Fox News‘ latest outrage is the false claim, made by anti-critical race theory propagandists and other right wing extremists, that the Dept. of Justice will be prosecuting – as domestic terrorists – parents opposed to what their children are learning in schools.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki Wednesday afternoon had to explain that to Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy when he asked, “Does the administration agree that parents upset about their kids’ curriculums could be considered domestic terrorists?”
There have been numerous reports of far right wing parents threatening violence against school board members, and in some cases examples of law-breaking and violence.
It’s become so bad that the National School Board Association (NSBA) wrote to the White House to ask President Joe Biden to take action and protect local elected officials.
“As these acts of malice, violence, and threats against public school officials have increased,” the NSBA wrote, “the classification of these heinous actions could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes.”
As NCRM reported Tuesday, conservatives have spent months organizing and training “grassroots” activists to bombard school board meetings to oppose mask mandates and “critical race theory.” At least one former Trump administration official is involved behind the scenes, and Christopher Rufo, the right wing activist who admitted to twisting critical race theory to mean anything “crazy” the right wants it to, also mischaracterized Garland’s order, once against igniting outrage on the right.
Psaki was prepared.
“Well let me unravel this a little bit because the National School Board Association is not a part of the U.S. government,” she explained. “I’d point you to them. What the Department of Justice said in a letter from the Attorney General is that, ‘threats against public servants are not only illegal, they run counter to our nation’s core values.’ That is true. These were threats against public servants, threats against members of the school board, regardless of the reasoning, threats and violence against public servants is illegal. That’s what he was conveying from the Department of Justice.”
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