News from the Philadelphia Inquirer:
Can you strengthen democracy by dialogue with hate groups? The Museum of the American Revolution thinks so. I agree. But when will the dialogue occur? Not at this event.
The newspaper reports:
What you should know:
- The Museum of American Revolution is hosting a welcome event for the controversial “parental rights” group Moms for Liberty, which is holding a four-day summit in Philadelphia this weekqqRep PPP featuring former President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and other speakers.
- Seven historian groups have written their members and the museum denouncing the event and the organization.
- Moms for Liberty is best known for its book ban efforts and calls to limit conversations about race, sexuality, and gender identity in classrooms.
Seven groups of historians have now denounced an upcoming welcome reception at the Museum of American Revolution for “parental rights” group Moms for Liberty. They’ve written their members, the museum, and one group has canceled an event they had planned at the Old City institution.
Moms for Liberty, or M4L, has made national headlines since its founding in 2021 for its efforts to lift pandemic precautions, ban books, and limit conversations about race, sexuality, and gender identity in classrooms. Earlier this month, the Southern Poverty Law Center labeled the group an “antigovernment extremist organization.”
The group is scheduled to hold a four-day sold-out summit in Philadelphia starting Thursday where aspiring school board candidates can receive training and hear from guests, including former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. The group says Pennsylvania has one of its largest membership bases, second only to Florida.
The museum has defended its decision to host the controversial group, arguing its mission is to share diverse and inclusive stories about the country’s history with as broad of an audience as possible and that it hopes to strengthen democracy through dialogue.
But dozens of the museum’s staffers have pushed back. The historian groups are the latest to repudiate the museum’s rationale for hosting the event, acknowledging it’s unusual for them to try to intervene in what’s essentially a space rental. Still, the groups said Moms for Liberty was not a group simply espousing different points of view. They said it has encouraged the harassment of teachers and librarians.
“This organization consistently spreads harmful, hateful rhetoric about the LGBTQIA+ community, including popularizing the use of the term ‘groomer’ to refer to queer people and attacking the mere existence of trans youth,” read a statement from The Committee on LGBT History, the first historian affinity group to condemn the museum.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Just read a moment ago the comment by Threatened Out West about how the climate of fear created by these M4L morons have affected her teaching. Devastating. Horrific.
Moms for Hitlery
Bob I hear many complain about references to Hitler. But in today’s environment, they are as right as rain. CBK
Shame on the directors of this museum. Appalling. The last think we need is Fascist censorship of curricula and pedagogy.
cx: thing
But “last think” sort of works, LOL.
M4L, aka, the white supremacist nationalist Christian fundamentalist Thought Police
M4L has no interest in dialogue, book banners, burners, never do
Exactly right. And the Repugnican presidential candidates show who they are by flocking under the M4L Fascist umbrella.
If this were Germany in 1932, the year before Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany in 1933, should we support someone that thinks like Hitler being invited to an event like this one today?
Hitler ruled absolutely until his death by suicide in April 1945. I see no difference between M4L, Trump and DeSantis. They are all cut from the same cloth as Hitler.
In the name of the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, do we give them every opportunity to to spout their hate from pulpits, both in the public and private sectors, throughout the country?
The government cannot stop them. The 1st Amendment doesn’t stop the rest of us from muzzling the volume of their hate.
How many died because of the Nazi Party and Hitler, and I’m not talking just about the Holocaust — I want to include the death toll from World War II caused by Germany? This time, it could be much higher because of nuclear weapons.
During World War II, “It is believed that 60 to 67 percent of all deaths were civilian fatalities, largely resulting from war-related famine or disease, and war crimes or atrocities. Systematic genocide, extermination campaigns, and forced labor, particularly by the Germans, Japanese, and Soviets, led to the deaths of millions.”
“Estimates of the total number of people killed during World War II have ranged from 35,000,000 to 60,000,000—a significant span, because statistics about the war’s casualties are inexact. The Soviet Union and China are believed to have suffered the most total casualties, while an estimated 5,800,000 Poles died, which represents about 20 percent of Poland’s prewar population. About 4,200,000 Germans died, and about 1,972,000 Japanese died. In all, the scale of human losses during World War II was vast.”
That convincing summation shows how deadly serious education policy is if it is in the wrong hands at the wrong time. Actually, it’s always deadly serious, regardless.
Well said, sir.
According to their own website, “The Museum, which opened on April 19, 2017, is a private, non-profit, and non-partisan organization.” Obviously, they’re under no obligation to offer service to this (or any) group.
Hard to claim non-partisanship when you loan out your facilities to a group of ideologues whose entire philosophy is couched in anti-Constitutional principles. Perhaps, as someone else implied, this is just what they stand for. Proof’s in the pudding, so to speak, and this pudding smells sour.
Just received an email that the American Historical Association has written a letter formally opposing the Museum’s hosting of this event. Better late than never…
https://www.historians.org/news-and-advocacy/aha-advocacy/aha-sends-letter-opposing-museum-of-the-american-revolutions-hosting-of-moms-for-liberty-event-(june-2023)
Excellent! “…it’s about an organization whose mission is to obstruct the professional responsibilities of historians.”
Good.
I think that schools should consider whether a field trip to this museum is something they ought not do. Don’t support this junk.
Very important to distinguish they are hosting, not endorsing the event; although surely M4L will spin it as such. Classes should very definitely visit this and other museums, just not during those three hours. Not attending these places is what they want just as much as not reading about the real reasons they exist.
Apropos: When hotels host crackpots for meetings, boycotting the chain is not constructive. Each hotel is a franchise, often one owner owns many of differing brands (so boycotting one for another might lead to rewarding the same owners). Yes, chain corporate offices have a little say, but they do not have proactive staff looking for these. They find out when we do.
When the groups visit, they could ask how inclusive the Museum’s Board is?
That might be a learning moment!
One word: SICK!
I hope the MFL are met by throngs of protesters. It is unfortunate that this museum is being used to stage a political stunt by MFL, Trump and DeSantis. By hosting an organization deemed an “anti-democratic extremist” group by SPLC, the museum will damage its credibility.
The Museum of the American Revolution-
Officers, Directors, Emeritus- about 30 members, only 20% are women.
Where the numbers are disproportionate, I assume ole’ boys club.
Who is it that M4L associates with?
It is truly sickening that a history museum, of all places, would host this event dedicated to ensuring that accurate history is replaced, in our schools, by jingoistic nationalist mythology. Sickening.
Great point, Bob.
M4L would censor the textbooks if given the chance.
Flerp pointed out to me that I was wrong about what the Supreme Court would do in Moore v. Harper. I am very pleased to have been wrong about this. Evidently, Alito, Thomas, and Gorsuch couldn’t get the other right-wingers on the court to go along with them and support the Independent State Legislatures theory. Whew.
Just posted a comment here about that but it’s hung up in moderation.
Looing forward to it, Flerp
Oh it’s not much. Just drawing attention to the decision. I didn’t even use the full K word but I guess I don’t understand the ways of the auto-moderator.
Looks like it never made it through. Oh well.
FLERP! I wonder if Diane has to have the final say about moderation, and it seems she is involved in the funeral today? I understand about the timing, though. Something is lost in the wait most of the time. CBK
On WordPress, in order to take a comment out of moderation, the site owner has to manually open the program and go to an administration page for comments and read and approve each individually. This takes quite a bit of time. It’s simply how it works. How WordPress decides to put something in moderation is another matter. The algorithm seems extraordinarily capricious.
Bob Thanks for explaining . . . the order of selection does seem strange.
CBK
I don’t know why some comments go into moderation. It appears to be arbitrary. I take them out of moderation by manually approving them.
Give it some time. She has to do this manually.
In case anyone — like “leaders” at the Museum of the American Revolution — missed this:
“The Southern Poverty Law Center is for the first time labeling Florida-headquartered Moms for Liberty and 11 other right-wing ‘parents’ rights’ groups as extremist groups in its annual report…The Southern Poverty Law Center is one of the most widely recognized research organizations tracking hate and extremism in the United States. Being added to its watchlist means almost certain notoriety. Over the years, the center has brought new focus to self-described militias, anti-immigrant groups and outright hate groups. The law center has also sued hate groups and individual extremists in the civil courts, often with great success.”
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2023/06/06/splc-moms-for-liberty-anti-government-extremist-group/70289379007/