Moms for Liberty, a conservative parents group founded by two Florida mothers, announced it would be holding a town hall on January 18 in Manhattan to discuss the state of education.
As a New York City parent who has been disappointed by the lack of civic engagement in our city, I was encouraged that this grassroots organization is bold and open minded enough to extend an olive branch in such a blue stronghold.
Would that the other side show the same grace. Instead, Democrats are trying to silence the group, calling the mothers extremists.
City Council members Julie Menin and Keith Powers issued a joint statement urging the president of the Bohemian National Hall — a private venue, keep in mind — to cancel the event.
Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, who doesn’t speak to or for parents, stated that “Moms for Liberty has no place here or any part of NYC.”
Missing were any details to substantiate the attacks. Instead, it reeked of un-democratic propagandist tactics to silence opposition.
The progressive electeds tried to justify their censorship by saying: “while we recognize free speech is a constitutional right, we have been disturbed at the rise of hate speech and divisive rhetoric that groups like Moms for Liberty espouse.”
Now, I am a liberal New York City Democrat, as sensitive to hate speech as any reasonable person. I have watched interviews, read articles, and spoken to Moms for Liberty founder, my friend Tiffany Justice, who is a staunch children’s literacy advocate and a firm believer in parental rights.
I have yet to find an instance of divisive rhetoric or hate speech in anything that she or her partner Tina Descovich, a Florida mother of five and former school board member with a long track history of community service, have said.
On the contrary, their positions are commonsense ones any parent — or grandparent — could agree on, particularly the emphasis on parental rights.
How did we get to a place where a group organized by mothers for our nation’s children is being tarred as radical for simply facilitating a conversation?
Why are our elected officials threatened by a parent town hall, but completely nonchalant when actual extremist radicals calling for the extermination of Jews are holding New York City hostage by rioting across major thoroughfares, shutting down bridges and tunnels and airports?
And if Moms for Liberty is far right, who is in the middle?
I pored over the SPLC website to understand how they came to classify this group as extremists but only found examples of partnerships with conservative parent organizations like Parents Defending Education and conservative think tank Heritage Foundation. Today, simply discussing ideas and exposing novel ideologies being taught in our nation’s schools is enough to brand you a “right wing” extremist.
The teachers unions and the far left politicians do not want scrutiny, so they use incendiary language to smear those who ask questions to shut them down preemptively.
As far as I can tell, Moms for Liberty is a threat because they are not extremists. Extremists could never appeal to the majority of parents. By demanding that public schools be free of political and ideological indoctrination, and instead focus on effectively teaching the basics, they are truly inclusive, appealing to parents from all religions, races, ethnicities and yes, genders.
And it’s the reason Moms for Liberty has been hugely successful in standing up to teachers’ unions and local politicians.
All of this partisan mudslinging from the left is familiar to me. After schools closed in most parts of America in March 2020, “Open Schools Parents” like me were called crazy and even more bizarrely, racist for wanting a rapid return to normalcy. We were accused of not believing in science, of being selfish and lazy, and we were attacked and maligned as right wing extremists, too.
We weathered the insults and grew stronger and more unafraid to speak out.
But there’s something really perverse and dangerous about elected office holders using their citizen-bestowed positions to harangue citizen orgs. A reflection of how far we have come from the concept of citizens as sovereign.
Blowing a dog whistle to attack parent groups is despicable.
The parent movement, born from resisting authoritarian, anti-child COVID-19 restrictions and mandates, is a path forward for moderate Americans who want a government that listens to us and solves our problems.
Parents and children’s advocates must reach across the aisle, engage allies, be as inclusive as possible, lean into one another’s lived experiences and practice the tolerance, respect and love we are teaching our children — for our children’s sake.
We must refrain from continued ad hominem attacks. We must begin to listen and find compromise.
Most of America is in the middle.
Let’s meet there.
Natalya Murakhver is co-founder of the nonprofit Restore Childhood. @AppletoZucchini