PHILADELPHIA (FLV) – Being relatively new to Moms for Liberty, I wanted to attend their National Summit in Philadelphia to find out more about the group that I am a part of.
I am a single mother with a twelve-year-old son living in Florida who was concerned about my son’s public education and felt called to investigate the local school board, school district and schools.
I recently attended Moms for Liberty Legislative Days in Tallahassee with my son and we both had enjoyed that experience and it left me wanting more.
I was recently asked to take over as chapter chair for our chapter and not long after, Moms for Liberty made national news after it was declared a “hate group” by the SPLC. There was also another chapter’s newsletter that made national news because it “quoted Hitler.”
I was left confused about Moms for Liberty’s purpose and objectives. My burning question: Is this group something I want to devote my precious free time to?
On the plane to Philadelphia, I looked outside my window craning for glimpses of the city I had never before visited. Mostly, I saw fluffy white clouds and far off landscapes.
As we made our descent, I could see buildings and ports and the Eagles football stadium.
However, there was a haze over the city of brotherly love and liberty, similar to the haze in my mind over Moms for Liberty and whether to take the chapter chair position. The city was there but was shrouded with a cloud of smoke so that it did not seem to shine as brightly.
Arriving in my room at the Marriott Hotel, I was greeted with beautiful square photos of the city. Amongst the double beds, TV and toiletries, was a photo with “We the People” in big bold letters on the side of a building.
Yes, I was here in the town full of American history where brotherly love endures and I was excited!
The first day, I had chapter chair training. We started out like any other meeting, with the pledge and a Madison Moment.
We introduced ourselves like a Miss America contest; forty states were represented. I sat next to “Miss California” and “Miss Minnesota” and I was proud to be a mom from the “Free State of Florida.”
Miss California missed her son who had never been away from her this long and she called him while we were in line for lunch assuring him she loved and missed him. Miss Minnesota was discussing concerning issues surrounding her school board and needed an attorney to help her and I referred her to a legal organization.
Things changed quickly in the training. Amazingly, tears streamed down my face as I listened to a chapter chair who had been targeted at her job for advocating for the freedom to raise her children as she so chooses.
She was audited and may eventually be fired but she chooses to go on no matter what happens. I listened to another chapter chair who owned a business with her husband and their business and the property it is located on is being attacked and they are being doxed because they stood up for their children.
I listened to yet another chapter chair facing attacks on her family and children in their school because she stands up against tyranny at school board meetings.
And another chapter chair was facing $40,000 in legal fees because she was being sued as a way to silence her voice.
A lawyer speaking to the group and answering questions confirmed that “lawfare” is one of the ways the left is attacking Moms for Liberty.
Tiffany Justice, a Moms for Liberty founder, rightly stated, “They are trying to delegitimize you and your candidates…” by naming Moms for Liberty a hate group.
But despite everything these women have faced and will face, they had a spirit – an internal mantra that says, “we will not be intimidated.”
A poignant moment in training came when a representative from Liberty University prayed with the group.
The chapter chairs joined hands in solidarity and prayed for each other and for their children and the country. I watched as some moms, with varying levels of education, grappled with legal ideals such as IRS regulations and FOIA/records requests.
Moms were educated what to do if they are being physically threatened and harassed. Can you imagine moms being physically threatened or attacked for asking questions about their child’s education? For speaking at school board meetings? For opposing their child being indoctrinated in ideals they do not support or agree with? For becoming involved in the political process?
Yet, it is going on around the country every day.
Thomas Paine said, “Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.” These Moms for Liberty moms know the fatigue Mr. Paine is referring to.
They want those blessings of freedom for their children like the blessings they experienced as children. These moms are willing to suffer great hardships for their children in the name of freedom.
And they suffer fatigue joyfully; as “joyful warriors.”
Overnight at the summit, the American Revolution Museum was vandalized with broken windows and destroyed historical symbols of freedom, and it was a new morning for us moms as the insidious nature of what we are facing crept in once again.
The museum is where our welcome reception was being held. They had faced a campaign of hate and phone calls prior to our arrival for hosting our reception. Buses ushering moms to the museum from the hotel were stopped numerous times by men on bicycles darting in front of the bus hoping to be hit to ensure negative publicity.
The driver deftly started and stopped to miss the bicycled men. On the way to the museum, we saw signs, hand gestures, and rainbow flags. When we arrived at the museum, we “walked the red carpet” to the doorway, only instead of cheers we received curse words, chants, name calling, and slurs.
Celebrities are insanely more popular than moms fighting for their children in this country today. We later discovered that a lot of these “protestors” were bussed in, paid with food, lodging and wages, and were trying to get people to sign an anti-Moms for Liberty petition with $30.00 gift cards.
At the museum, we mingled with moms from all over the country and I met “Miss Philadelphia,” who was an absolutely delightful joyful warrior and we compared where to get the various food items and desserts.
While at the museum, I was amazed by all the history and interesting artifacts from the American Revolution. I learned about “Liberty Trees,” trees that American colonists used as symbols and gathering places in the 1760s and 1770s.
I saw a “comb-back” Windsor chair where Speaker and President Peyton Randolph likely sat during the meeting of the First Continental Congress. I learned that the Oneida Nation were forgotten first allies to the patriots in the American Revolution.
We were joyful on the ride back to the hotel after walking back down the red carpet to the bus, bonding with each other over shared experiences and ready for the next day.
I awoke the next morning to Tina Descovich and Tiffany Justice on Fox and Friends in the morning, touting that many presidential candidates have come to speak with moms from across the country showing how, in a short time, our voice has become an important one.
We were opened with a local high school color guard marching in with the flags and we said the pledge of allegiance. Then we were treated to a beautiful rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner from Mary Millben. We were also treated to presidential candidates Gov. Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, and former President Donald Trump.
The discussions about parental rights were exactly what we were looking for from these candidates. How will they help us and how will they champion our cause? We also listened to the heads of education in four states who brought a unique perspective on their philosophies about education.
All the speakers commented on the protests outside the hotel and how much our group of moms were definitely not “domestic terrorists” as we had been portrayed.
The next day saw more presidential candidates and speakers. Jaimee Michell of Gays Against Groomers spoke and was compelling against sexualized indoctrination of children from the perspective of being a lesbian woman.
Later in the evening, we heard from Canadian Chris Elston, father of two girls, or “Billboard Chris,” who wears the doomsday type “the end is nigh” placards and advertises the dangers of gender ideology. Though he wears cardboard placards, in his words, “…I wear a blazer and try to look as dapper as I can to offset that first impression.”
He compared the U.S. and Canada stating that he believes America’s fighting nature stems from their revolution against Britain. He opines that Canada has never had a revolution, never had to fight, and has no Right.
Chris talked about being threatened, harassed, banned, arrested twice, assaulted 40 times, had numerous injuries and had his arm broken by Antifa all for exercising free speech.
His website billboardchris.com has a wealth of information about him and his cause and he has spent 2500 hours out on the street talking to people trying to change their minds.
Chris indicated that he has a better definition of what a woman is than Jordan Peterson. Chris stated that “a real woman is a ‘Mom for Liberty.’”
The evening was a time to get dressed up and to unwind for the “Such a Time as This” awards dinner. A wonderful fashion statement of the night were sparkly American Flag heels which were worn by numerous moms and sparkly American Flag purses.
We were treated to a violin quartet at the cocktail reception who played 80’s songs such as “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “Sweet Child of Mine.”
Moms got loose dancing by imitating Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey during “Time of Your Life” by lifting each other up in that famous pose in the movie Dirty Dancing.
“Domestic terrorists” can dance! Who knew?
The awards dinner began, and the tables were decorated with beautiful flower arrangements with crown centerpieces and crown votives. Mary Millben sang about lighting your candle as we held up candles and cell phone flashlights together in solidarity in a beautiful musical piece that made the evening special.
Dennis Prager had wonderful words of wisdom for us. He told us, “If you don’t fight, you can’t complain.” It is true. The moms in Moms for Liberty are not just complainers; they are doers. They do not sit idly by while these things are happening to their children.
Mr. Prager said, “Every tyranny begins with destroying parental authority.”
We see in our various states the attacks on parental authority. Tyranny is trying to take over. Moms for Liberty are standing in its way, which makes us dangerous.
At breakfast the next morning, it was muted and sad because we all wanted to stay longer in fellowship with our band of fellow joyful warriors. There were lots of tears but compelling speakers in Rabbi Menken, Rebecca Sugar, KrisAnne Hall, and North Carolina Lieutenant Gov. Mark Robinson.
Robinson praised moms as being the modern-day equivalent of Betsy Ross, Rosie the Riveter, and Rosa Parks. To say we were inspired is an understatement.
As we were leaving the grand ballroom, we saw all of the servers lined up in a row clapping for us and blowing us kisses with hand gestures shaped as hearts. I shook hands with as many as I could before leaving and my heart was so full as I left I went back to my room and cried.
We packed our bags and made our way to cabs and rental cars, while men with bullhorns shouted obscenities at us calling us “fat,” “Nazis,” and other words not fit to print.
We were photographed by people with paparazzi-looking zoom lenses, fully intending to threaten and intimidate us. We watched a scantily clad man climb over security fencing in defiance of police, and skip by us with a transgender flag telling us to get out the [bleep] out of his city.
We got in our car and made our way to the airport.
And you know what? The haze I had seen at the beginning of the trip had lifted. It was crystal clear in Philadelphia, and it was crystal clear to me and what I must do.
