BALTIMORE — In suburban Maryland restaurants and warehouses, activists and frustrated parents have gathered by the dozens this past year. They’re hanging American flags, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and nodding their heads as speakers have encouraged them to take control of their schools.
Their meetings spring from exasperation after months of pandemic-related disruptions to education. But while they oppose mask, testing and vaccine mandates for students, their mission has broadened to push back against schools using books with gender identity and immigration themes, as well as lessons on race and other social issues that the parents fear label their children as oppressors.
The activists say they’re building a movement that will “stiffen the spines” of moderate Republicans and replace government officials whose political beliefs are at odds with theirs, which mirror those of former President Donald Trump.
