Sign this email to US DOJ
On October 4, 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice announced a new initiative to address “harassment, intimidation and threats of violence” against school board members and employees – including but not limited to the creation of a federal task force as well as dedicated lines of communication for threat reporting, assessment, and response by law enforcement under the auspices of the FBI.
This occurred 5 days after the National School Board Association sent a letter to President Joe Biden, asking for federal intervention, likening dissenters at school board meetings to “domestic terrorism” while citing the Patriot Act and claiming an impact upon “interstate commerce.”
This choreography makes one thing very clear: there is a coordinated campaign to intimidate American citizens into silence – and the Department of Justice is complicit.
Parents, grandparents, and taxpayers have been routinely ignored, disrespected, and dismissed by their school board members, administrators, and teachers – all for the “offense” of expressing well-founded concerns about the quality of taxpayer-funded education in 2021.
We do not, have not, and will not advocate violence.
Over the past year, thousands of Americans have petitioned their elected officials for a redress of grievances – as is their right, guaranteed by the First Amendment – and they will continue to do so.
We ask that the Department of Justice discontinue this effort – which leverages the muscle of the federal law enforcement community – to browbeat its fellow Americans into silence.
It is wholly inappropriate that the very government that is sworn to protect us is being weaponized against dissent, particularly when our country faces major threats both at home and abroad. To redirect finite federal resources away from the very real dangers facing our nation is not only fiscally irresponsible but also places our nation in grave danger.
Our country’s children deserve a high-quality education. The Department of Justice should not criminalize the American citizens that advocate on behalf of students.