In its request, the National School Board Association called violence and
threats over COVID-19 mandates a "danger to civic participation."
The point is to attack democracy, social cohesion, truth, and other values and institutions of democracy. Pro-democratic forces and institutions stand in the way of American radical right authoritarian's relentless quest for power and wealth, so they are attacked and undermined.
Death threats and intimidation of public officials signal Trump’s autocratic legacy
The New York Times writes in an article, Energizing Conservative Voters, One School Board Election at a Time, that radical right lies about critical race theory have “torn apart one Wisconsin suburb.”
Little more than a year ago, Scarlett Johnson was a stay-at-home mother, devoted to chauffeuring her children to school and supervising their homework.
That was before the school system in her affluent Milwaukee suburb posted a video about privilege and race that “jarred me to my core,” she said.
“There was this pyramid — where are you on the scale of being a racist,” Ms. Johnson said. “I couldn’t understand why this was recommended to parents and stakeholders.”
The video solidified Ms. Johnson’s concerns, she said, that the district, Mequon-Thiensville, was “prioritizing race and identity” and introducing critical race theory, an academic framework used in higher education that views racism as ingrained in law and other modern institutions.
Since then, Ms. Johnson’s life has taken a dramatic turn — a “180,” she calls it. She became an activist, orchestrating a recall of her local school board. Then, she became a board candidate herself.
Republicans in Wisconsin have embraced her. She’s appeared on panels and podcasts, and attracted help from representatives of two well-funded conservative groups.
Ms. Johnson’s rapid transformation into a sought-after activist illustrates how Republicans are using fears of critical race theory to drive school board recalls and energize conservatives, hoping to lay groundwork for the 2022 midterm elections.Education leaders, including the National School Boards Association, deny that there is any critical race theory being taught in K-12 schools.
“Critical race theory is not taught in our district, period,” said Wendy Francour, a school board member in Ms. Johnson’s district now facing recall.
Teachers’ unions and some educators say that some of the efforts being labeled critical race theory by critics are simply efforts to teach history and civics.
“We should call this controversy what it is — a scare campaign cooked up by G.O.P. operatives” and others to “limit our students’ education and understanding of historical and current events,” said Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers.
But Republicans say critical race theory has invaded classrooms and erroneously casts all white people as oppressors and all Black people as victims. The issue has become a major rallying point for Republicans from Florida to Idaho, where state lawmakers have moved to ban it.
Things got worse. Protesters showed up outside the home of the district superintendent; relationships among neighbors began to fray. School board meetings, formerly dull affairs, dragged on for hours, with comments taking on a nasty and divisive tone.
“We’ve been called Marxist flunkies,” Ms. Francour said. “We have police attending the meetings now.”
In recent weeks some professional news sources have started to report that there is a well-funded national campaign coordinated by major multi-millionaire and billionaire-backed radical right political groups. The goal is to attack democracy and truth by spreading disinformation and fomenting fear, anger, bigotry, distrust, polarization and so forth. School board meetings and local city council meetings are prime targets for this coordinated fascist propaganda campaign to attack democracy and truth.
The groups include ones financially backed by the fascist Koch political action Leviathan. NPR has been among the sources who are starting to report on this nationally coordinated fascist attack on democracy. According to NPR reporting, critical race theory is one of the wedge issues that over 150 national radical right groups have focused their disinformation efforts on. Lies about election fraud, COVID, immigration, gun control, persecution of Christians, and tyranny from Democratic socialism or communism are other wedge issues that fascist demagogues are using to win power nationally. The effort appears to be quite effective with many average people. Affected people are successfully becoming scared, angered, enraged, distrustful and intolerant due to the fascist disinformation campaign.
The national coordinators provide local radical right groups with money, e.g., for protest signs, expertise to establish a presence in social media and sophisticated talking points grounded in lies, deceit and other dark free speech. Local groups use their social media presence to rile people up and get them to attend public meetings to express their unfounded but sincere fears and rage.
All of this is happening with the blessing and open support of the FRP (fascist Republican Party) and quietly by a lot of anonymous business community funding. The Democratic Party appears to be mostly unaware of this major onslaught, or it has has rationalized the threat into insignificance. Meanwhile, average people on the receiving end of these increasingly vitriolic and personally threatening lies and slanders from enraged but deceived conservatives seem to be getting pushed back from a presence in public fora that are under fascist attack. People being attacked try to defend themselves with truth and reason, but conservative terror and rage completely sweeps that aside and into oblivion.
One other observation from recent reporting by several sources merits mention. More observers of what America’s radical right and the FRP is doing are referring to it as fascism. I am not the only person to see this and apply the same label. More people are waking up to the seriousness of the threat and seeing it for what it actually is. A fascist takeover of democracy can happen in America.
To say the least, things are not going well for democracy and truth in local politics outside the beltway. That mirrors what is going on with the FRP inside the beltway.
Questions:
1. Can a fascist takeover of American democracy happen in, say, the next 6-8 years?
2. How can people in public positions that are under attack by radical right lies, deceit and slanders defend themselves, or are they on just their own and have to get out of the kitchen if the heat is too high, e.g., from themselves and/or their families being threatened with physical violence?[1]
3. Is the Democratic Party and/or law enforcement doing too little in defense of democracy and truth, and if so, what can or should it or they be doing?
Footnote:
1. No, I am not making this stuff up. For example:
From Congress To Local Health Boards, Public Officials Suffer Threats And Harassment
From Congress To Local Health Boards, Public Officials Suffer Threats And Harassment
‘A dark, empty place:’ Public officials face personal threats as tensions flare
Trump-inspired death threats are terrorizing election workers
Opinion: Republicans are siding with the angry mob
FBI to investigate threats made against school board members, teachers
National school board group seeks federal help with threats against public school officials
arrests were made
Despite arrests, parents were pissed off about
transgendered children, critical race theory and
whatever other else was on the terror, rage and hate menu
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