Worried parents from the Williamson County, TN chapter of Moms for Liberty started a letter-writing campaign in May called "Dear Mr. Golden" with testimonials from parents on the effects of the Critical Race Theory (CRT) curriculum on their children. Mr. Golden is the superintendent of schools for Williamson County. Still, these letters could easily be written to almost any superintendent in the country because CRT has, in many American schools, infiltrated K-12 schools.
Some of the letters on the Moms for Liberty Private Facebook page are addressed as "DearTN." The "DearTN" letters are warnings from parents who have moved to Tennessee from states like Illinois and California, and New York. A father who moved to TN with his family posted a video explaining his take on Critical Race Theory:
"Never announces itself as CRT. It's going to come in the form of other ideas; 'white privilege,' 'unconscious bias training,' 'white fragility,' but its most typical disguise is DEI—Diversity, Equity, Inclusion. Another word you'll hear a lot is anti-racism or anti-racism training. These ideas sound and look great—who doesn't want to be about diversity and inclusion and equity? I want to be fair! I love diversity. I want to be welcoming and include people! The problem with all of that is none of these terms mean what they sound like."
DearTN Letters/Williamson County Moms for Liberty
The Williamson County chapter has been extremely active and organized, with over 1700 members joining since May. Most recently, Steenman and others presented a comprehensive review of the Wit and Wisdom curriculum that is now in schools all over Tennessee. Tennessee House Bill 580 bans the theory and teachings related to CRT in Tennessee schools.
Williamson County Chapter President, Robin Steenman, called for the letter-writing initiative on Facebook at the beginning of May, asking parents in the county to "be courageous and speak up!"
Dear Mr. Golden Letters/Williamson County Moms for Liberty
The group also has an Instagram account by the same name. The letters from the Instagram account below show various accounts from elementary students who felt bullied or intimidated by their teachers who engaged in discussions related to racial identity, political affiliation, religious beliefs, and strong emotional content—among other things.
The issues arose often in reference to materials and/or books being discussed in the classroom. Some children are bringing these traumatic stories home to their parents, who, in turn, write letters detailing those accounts so that school officials understand the content being taught in the schools.
Dear Mr. Golden Letters/Williamson County Moms for Liberty
When Steenman formed her chapter in April, Moms for Liberty only had seven chapters in three states. There are now 47 county chapters in 19 states.
Parents in counties all over America are showing up at school board meetings and pouring over curricula. UncoverDC has reported on issues related to CRT in multiple states, including North Carolina, Arizona, Tennessee, Virginia, California. Frank and Beanz have also covered the subject in several of their Dark To Light Podcasts. Ideas like these letters and Loudoun County's Parents' Bill of Rights may well be the very tools parents adopt nationwide to affect change in schools. UncoverDC is also currently collaborating with Emmy award-winning newsman John Spiropoulos on a series of short but practical videos on the subject of CRT called "The Poison in Our Schools," featured recently on Steve Bannon's War Room pandemic. The videos will be free and available to parents toward the end of summer.
