Over the past few years, many reactionary anti-student inclusion groups have risen across the country in reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic and an increased focus on equity and inclusion programs. They have also quickly fomented their place as part of the hard-right movement. These groups continue to spread conspiratorial rhetoric, opposing what they consider to be indoctrinating public school curricula and plots by progressives to groom schoolchildren for sexual exploitation. They also seek legitimacy and mask hate speech by combining their vitriol with rhetoric that appeals to concerned parents. Reactionary anti-student inclusion groups such as Moms for Liberty, Moms for America, Parents Defending Education that the SPLC lists as extremist groups are, by their very nature, responding to social progress that they dislike and have no control over. Like many other hard-right groups, these reactionary anti-student inclusion groups are constantly painting themselves as an oppressed class, while vilifying those discriminated against. These groups denigrate lessons on diversity and inclusion. They spew homophobic and transphobic speech in the name of protecting their children’s innocence, disregarding and disrespecting children in the LGBTQ community. They ban reading materials that they deem inappropriate, which almost always happens to be LGBTQ or non-white in subject matter. They embrace racist and nationalist ideology, claiming to want the teaching of America’s accurate history in the schools but label the true, harsh history of the country as unpatriotic and unsuitable for children.7 This movement of hard-right extremists has connected globally and recently sponsored speakers at the UN 5th Biennial Transatlantic Summit in New York. Many of the groups sponsoring the meeting have been designated by the SPLC as anti-LGBTQI. To counter these growing threats, we must build a truthful, positive and compelling narrative that builds support for functional multi-racial democracy as the highest good and mainstream goal of an inclusive democracy. With robust anti-racist education, we can reduce the population of Americans that harbor sympathy for a white supremacist worldview. With a focus on prevention and pre-radicalization, we can spot warning signs and intervene earlier by supporting grassroots partners with tools and resources to empower Black and Brown people and make communities more resilient. By continuing to be a leading source of research and analysis, investing in the technology needed to track white nationalism and white supremacy across the digital frontier and exposing the dangers it creates for our democracy, we create an evidentiary basis for accountability. Armed with good data and a powerful narrative for systemic change, we will empower a multi-racial movement to push for systemic remedies through policy change, legislation, and structural reforms. Again, thank you for this opportunity to present to the U.N. Forum on Minority Issues. I look forward to answering any questions you may have. Endnotes 1. “Five-Year Strategic Framework”. Southern Poverty Law Center, August 2022 2. Kleinfeld, Rachel. “The Rise of Political Violence in the United States”. Journal of Democracy, vol. 32, no. 4, Oct. 2021, pp. 160–76. 3. Daniel A. Cox, “Social Isolation and Community Disconnection Are Not Spurring Conspiracy Theories,” Survey Center on American Life, 4 March 2021, www.americansurveycenter.org/research/social-isolation-and-community-disconnection-are-not-