Chaya Raichik, who has faced accusations of instigating bomb threats against schools for spreading anti-LGBTQ+ grooming conspiracies, has been appointed to a state library committee in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The creator of "Libs of TikTok" is known for spreading anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and propagating baseless accusations that educational institutions are "indoctrinating" children into LGBTQ+ identities and exposing them to sexually explicit content.
Despite her rhetoric being associated with inciting violence, the head of the state Education Department appointed her to the agency's Library Media Advisory Committee.
“Chaya is on the front lines showing the world exactly what the radical left is all about — lowering standards, porn in schools, and pushing woke indoctrination on our kids,” state Superintendent Ryan Walters said in a press release Tuesday. “Because of her work, families across the country know just what is going on in schools around the country.”
Raichik’s “unique perspective is invaluable” and will play an effective role as part of his plan to make Oklahoma schools “safer” for kids, he continued, adding that she has a “much-needed and powerful voice as well as a tremendous platform that will benefit Oklahoma students and their families.”
But Raichik doesn’t have a background in education and her social media account often targets public school teachers, labeling LGBTQ+ educators as “groomers” or “indoctrinators.” Her account on X/Twitter has risen to 2.8 million followers where right-wing influencers consistently boost posts from Libs of TikTok.
Given her “track record,” including Raichik’s links to bomb threats and her “threatening behavior” towards the LGBTQ+ community, her presence must feel “scary” for students and educators, Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, told Salon.
“It’s probably going to have a chilling effect on what teachers teach, given they won’t want to be targeted online by Raichik,” Beirich said. “It’s also just a despicable thing to appoint someone so hateful towards a community.”
State Rep. Mickey Dollens, the Democratic Whip for the Oklahoma House of Representatives, has described this move as an “egregious example” of elected officials trying to divert the public’s attention away from real issues to “stoke division and gain national notoriety.”
“The appointment is a calculated move that epitomizes conservative officials choosing sensationalism over the needs of their constituents,” Dollens wrote for MSNBC.
In recent years, the movement to ban books has become a major component of the right’s battle against public schools, aiming to prevent libraries from offering students access to literature that includes LGBTQ+ themes and progressive ideas. In their efforts to eliminate these books from schools, conservatives have equated them with pornography and deemed them inappropriate for children.
Walters has been actively integrating extremist right-wing ideologies into Oklahoma's education system announcing a “partnership” last year with PragerU Kids, which produces videos intended to counter what it calls “the dominant left-wing ideology in culture, media, and education.”
He has also taken steps to eliminate what he refers to as "woke" ideology from the state's school libraries, Rolling Stone reported. He has accused the American Library Association of supporting the exposure of young children to pornography.
The 2022-23 school year witnessed a surge in book bans and censorship in classrooms and school libraries across the country, according to PEN America, which noted a higher number of book bans in the fall of 2022 compared to the previous two semesters.
New state laws, an extension of the 2021 book-banning movement, also played a key role in censoring ideas and materials in public schools. Broad efforts to label certain books “harmful” and “explicit” are expanding the type of content suppressed in schools, PEN America found.
Both Raichik and Walters are deeply entrenched in the conservative culture wars. Raichik has often used her platform to single out accounts or institutions that she perceives as advocates for "woke" or inclusive ideologies. Her content often attacks educators while Walters, from his time as Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt’s secretary of education, has a history of tarnishing the reputation of Oklahoma teachers and making unfounded allegations about sexually explicit materials in schools.
Given her past as someone who has incited bomb threats and now being appointed an advisor for a state library is “very problematic,” Victor Asal, a professor at SUNY Albany and extremism researcher, told Salon. While her role may not pose a direct danger to students or educators, it can potentially have a “big impact” on educational policies and how the library deals with DEI efforts, impacting the material they purchase or keep.
“I think it sends a very negative message to communities that she has targeted in the past that someone like this would be appointed,” Asal said. “Bigotry can be very upsetting – especially when someone who is using it is appointed to a position that can have an impact on what the government does. I think endorsements by anyone of someone like this for this kind of position is highly problematic.”
Last year, the American Library’s Association Office for Intellectual Freedom recorded 695 attempts to censor library materials and services, documenting challenges to 1,915 unique titles reflecting a 20% rise compared to the same reporting period in 2022. This marked the highest number of book challenges since the ALA began collecting data over 20 years ago.
Among these titles, the overwhelming majority were works authored by or related to the LGBTQ+ community or by and about Black people, Indigenous people and people of color, the ALA found.
“Whether through simply scaring people to avoid DEI issues and topics, or chilling people’s willingness to discuss these issues, Raichik’s activism online will likely have an effect,” Beirich said. “Given what has happened to others in her crosshairs, educators and school officials will probably try to stay out of her limelight.”
Raichik’s targeting of the LGBTQ+ community has led to real-world violence in the past. After Libs of TikTok pushed content using right-wing "groomer" propaganda to target 42 school districts and their staff members, at least 11 schools or school districts reported receiving bomb threats.
Her accusations centered on false allegations of institutions "indoctrinating" children into LGBTQ+ identities and exposing them to sexually explicit content. Walters in turn posted a photo with Raichik, lauding her for promoting transparency and accountability in schools.
Raichik's appointment serves as another example of how “political extremists” are being mainstreamed into politics and government, Donald Haider-Markel, a University of Kansas political science professor who studies domestic extremism, told Salon.
“This mainstreaming elevates fringe ideas and emboldens followers to potentially engage in acts of discrimination and violence against those they find threatening, including students and educators,” Haider-Markel said.
It will likely lead to policy changes that “downplay or eliminate” diversity efforts and the removal of books, he added.
“Certainly, it sends a chilling message to librarians, teachers, and students about advocating for diversity and inclusion and makes students from underrepresented groups feel less welcome,” Haider-Markel said. “Since these students are already an at-risk population it can contribute to ideas of self-harm.”
