Eric Shawn: Stop the threats against school board members
"You’re lucky those parents don’t kill you and your entire family," read one e-mail.
Florida mother and activist Quisha King said that she does not accept the apology the National School Boards Association issued for a letter sent to the Biden administration that targeted parents who are concerned about their children’s schooling and suggested some of their actions amounted to domestic terrorism.
"I don’t accept the apology because I don’t believe it’s sincere," King told "Fox News Live" on Sunday, two days after the apology was issued.
King is a member of Moms for Liberty, a nonprofit organization with the goal of educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights, according to the organization’s website.
"As you all know, there has been extensive media and other attention recently around our letter to President Biden regarding threats and acts of violence against school board members," the NSBA wrote in a memo. "We wanted to write to you directly to address this matter."
"On behalf of NSBA, we regret and apologize for the letter," the NSBA said, noting that "there was no justification for some of the language included in the letter."
"If they were really sorry about what was happening to parents and calling us domestic terrorists they would have investigated and questioned these school boards to see if there was any validity to any of what parents are actually saying," King said.
"There is no excuse for their dereliction of duty," she continued. "They are supposed to be supporting parents."
King said she believes the apology was "phony" and said she thinks "American parents should continue to stand up for their children and be involved and know what’s going on with their child."
"They have that right," she said.
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An NSBA spokesperson did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment on Sunday.
After the NSBA claimed in its letter that some rhetorical clashes between school boards and parents may amount to domestic terrorism, Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a memorandum that instructed the FBI to take the lead on a task force to address threats against school officials, including creating a centralized way to report such threats.
A person familiar with Garland's thinking told Fox News that Garland and Department of Justice officials are pleased with the updated letter as it now is catching up to his statement this week in front of the House Judiciary Committee. The person added that the letter now syncs up with Garland, and that the attorney general is solely focused on preventing violence, not calling parents domestic terrorists.
King wondered if the Department of Justice and the Biden administration "really did support freedom of speech, which was exhibited in all of these school board meetings, why would they have even accepted the letter."
Speaking with Fox News earlier this month, King addressed her concerns that the recent Justice Department investigation will discourage parents from voicing their opposition to critical race theory (CRT) and other ideas.
"Intimidating school board members is where they draw the line, but … that's very vague," she told Fox News in an interview. "Who deems what's intimidating? That can be used in many different types of ways."
WHITE HOUSE IN CONTACT WITH SCHOOL BOARD GROUP FOR ‘WEEKS’ BEFORE CONTROVERSIAL LETTER: EMAILS
Commenting on the FBI’s involvement, she said, "That in itself is intimidating … When you know that the FBI could possibly come after you … you're at home making peanut butter and jelly or ironing your kids' clothes for school – and you happen to have said something that they ‘deem intimidating,' and the FBI shows up at your door. Yeah, that's going to quell a lot of speech."
King, who previously worked for the Republican National Committee (RNC), went viral for a speech denouncing CRT at her local school board meeting.
Her concerns were similar to those raised by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. – both of whom suggested the DOJ's memo was an overreaction and potential threat to civil liberties.
DOJ recently announced it would coordinate a nationwide investigation after the National School Board Association (NSBA) suggested educators might be encountering domestic terrorism. In it, NSBA referenced several instances of reported violence or intimidation.
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Fox News’ Kyle Morris, Sam Dorman and David Spunt contributed to this report.