, comparing parental outrage to a fire that “Democrats have done nothing to throw water on.”
“That fire is never going to burn out of parents,” he added.
Parents were angry when their young children were coming home in tears after being called “oppressors” or worse by a teacher. Public school enrollment is cratering, and if educators want to find the reason why they don’t have to go much farther than a school board meeting.
