John: Americans have rarely been
as polarized as they are today.
And as hate groups edge toward
the political mainstream,
experts say they're employing
new tactics and taking on new
forms.
Earlier this month, the southern
poverty law center added 12
conservative parent's rights
groups to its list of more than
1200 extremist hate and
anti-government organizations.
Among those added -- moms for
liberty, a conservative group
that works against school
curriculums that include gender,
race and lgbtq+ topics.
Earlier, I spoke with Susan
Corke, who leads the team at the
southern poverty law center that
tracks extremist groups.
I asked her why the center added
organizations like moms for
liberty to their list of
extremist groups.
Susan: We've been tracking the
rise of moms for liberty and the
other, we're calling them anti
student inclusion groups.
They're trying to claim that
they are just engaged parents.
But, you know, behind their
statements, their their actions
really show different goals.
We included them in this year's
report because of their
anti-government principles.
They traffic in conspiracy
theories about an illegitimate
government.
They take actions to censor
school discussions around race
, discrimination, lgbtq
identities.
John: One of the founders,
co-founders of moms for liberty,
Tiffany justice, was quoted in
the conservative newspaper the
Washington examiner, as calling
the inclusion of her group on
your list absurd and insulting
and saying that it paints a
target on the backs of American
moms and dads.
What's your response?
Susan: I am a mother, too.
I am a mother to a mixed race
child.
And what moms for liberty is
trying to do, essentially, is to
turn back the hands of time to
the pre civil rights era.
You know, this movement that
they are now spearheading is not
new.
They are trying to change
curriculum so that we don't
cover our hard history of
slavery and racism.
What they want is a public
education that prioritizes
white, cisgender children and
otherizes children of color and
different gender identities.
John: They're saying that
they are a parental rights
group.
What would they have looked like
in the past?
Susan: So following the 1954
landmark and unanimous U.S.
Supreme court brown versus board
of education decision, which
outlawed, of course, segregation
in public schools -- that was
when the real backlash arose,
the birthing of this parental
rights movement.
The groups that arose were
comprised mostly middle to upper
middle class white southerners
that were seeking to preserve
their segregationist way of
life.
What we're experiencing right
now is this new wave of
so-called parents rights
advocates that really gained
energy during the pandemic,
rallying together around covid
19 mask and vaccine mandates in
schools.
And then they continued on going
after critical race theory,
going after lgbtq, trans
persons.
John: The splc in the past has
sort of gained notoriety because
of klanwatch.
Track groups like the Ku klux
Klan, neo-nazis, other white
supremacist groups.
And now you're tracking a group
that calls itself moms for
liberty.
What does that say to you about
how extremist groups have
changed their public face, have
changed their tactics over time?
Susan: What we have seen is a
change in the composition of the
hard right since -- before trump
was in office, but particularly
when he was in office.
These hard right groups really
had access to mainstream
politics.
They had direct access to the
white house.
So they really gained influence,
you know, in the wake of the
insurrection.
They had to change tactics.
And so they started moving to
take the mainstreaming and the
political influence that they
were able to gain within the
Republican party.
They took it to the local level.
And they have defined school
boards and public education as
one of their new battlefields.
John: What can be done in your
view?
What should be done in response
to groups like this and to
combat groups like this?
Are there policy changes you'd
like to see?
Susan: One thing that we really
recommend, is that there be much
more investment from government
at the national level as well as
at the state and local level and
partnerships, public and
private, to be really investing
in preventing hate and violence
before they occur.
Hand-in-hand with community
resilience measures and a
greater emphasis and funding for
inclusive education and teaching
our hard history.
John: Susan Corke of the
southern poverty law center,
thank you very much.
Susan: Thank you so much, John.
Happy to be here.
♪♪