Scarlett Johnson says she has never seen anything like it.
The parental rights activist has gotten used to nasty language and overheated rhetoric from the left. But she said the hatred she experienced last week in the City of Brotherly Love was “insane.”
Johnson (pictured above) attended the Moms for Liberty Summit in Philadelphia, where radical left activists trained their hatred on grassroots moms on a mission.
“It’s unreal. What I witnessed last night, I didn’t realize the extent of the hate and the vitriol and what these organizations are trying to do,” Johnson, president of Moms for Liberty-Ozaukee County, Wisconsin, told The Wisconsin Daily Star Friday on the Jay Weber Show.
Left-wing brought in protesters to scream and taunt and hector members of the conservative activist organization. The protests were driven by leftist groups such as ACT UP Philadelphia, Defense of Democracy, and the Young Communist League. The demonstrators likened Moms for Liberty to Nazis, fascists, and the Ku Klux Klan as they worked to silence the anti-woke movement.
Many carried signs calling the parental rights organization, “Mom’s 4 Bigotry” and the “American Taliban.”
Johnson said she’s gotten used to some hate and threats in response to battles against “political indoctrination” in southeast Wisconsin public K-12 schools. But she admits she hasn’t taken it as seriously as she should have. Philly was an eye-opener.
“We have plain clothes FBI agents here. We had domestic terrorism experts that have to monitor [the summit]. We had to have people in riot gear … because there’s just such credible threats [of left-led violence],” she said.
Moms for Liberty has been active in local politics and policy, with a mission to put parents back in control of educational systems. Liberal activists have accused the group of campaigns and initiatives that harm members of the LGBTQ community.
The far left and controversial Southern Poverty Law Center has listed Moms for Liberty as an “extremist” group, accusing it of promoting anti-LGBTQ “misinformation” and for battling the wide-ranging and politically driven diversity, equity and inclusion movement in public institutions.
For a liberal movement marching for diversity, Johnson said the protesters in the crowd didn’t seem to be a very diverse lot.
“When you’re walking out of the hotel, you see groups of mainly white women and white men. This is not a diverse crowd,” she said. “It’s a lot of angry trans protesters, LGBTQ+ protesters screaming and yelling.”
LGBTQ activists sought without success to cancel the downtown Marriott, where the summit was held. Their allies, including liberal lawmakers and historical associations, urged Philadelphia’s Museum of the American Revolution to back out of playing host to an event Thursday hosted by the conference. The museum stood its ground, telling the Associated Press that “because fostering understanding within a democratic society is so central to our mission, rejecting visitors on the basis of ideology would in fact be antithetical to our purpose.”
The museum was vandalized for its stand.
Philadelphia police over the weekend released a video of the suspect who, according to officials, spray-painted graffiti on the “Washington Crossing the Delaware” display connected to the front wall of the museum. The man also smashed several glass panels on the main entrance door after security responded and the suspect fled, law enforcement officials said.
Ultimately, the demonstrations at the Marriott didn’t live up to expectations. Instead of thousands of leftists protesting with “love and anger,” Friday’s demonstrations produced about 100 rally-goers, according to multiple media reports.
But hundreds of Moms for Liberty members turned out to the annual summit, which drew some powerful conservative allies.
Republican presidential hopefuls including former President Donald Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Ohio businessman and anti-woke crusader Vivek Ramaswamy, and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, among others, addressed the conference.
“Don’t mess with America’s moms,” Trump told the gathering.
Ramaswamy tweeted from the summit that “parents know what is best for their kids, not the government.”
Parents know what is best for their kids, not the government. Taking the #JoyfulWarriors @Moms4Liberty stage now. Watch live: https://t.co/xbt2n3Swbp pic.twitter.com/FtiqM84N3A
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) July 1, 2023
Johnson said that’s the message — and the mission — of Moms for Liberty.
“We are simply trying to fight for our children and our families. We are trying to fight for their wellbeing, their psychological safety,” she said. “We would like school to be places that are not political indoctrination camps. We would also like young kids not to be exposed to pornographic materials. … To raise children is not the job of the government, not the job of schools.”
“Our message: We don’t co-parent with the government. We are in charge. These are not their children,” she added.
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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
Photo “Scarlett Johnson” by Scarlett Johnson, Moms for Liberty. Background Photo “City of Brotherly Love” by diego_cue. CC BY-SA 3.0.
