An Update for Our Members
Dear Friends and Members of the FAIR Community,
On October 5th, the Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism sent a letter to United States Attorney General Merrick Garland responding to his October 4th memo regarding allegations of “violence” in local school districts across the country.
We understand and share concerns that the vagueness of the Attorney General’s memo, issued four days after he received a letter from the National School Boards Association (NSBA), could have a chilling effect on parents’ willingness to advocate for their children. We understand and support parents who believe his memo could be a deterrent to the exercise of their civil and constitutional rights. Our initial letter aimed to address these concerns by clarifying that “the overwhelming majority of parents concerned about what is occurring in public schools are engaged in peaceful and lawful conduct” (emphasis added). Recognizing the magnitude of the involvement of the U.S. Department of Justice, we urged that “any measures taken by the federal government will be fully authorized, appropriately tailored, and consistent with the broad civil and constitutional liberties guaranteed to citizens and residents of this nation.”
Many of our members are understandably concerned that the Attorney General’s response implies his agreement with the NSBA’s letter. To address this, we have issued a detailed response (see the first page below) to NSBA’s letter, demonstrating that there is no justification for federal involvement in local school board matters at this point. Moreover, although there have not yet been any federal measures announced or implemented, we are keeping a close eye on the situation. If the federal government does, in fact, pursue any measures that violate, restrict, impinge on, or deter or intimidate parents and citizens from exercising any of their constitutional, civil, or legal rights, our FAIR legal team will respond to and take action on each and every one immediately.
Over the past seven months, we have empowered a grassroots network, with over 30,000 members and almost 80 chapters across the country, promoting a pro-human message of fairness, understanding and humanity in their local communities. We have created toolkits and webinar training sessions for parents, teachers, chapter leaders, and community members in order to support them as they organize to advocate for pro-human values in their schools and workplaces.
Over the past month alone, our legal team has helped platform two civil rights lawsuits, developed model legislation, and launched FAIRtransparency.org as a “Glassdoor”-style website for people to submit reviews and incident reports related to diversity programs in schools, workplaces and organizations. Our education team launched FAIRstory.org, a constructive pro-human curriculum without the race essentialism or victim/oppressor narrative, and available at no cost for K-12 schools across the country. We also launched the FAIR in Medicine professional network, and started to roll out our professional training programs, bringing the pro-human perspective to corporations, nonprofits, and schools. For our members, we have created FAIR Community, where you can seek and share resources, information, and support. And there is much more to come over the next few months!
We strive every day to inspire, support, and advance the pro-human movement. We know that it is no easy task to acknowledge and let go of tribal instincts, and to respectfully engage those with whom we disagree. As a non-partisan organization, we are committed to taking strong and appropriate legal action to protect your civil rights and liberties.
I am so proud of what our team has accomplished since we launched in March. Like every organization, we have growing pains and we appreciate your feedback as we continue to build ourselves into the grassroots pro-human civil rights movement.
Thank you for your support of FAIR. And if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Warmly,
Bion Bartning
Founder and President
Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism
[click image above for full response to the NSBA letter]
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Thank you FAIR for writing this letter and the detailed notes on the specifics of what you disagree with in the NSBA letter. Here in Denver, we have been speaking respectfully to the school board, yet one of the school board members has posted insults and misinformation about what we have been saying, and some of us have felt threatened by his use of social media to harass parents. We found one video of a school board member who called our comments "garbage" and there have been times when school board members laughed when others called us racists and QAnon supporters (none of of our group are QAnon conspiracy theorists). School Boards could do a lot to ease the tension by actually listening and providing outlets to engage in respectful dialogue.
NASB letter read like a propaganda piece, conflating Covid, CRT, and other topics. FAIR's response, paragraph by paragraph, was an insightful unpacking of NASB's false flag.