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June 6 (UPI) -- The Southern Poverty Law Center released a report Tuesday saying hate groups are on the rise and targeting public education through book bans and protests, as the center labeled 12 right-wing parents rights groups extremist. The report, titled "Year in Hate & Extremism," documents 1,225 active "extremist hate groups which are stripping communities of their rights" through public demonstrations, flyers and media attention.
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"Taking on the most hateful factions in our country is critical to dismantling white supremacy and advancing the civil rights of all people," Margaret Huang, president and chief executive officer of the Southern Poverty Law Center, said in a statement.
"We are exposing a concerted effort by hate groups and extremist actors to terrorize communities and gain control of public institutions by any means necessary," Huang said.
"These groups are descending on Main Street America and disrupting people's daily lives, too often with dire consequences for communities of color, Jewish people and the LGBTQ+ community," Huang added.
Groups mobilizing at public schools, which SPLC called "extremist," were singled out. Specifically the report documented 12 anti-student inclusion groups, which it said have attacked public education, banned books and removed curriculum focused on race, discrimination and LGBTQ+ identities.
One of those groups is Florida-based Moms for Liberty.
"Hate and anti-government extremist groups are intent on staging public spectacles of hatred that harass, threaten and violently harm Black, Brown, Asian, Jewish, LGBTQ+ and immigrant communities," Susan Corke, director of the SPLC's Intelligence Project, said in a statement.
"Schools, synagogues and LGBTQ+ businesses -- venues that have traditionally been safe spaces for our children, the Jewish community and LGBTQ+ people -- are now on the frontlines of hatred and violence," Corke added.
Moms for Liberty, which SPLC called a far-right anti-government organization that engages in anti-student inclusion activities and is considered part of the modern parental rights movement, says it created the group to fight the "woke indoctrination" of children.
"I raise my children. The government does not. We do not co-parent with the government," Tiffany Justice, Moms for Liberty co-founder, said in a C-SPAN2 About Books interview.
"And there are certain sensitive subjects that we would like to be directing the conversation around for our children," Justice added. "As the teachers union pushes an agenda focused on everything BUT education for our children, American parents are rising up, taking back our school districts and putting the focus back on educating our children."
While SPLC tracked an increase in what the report called extremist groups, such as Moms for Liberty, the report found the number of active militia groups had dropped from 92 groups in 2021 to 61 active militia groups in 2022.
According to SPLC, the drop in militia mobilization follows the recent federal convictions of members of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
