The arch conservative Liberty Alliance has unveiled its new “Woke Heat Map” of Missouri, dotted with “hot spots” where it says the “the Woke agenda … is permeating all across” the state. Click on one, and you’ll see the spots tie to instances where someone has raised a stink about one of the right-wing culture war outrages of the day: diversity training, a lesson about George Floyd, “gingerbread person” cookies.
What ties all these hot spots together? Each one targets a school. And what reason could there be to drop pins on a map other than to mark the sites for protest — or worse?
If there’s another reason, the group hasn’t told us, even after we asked repeatedly Tuesday why it’s doing this now, of all times.
The only reply was that the map was not “published in response to the tragedy in Uvalde, Texas,” where 19 elementary schoolchildren and two teachers were gunned down with military-style weapons by an 18-year-old.
Liberty Alliance released its map on May 19, five days after 10 Black people were murdered in a Buffalo, New York, grocery store, allegedly by a self-proclaimed white nationalist 18-year-old with a military-style rifle.
At best, the map is irresponsible, given our deeply polarized political climate and the volatility of school board meetings in recent months, which have too often been marked by raw emotions and incendiary language.
Liberty Alliance, led by 26-year-old University of Arkansas graduate Spencer Bone, launched the map accompanied with the type of rash rhetoric reminiscent of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
The group, which is owned by the Missouri-based nonprofit Cornerstone 1791, says it is “committed to fighting the reckless embrace of Socialism in Missouri.”
The map was “designed to expose the insane actions of the radical Left,” the site says.
Have these folks been following politics in Missouri? Because it sure looks like the supermajority on the right already runs things in the state. But what do facts matter when you’re trying to get a hot button campaign off the ground?
“The first step in fighting back,” the Woke Heat Map page says, “is uncovering their crazy ideas — from Critical Race Theory to grooming toddlers with sexually explicit books. … This map will alert Missourians of craziness happening in their own communities.”
The so-called Missouri values the group promotes oppose efforts to help LGBTQ students feel safe in schools. The group also supports bans on diversity, equity and teaching school children about race in U.S. history.
For now, the map lists 12 hot spot schools — including the University of Missouri-Kansas City, Pembroke Hill School and the Grain Valley School District, located in a suburb just a few miles east of Kansas City.
Pembroke officials learned about the map Tuesday, “and find it deeply disappointing because we are proud of our well-rounded quality of education that we provide for all of our students,” said spokeswoman Beth Bryant.
Pembroke Hill was at the center of controversy last year after a student drew a swastika on a desk and a “KKK” sign was found scrawled on another. Parents expressed outrage over claims the school had not corrected previous racially discriminatory behavior toward Jewish and Black students.
After the school hired a diversity consultant and launched a five-year plan to improve how all students are treated, the conservative group Parents Defending Education published an article — ”How Pembroke Hill School Went Woke” — criticizing the elite private school for its response to acts of racism.
Grain Valley made headlines in April when the school board called on high school teachers to remove cards and stickers that let students know that they are LGBTQ allies. Students, alumni and members of the community protested the board’s decision.
Each spot on the Liberty Alliance map links to articles, videos or tweets connecting the named schools to concepts such as so-called critical race theory, supporting LGBTQ students and teaching about equity and inclusion.
To the side of the map is a form for followers to report other places in the state where efforts are being made to be inclusive and treat all people equitably, or where race is being discussed or books that relate to a diverse population are being read.
It’s disturbing that groups like Liberty Alliance would raise money off of these kinds of deeply divisive and emotional campaigns — and of course, its site hosts a store hawking all sorts of “Let’s Go Brandon” merchandise.
But there’s more than money at stake. Extreme rhetoric, while protected as free speech, can drive extreme responses. In recent months, we’ve seen schools become battlegrounds where parents verbally attack administrators or threaten physical harm over mask-wearing and school curriculum they don’t like. The suspect in the Buffalo massacre reportedly left a document online marked by extreme, hateful rhetoric toward Black and Jewish people.
Coincidental or not, a campaign targeting individual schools, especially in the wake of the Uvalde massacre last week, is abhorrent. It’s the behavior of noisy, attention-seeking extremists. Yes, we highlight the map even at the risk of giving this group oxygen, because we believe it’s important to call out irresponsible, misleading attacks meant only to polarize and foment hate.
And we don’t believe that type of behavior reflects the values we Missourians share.
