Republican hysteria over critical race theory, COVID-19 protocols, and transgender students has resulted in an onslaught of threats and violence toward education officials in school board meetings.
One woman in Kansas said at a county commissioners meeting that members would be "tried for crimes against humanity" for mandating masks in schools, absurdly claiming there was "zero evidence that COVID-19 exists in the world." In Pennsylvania, a GOP gubernatorial candidate vowed to storm school boards with "20 strong men" in order to "remove" them from their posts. In Virginia, a school board meeting was declared an unlawful assembly after attendees grew increasingly belligerent. Attendees of a school board meeting in Tennessee surrounded a medical expert's car, threatening, "We'll find you!" after he testified in favor of masking kids in school.
The disturbing spike in threats and violence prompted the National School Board Association (NSBA) to issue a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland. The letter implored the Justice Department to monitor the spike in threats at school board meetings, which the NSBA said, in some instances, could amount to domestic terrorism.
Garland subsequently announced the Department of Justice would be doing an assessment to determine the severity of the purported spike.
He wrote:
"Threats against public servants are not only illegal, they run counter to our nation's core values. Those who dedicate their time and energy to ensuring that our children receive a proper education in a safe environment deserve to be able to do their work without fear for their safety."
This infuriated Republican lawmakers, who portrayed Garland's efforts as the unilateral surveillance and suppression of all American parents.
On Wednesday, Garland answered questions in a Senate Committee, where Republican Senators like Ted Cruz of Texas lambasted him for assessing whether or not school boards were under threat.
Cruz attempted to emphasize that 15 instances cited in the NSBA's initial letter were supposedly nonviolent, but he ended up defending a Nazi salute.
Watch below.
Ted Cruz defends Nazi salutes at school board meetings pic.twitter.com/9FJHJ97rFE
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 27, 2021
Cruz shouted:
"During this hearing, I counted 20 incidents cited. Of the 20, 15 on their face are nonviolent. They involve things like insults. They involve a Nazi salute. That's one of the examples. My god, a parent did a Nazi salute at a school board because they thought the policies were oppressive. General Garland, is doing a Nazi salute at an elected official protected by the First Amendment?"
When Garland confirmed that Nazi salutes, however reprehensible, are protected under the First Amendment, a satisfied Cruz yelled, "Okay!"
But people were far from okay with his implication.
In the last few days San Antonio and Austin have experienced anti-Semitic, pro-Nazi demonstrations against Jewish communities. \n\nWords like these from a United States Senator only embolden similar actions.https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1453417280726085640\u00a0\u2026— Joaquin Castro (@Joaquin Castro) 1635362645
If you're taking up space and time in public meetings while displaying signs best known for being used by groups endorsing violence to silence people they don't like in order to try to shut down discourse you find uncomfortable, you're doing the opposite of supporting free speechhttps://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1453417280726085640\u00a0\u2026— Brooke Binkowski (@Brooke Binkowski) 1635363190
Ted Cruz is good with the Nazi salute at school board meetings\u2026.and no one is even shockedpic.twitter.com/VGkwdHrFj9— Wu-Tang Is For The Children (@Wu-Tang Is For The Children) 1635357609
Cruz went soon went on Twitter to defend himself and, once again, defend the use of Nazi salutes in school board meetings.
Lefty journos are either (1) dishonest or (2) not very bright (or both). \n\nThe parent was doing the Nazi salute because he was calling the authoritarian school board Nazis\u2014evil, bad & abusive.\n\nAnd yes, calling someone a Nazi is very much protected by the First Amendment.https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1453417280726085640\u00a0\u2026— Ted Cruz (@Ted Cruz) 1635359220
But people were fed up.
You\u2019re celebrating people who compare school board members to the regime that exterminated 6 million Jews, including my family, on the anniversary of an anti-Semitic shooting by a man who believed Jews are complicit in a White Replacement Plot\u2014a theory endorsed by today\u2019s GOP.https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1453428030316204032\u00a0\u2026— Mark Strauss (@Mark Strauss) 1635365938
Is anyone surprised that Ted Cruz is proudly defending Nazi salutes? Just because something is protected by free speech doesn\u2019t negate the fact that the action is antisemitic and un-American. You have to be a huge POS to defend Nazi actions & the appropriation of the Holocausthttps://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1453428030316204032\u00a0\u2026— Chanukah Zombie (@Chanukah Zombie) 1635365921
sorry to put another bonkers radical leftist take on your TL but i think nazi salute = bad alwayshttps://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1453428030316204032\u00a0\u2026— Ethan (@Ethan) 1635364997
There is NO justification for this! There is NO appropriate time or usage of a Nazi salute!https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1453428030316204032\u00a0\u2026— Amy Hyslop-Stover (@Amy Hyslop-Stover) 1635364379
@tedcruz how is doing a Nazi salute not bad, but taking knee to the American anthem for those who are oppressed bad? https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1453428030316204032\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/XYnmqB24gW— Joanan Carroll (@Joanan Carroll) 1635366818
I would like to thank the Senator from Cancun for elevating this story, and spreading it to hundreds, maybe thousands, who would not have heard about it otherwise.https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1453428030316204032\u00a0\u2026— Eric from Antifa P.R Boostinated and Indoctrinated (@Eric from Antifa P.R Boostinated and Indoctrinated) 1635362735
Yikes.
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