Source: Reuters Investigates. “School officials and their families should never be subject to death threats and harassment. Full stop. No matter where you stand on specific books or school policies, violence and intimidation are never the answer.”
Suburbs Across America, February 17, 2022 – Katie Paris, founder of Red Wine & Blue, released the following statement in response to the dramatic rise in violent intimidation against school board members, and even their children:
“School officials and their families should never be subject to death threats and harassment. Full stop.
No matter where you stand on specific books or school policies, violence and intimidation are never the answer.
We’re calling on Heritage Action, Manhattan Institute, Goldwater Institute, Independent Women’s Forum, Parents Defending Education, No Left Turn in Education, Moms for Liberty, and others to join us in denouncing death threats, harassment, and intimidation of all school board members and their families.
Even if the people behind these threats are not affiliated with your organizations, we should all be able to join together in sending a clear message against violence. Our words matter.
Red Wine & Blue’s community of 300k women are committed to speaking out against the rise of book bans in school districts across the country and addressing the crises our families face as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Threats of violence and harassment only put more stress on families. No matter where we stand, death threats and intimidation have no place in these conversations.”
According to Reuters investigative piece published this week:
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Across 15 states, school board members have received over 220 harassing and threatening messages.
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School officials or parents in 15 different counties received or witnessed threats they considered serious enough to report to police.
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These threats often come from people out of state with no connection to the districts involved. No arrests have been made.