Moms for Liberty co-founder: SPLC's allegations of ties to extremism are 'absurd'
Moms for Liberty co-founder Tiffany Justice reacts to the Southern Poverty Law Center labeling the parental rights organization as an ‘extremist’ group on ‘Fox News Tonight.’
Moms for Liberty co-founder Tiffany Justice tore into the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) for labeling the self-described parental rights organization as an "extremist" group.
The SPLC’s 2022 Year In Hate and Extremism report added the label to the Florida-based non-profit Tuesday, saying it can be "spotted at school board meetings across the country wearing shirts and carrying signs that declare, ‘We do NOT CO-PARENT with the GOVERNMENT.’"
The report said the group "hijacks meetings, preventing officials and parents from conducting their normal proceedings." The SPLC refers to Moms for Liberty as a "far-right" and "anti-government" organization that engages in "anti-student inclusion activities."
The Southern Poverty Law Center's 2022 Hate and Anti-government group's map. (Southern Poverty Law Center)
SPLC Director Susan Corke said the goal of the non-profit is to "fuel right-wing hysteria and to make the world a less comfortable or safe place for certain students – primarily those who are Black, LGBTQ or who come from LGBTQ families."
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Justice told "Fox News Tonight" Wednesday that the "extremist" label was "absolutely absurd."
"We are a group of moms and dads and grandparents and aunts and uncles, community members that are very concerned about the direction of the country," she said.
The co-founder added that the group is "upsetting the balance of power in public education" and believes the SPLC is engaging in an "orchestrated attempt" to "stop our voices."
Moms for Liberty was founded in 2021 to "unify, educate and empower parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government," according to the mission statement on its website. It has fought against mask mandates in schools and speaks out against critical race theory in public schools.
Justice said the label wouldn’t deter the organization and that it would continue to fight for parents’ rights nationwide.
"We're going to keep doing the work that we do across the country. We're set up by chapters. We have over 120,000 members. And if you talk to the moms and dads on the ground, they're concerned about some of the things that they're seeing taught in schools. They're concerned about the fact that not every American child is learning to read in school," she told host Harris Faulker. "So we're going to keep focused on our mission of getting liberty-minded individuals elected to school board[s] and ensuring that parental rights are protected at every level of government."
Amy Carney speaks on behalf of parents during a protest against critical race theory being taught at Scottsdale Unified School District before a digital school board meeting at Coronado High School in Scottsdale on May 24, 2021. (Reuters)
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Justice shared that she believes there is an ongoing effort to silence and suppress parents’ voices.
"We are joyful warriors. We're not going to stop. I mean, no one's going to fight for anything like a parent's going to fight for their child. And, you know, we are moms and dads that are concerned about the future of the country," she said.