An internal FBI memo sent shock waves across the nation when the public learned that the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division had created a “threat tag” to assess and track school parents.
On September 29, 2021 the National School Boards Association (NBSA) sent a letter to the Biden administration comparing parents protesting public school COVID-19 policies, critical race theory (CRT) and other issues to domestic terrorists. Five days later, Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a DOJ memo directing the FBI to investigate “threats” to school boards.
The public took notice, and so did elected officials—including House Judiciary Committee Republican ranking member Jim Jordan (OH) who hammered Garland for establishing “a snitch line on parents.”
The Garland memo galvanized the resolve of dissenting parents and swelled the ranks of organizations like Moms for Liberty, Moms for America, Mom Army, and Dad Army.
The rapid growth of the backlash against Biden’s DOJ indicates that this contentious brawl will tumble right into the 2024 election.
“Local elections are the most important for our future.” -Catalina Stubbe, Director of Hispanic Outreach, Moms for Liberty
“When that memo came out, Mom Army had already been up and running,” says Founder of Mom Army and Dad Army, Seak Smith, “and we were floored—how was it possible in the United States of America that our government, the DOJ, is issuing this very harsh statement that parents are terrorists for going to school board meetings and speaking up against all of these things we deem as attacks on our children? But I think the opposite happened. Everything is now at our door steps. Instead of intimidating parents, I am seeing a rise of parents getting involved because they can no longer remain silent.”
Catalina Stubbe, Director of Hispanic Outreach for Moms for Liberty—an organization that boasts 186 chapters in 35 states and over 85,000 members—says they are “mainly focused on the school board races,” adding, “and I think local elections are the most important for our future.”
“Shaping elections is our goal—not only talking to parents—and it’s the outcome that matters,” according to Stubbe. “Right now we are in Georgia, Michigan, Arizona, Nevada—the swing states—and we’re working hard on those.”
According to Stubbe, 70% of parents in America align with their criticisms toward public education. “I think the most impactful topic has been gender ideologies,” she says. “And that was so shocking—especially for the Hispanic community—that it was the turning point moment to get involved and to take action on those issues. When the SPLC tagged us as a ‘hate group,’ that was the moment when we received more donations,” she says. “It’s like Trump—the more they persecute him, the better he does.”
Consequently, a number of candidates entering the 2024 election cycle have put this issue front and center. Sharleta Bassett is one of them.
“As a mother and grandmother with a heart for our nation’s children, I am running for US Senate in California to tear down the evil attack against our families and beliefs,” says Bassett. “We mothers, fathers, and grandparents are the frontline defenders, to protect our children from the bloated government systems of schools, city councils, and three-letter agencies labeling parents as terrorists.”
“There must be an end to wrong being called right, and right being called wrong,” she says. “It is time for righteous judgment in our land! As God is my witness as a US Senator for California, I will defend the truth over woke lies and defend our families from this evil by implementing legislation to be passed for parents’ rights and Christian values.”
“The targeting of parents by the DOJ and our federal government has only activated more parents to get involved, as seen at school board meetings and rallies across the country. Engagement in local politics has grown going into the next election cycle.” -Seak Smith, Founder of Mom Army & Dad Army
Kathleen Winn, candidate for US Congress in Arizona CD 6—and a grandmother of 18—echoes those sentiments: “Our citizens cannot be charged as terrorists for simply parenting their children. The Justice system has been weaponized to silence God-fearing, conservative, patriotic men and women who honor the Constitution.”
“As a member of the US Congress, I will honor the Constitution and rule of law while serving the people who elect us,” says Winn. “This is the only job of Congress. I will fight to protect our children and their families.”
In spite of this momentum, parental rights advocates claim the persecution against school parents continues. Stubbe says that the Biden administration has been warring against Moms for Liberty daily.
“They not only cancel culture on us, they try to silence us,” she says. “They built a strategy with organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center and many others to tag us with all the names and have labels used against us. Now they feel entitled to name us ‘terrorists,’ or ‘hate groups,’ or anything else. Only people on the left will believe that, and I think they have lost credibility. They are against all the Christian groups, parental rights groups—so, obviously it’s not really about us, it’s about their agenda.”
“Let me be clear: being a concerned parent is not a crime, and speaking up for your child’s future is not an act of terrorism.” Rep. Andy Ogles (TN)
Jim Jordan’s battle against the “Deep State” has kept pace. A March 21, 2023 Interim Staff Report of the House Committee on the Judiciary and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government questioned “the Biden Administration’s use of federal law-enforcement and counterterrorism resources against parents voicing concerns about controversial curricula and education-related policies at local school board meetings.”
Freshman Congressman, Andy Ogles (TN) joined the fight on Capitol Hill after the 2022 election.
It has come to light, through diligent investigation by Chairman Jim Jordan and the House Judiciary Committee, that the Biden Administration has used the instruments of federal power and combating terrorism as a sword against our citizens who dare to voice concerns at school board meetings,” Ogles told George Magazine on November 10. “It’s unconscionable. Whistleblowers have revealed that the FBI has gone so far as to tag these parents as potential threats. Let me be clear: being a concerned parent is not a crime, and speaking up for your child’s future is not an act of terrorism. The 2024 election is the best chance the American people have had in a long time to elect representatives that will rein in federal bureaucracy and prevent the far Left from continuing to target people of faith, conscience, and conservative principles.
“This whistleblower information raises serious concerns that your October 4 memorandum will chill protected First Amendment activity,” reads the Interim Staff Report, “as parents will rightfully fear that their passionate advocacy for their children could result in a visit from federal law enforcement.”
Indeed, a number of concerned parents have suffered arrest, fines, and even incarceration for exercising their First Amendment rights to question policies deeply affecting their children’s education, religious freedom, as well as mental and physical health. They claim that instead of giving answers to address their concerns, some school boards and administrators have had parents “trespassed” and arrested. In lock step, federal, state and local authorities have been caught monitoring, intimidating, and politically prosecuting parents.
According to a Fox News article, “FBI officials interviewed a mom for allegedly telling a school board member ‘we are coming for you.’ The person reported the mother because she belonged to a ‘right wing mom’s group’ called ‘Moms for Liberty’ and because she is a gun owner. FBI officials eventually determined this mom was not a threat.”
“They told her to stay quiet and not tell anyone about the call,” says Stubbe. “They asked her if she goes to a mental health institution, if she’s mentally stable. It scared her.”
“It shocked our entire organization,” Stubbe continued. “Because it shows how they are using our tax dollars to intimidate us all. It’s crazy how weaponized the government is against us! They want to intimidate us; they want to stop us; they want to silence us. This is their main goal.”
“The 2024 election is the best chance the American people have had in a long time to elect representatives that will rein in federal bureaucracy.” Rep. Andy Ogles (TN)
“In another investigation,” according to the same article, “Jordan said FBI officials interviewed a father opposed to COVID masks. The person who reported the father did so because he supposedly fit the bill of an ‘insurrectionist’ and ‘rails against the government’ and ‘has a lot of guns and threatens to use them’—claims which the person later admitted they had ‘no specific information or observations of…any crimes or threats.’”
“You guys [public schools] don’t get to define how people disagree with you. School districts don’t have that right. The citizens have that right.” -Hon. Antonio Riojas, Tucson City Court
Numerous reports detail political targeting and prosecutorial misconduct against parents and families nationwide.
- In 2021, A teenage girl and her parents were arrested, handcuffed and hauled off to the police station for “trespassing” after the parents insisted on meeting with Walden Grove principal, Teresa Hill, nonviolently seeking justification for quarantining their asymptomatic daughter. Sahuarita Town Magistrate Maria Montaño Avilez, siding with Hill, sentenced mom Jennifer Majuta, a children’s book author with no prior record, to five days in county prison “to make an example of her.”
- The Dhillon Law Group, on behalf of parents Amanda Wray, Kimberly Stafford, and Edmond Richard, filed a lawsuit on May 5th, 2022 against Scottsdale Unified School District No. 48, School Board Member Jann-Michael Greenburg, his father Mark Greenburg and Mark’s spouse Dagmar Greenburg for compiling a 100GB dossier on parents and their families to contribute to the Greenburg’s efforts of intimidation and silencing their speech.
- Kelly Walker and two other Arizona fathers were arrested on September 15, 2021 after they verbally confronted school administrators over one of the fathers’ claims that his child had been forced to retrieve and wear a soiled mask from the trash. In a pretrial hearing, supervising Judge Antonio Riojas stated, after watching a video of the incident, that the fathers “sat down the entire time,” adding, “That’s not disorderly conduct. That’s not rude; that’s not threatening. You guys [Vail Arizona ISD staff] don’t get to define how people disagree with you. School districts don’t have that right. The citizens have that right.” Nevertheless at trial, controversial left-wing Arizona magistrate Geraldine Hale sentenced Walker—who had no prior record—to 100 days in jail and nearly $10,000 in “restitution.” It was revealed in court that no less than 15 Tucson police agents had been assigned to investigate the trespass, and the FBI had been monitoring Walker.
“This is about crushing dissent.” Jon Tigges
- Jon Tigges attended a Loudoun County, Virginia School Board meeting on June 22, 2021, joining other parents to protest CRT and the district’s transgender policies. The school board cut off public comments and—after Tigges and another parent refused to leave without being heard—they were arrested. A Virginia district judge found Tigges guilty of trespassing on October 2021. The arrest was overturned on appeal on January 4, 2023. “There was no violence going on,” Tigges asserted. “This is about crushing dissent.”
- Scott Smith, at the same meeting to defend his daughter who had just been raped three weeks before by a transgender male in the girls’ bathroom, was also arrested. In 2023 Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin pardoned Smith, writing that he had been “publicly and falsely accused of ‘domestic terrorism’ and ‘hate crimes’ for attempting to advocate for his daughter,” and he called the arrest an “injustice.”
“The FBI has turned into a domestic surveillance agency that attacks and monitors honest citizens and harasses people based on their politics.” Rep. Paul Gosar (AZ)
I reached out to Arizona Congressman, Paul Gosar regarding this political battle, for George Magazine:
Unfortunately, the FBI is a corrupt institution. The FBI has turned into a domestic surveillance agency that attacks and monitors honest citizens and harasses people based on their politics. This cannot be allowed any longer. The Founders envisioned a republic where the rule of law and equal justice were pillars of our nation. Today, those pillars have been demolished and we are witnessing a post-Constitution America where the tactics of the Deep State thuggery are repeatedly used to intimidate, silence and destroy their political opposition. The way the FBI, and Department of Justice as a whole, viciously perverted justice to defend Hunter Biden to protect “The Big Man” is the latest example of the insult to the American people. Hearing the whistleblower witnesses from the Oversight Committee hearing recently testify on how the DOJ was intervening in the IRS’s investigation of Hunter Biden only further demonstrates the need to bring the Biden Crime Syndicate to justice and that is exactly what House Republicans intend to do.
“We love Jim Jordan,” says Stubbe. “We know that he is on our side and supports parental rights. We feel Speaker Johnson is an ally, and we are open to any further discussion, legislative plans, and so on.”
“Many parents are not understanding the war we are in…Many are still too comfortable and not willing to take the risk on their reputations and the possible retaliation they would face…Evil never rests and we can’t either.” -Emily Peterson, Iowa State Liaison, Moms for America
“But we moms are not waiting for change from the election outcomes or the White House,” Stubbe says. “This change has to happen at the dinner table, within our families, from us, not the government. So, I encourage moms to take action with their own children and talk to them. Teach them the Bible, the Constitution, our rights. Start the change in your own home, don’t expect a change from the White House, the Congress, or the courthouse.”
As Congress seeks justice for them on Capitol Hill, a number of parents face continued persecution, threats, and legal harassment from the US government.
Dr. James Lindsey, a member of the Moms for Liberty National Advisory Board, says that the many moms he’s spoken with at events are “completely committed, though they are stressed and fatigued,” adding that “they say things like, if we can’t protect our children, there’s nothing left.”
And that fatigue leaves the political outcome of this battle uncertain. Moms for America Iowa State Liaison, Emily Peterson saw many of her chapter’s hard-won 2021 school board election gains reversed in the November 2023 elections.
“Reflecting on the [2023] school board elections here in Iowa, which resulted in the loss of four conservative seats, I’m left with the feeling that many parents are not understanding the war we are in,” she says. “Many are still too comfortable and not willing to take the risk on their reputations and the possible retaliation they would face for calling out individuals and the evil grooming and indoctrination agenda consuming our schools. While there is a remnant of warrior parents, we must never quit but press forward in God’s strength and be fearless. Evil never rests and we can’t either.”
“The 2024 election is the best chance the American people have had in a long time to elect representatives that will reign in federal bureaucracy,” says Ogles, “and prevent the far Left from continuing to target people of faith, conscience, and conservative principles.”
Kelly John Walker is an American statesman, senior writer, and entrepreneur. He is Founder of FreedomTalk, Host of FreedomTalkTV, and a freelance writer published in George Magazine, The Washington Times, Gateway Pundit, The Epoch Times, Andrew Magazine, Townhall, and others. Kelly holds a BA in English & Theology, and a Master of Science degree on a graduate fellowship with the US Department of Defense. He had a distinguished career as a conservation professional before founding two award-winning advertising agencies. His newest project is the “Fathering in a World Gone Mad” series featuring Eric Metaxas, Victor Marx, Sheriff Mark Lamb, Clay Clark, and more. Find out more at RealFreedomTalk.com.
You can watch the entire Mesquite School Incident, the story of the Vail School parents vs. the VUSD administration, and analysis HERE.
