Parental rights activists hosted a rally with Republicans on the grounds of the Capitol on Tuesday to demand that the government stay out of parenting amid a nationwide movement of parents concerned about critical race theory and pornography in public schools.
Organized by the Independent Women’s Network, the “Government is Not a Co-Parent” rally outside the Capitol featured remarks by several Republican lawmakers, concerned parents, and activists, many of whom have been outspoken about parental rights in education, especially regarding the contents of curricula.
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Carrie Lukas from the Independent Women’s Forum, part of the Independent Women’s Network, told the Washington Examiner that the rally came together because the organization had been “inspired by all the parents around the country who have been speaking up to their school boards and really challenging local leaders and demanding more responsive education systems.”
“We think it’s really important that that message isn’t just limited to local school boards and state and local governments,” Lukas said. “Congress needs to hear this, too. They are considering massive new legislation that will impact families and parents.”
Parents nationwide have organized in recent months to push back against school boards and local governments because they feel they have been pushed out of their children’s education. Concerns about pornography and critical race theory, which says American institutions and culture are systemically racist toward minorities, have helped galvanize the movement.
Xi Van Fleet, a Loudoun County parent who immigrated from China, was among those concerned parents who spoke at the rally. She said she was at the rally for one reason: to “stop communism.”
“I grew up in Communist China, and I spent my entire school years in the Cultural Revolution,” Van Fleet said. “What’s going on here is communism. People have trouble grabbing that concept, but I’m just trying to educate them.”
Tennessee Rep. Diana Harshbarger, who spoke at the rally, said Congress has to “to stand up for these parents who want to educate their precious children the way they want to educate them.”
“If we can’t legislate that here, they have no hope,” she said, noting that she raised her son in a public school system.
“He turned out just fine, but I monitored everything that he was taught,” Harshbarger said. “Now I have two grandsons … and I don’t want them to be faced with what these children are being faced with in the public school system.”
Texas Rep. Chip Roy said it “unfortunately” took the coronavirus pandemic shutting down schools for parents to realize the corruption in the education system.
“The American people are actually seeing it. Parents are seeing it,” he said. “They’re seeing critical race theory, they’re seeing their kids learning an hour of stuff and seven hours of garbage, and they’re saying, ‘Wait, why is this the case?’”
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“We need to hope that this is awakening a sleeping giant,” Roy added.
