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Analysis
Moms for Liberty channeled anger about COVID-19 restrictions to become a right-wing political juggernaut.
The far-right group was founded in late 2020 by current and former school board members in Florida who were pissed off about masks and vaccines for kids.
The anger that forged Moms for Liberty has grown, as the organization expanded to become an overtly political operation. It even has multiple political action committees.
Moms for Liberty’s online presence is set to seethe.
The group calls members “joyful warriors,” which is ironic given all the things it hates: critical race theory, social-emotional learning, wokeness, transgender rights, antifa, President Joe Biden, sex ed, teachers—even the PTA. Yes, the PTA.
Oh, Moms for Liberty says it loves teachers and just wants kids to get a good education. But actions speak louder than memes.
Moms for Liberty claims that teachers unions “are destroying public education.” It calls the unions the “k12 cartel.”
The group insists its crusade against books is about making sure kids are only exposed to age-appropriate materials. Yet time and again, it chooses to attack books about LGBTQ people and issues.
Books about discrimination and racial equity don’t escape Moms for Liberty’s wrath, either. They don’t think kids should read Ruby Bridges Goes to School: My True Story, the tale of the first Black child to integrate schools in New Orleans. The group also called books about Martin Luther King Jr. too “divisive.”
As its influence has grown, so has its notoriety. Members and chapter heads have been accused of harassing and threatening teachers and school board members all over the country.
While Moms for Liberty insists it isn’t a harbinger of hate, the Southern Poverty Law Center saw enough festering rage to add it to the list of far-right anti-government extremist groups this year.
Anger is good business, though. According to GuideStar, Moms for Liberty raked in $370,000 in 2021.
Moms for Liberty is on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Truth Social. There’s a Telegram account that may belong to it as well.
Dirtiest Delete
Moms for Liberty began with a scorched earth campaign to get schools to reopen during the pandemic.
Yet the Tennessee Holler reports that one of its chapters deleted a section on its website admitting that its goal is “to get as many kids out of public schools as possible.”
It’s almost like Moms for Liberty hates public schools. Oh wait, it does.
