Has 'Klanned Karenhood' Infiltrated Your Kid's School? Here's How to Respond

This recently-named extremist group is threatening our kids' educations. Here's what parents can do.

Nationwide, the retelling and teaching of history accurately has always been a struggle. But oddly enough, the rise of social media led to informative posts and threads that give insight into the history we sorely missed in school. A good deal of these posts typically reference Black history, a history that is quick to be whitewashed, or eliminated from the books.

Many of us learned about the Tulsa race massacre, the story of Robert Smalls, the atrocities of King Leopold, Juneteenth, and more, online. From artists to inventors to war veterans, there’s a dearth of history that has been omitted from education.  As recent as 2015, a Texas history book referred to enslaved Africans as “workers'' and “immigrants.”

In recent years, parents have become more involved in the education of children. While on paper, this sounds like a very good thing. Scratch the surface, and it is clear that in many instances, their intervention is actually detrimental. They push their beliefs (not facts or science) into classrooms across the country.

With Moms for Liberty, their beliefs include, but are not limited to, anti-Blackness, far-right extremism, and anti-education, all under the thinly veiled guise of “parents’ rights.” Dubbed the “Klanned Karenhood” on social media, the group, founded by two Floridian, former school board members in 2021, has spearheaded a culture war to eliminate both Black literature and Black history from classrooms as well as libraries.

Such actions and disruptions affect the learning capabilities of all children. It deprives them of truth, with the elimination of history, and of integral POVs that will allow for growth and empathy. More than that, it devalues Black students and diminishes their self-worth and self-esteem. It is pointedly saying, “You don't matter.”

“I’m deeply concerned about systematically removing diversity, equity, and inclusion from public schools,” said Iesha Mulla. A Black mother of two children, she is a parenting expert and founder of Parental Questions. “The lack of support for different cultures, backgrounds, races, and beliefs can lead to an unequal playing field throughout education. This greatly impacts our students’ ability to succeed in life due to the limited access to resources that would help them navigate educational systems more efficiently.”

The situation has devolved to the discomfort of one causing the elimination of learning tools and processes. How do these actions help children and students learn and grow? What is the true agenda behind groups like Moms for Liberty or politicians like Ron DeSantis? What is to be gained from not only forced ignorance but the elimination of the culture and history of a people integral to the fabric of the US?

Dr. William Horne, teacher, and co-founder of The Activist History Review, has spoken out on this topic on social media. “Florida just banned everything I teach at the university level. If legislators bothered to take my class, they’d learn that backlash events like this always coincide with white supremacist vigilante and state violence.” In addition to his professional opinion, he has spoken to his students, who have also expressed their distress at the changes. “They often say they feel like they’ve been lied to, well, because they have. They don’t want to learn racist mythology -- they want to understand the world as it actually exists.”

“We must do everything we can to ensure all children have the same opportunity for success regardless of their background or cultural differences,” Mulla added. “To combat the push for far-right extremist rhetoric, it is important to emphasize equity and inclusion in public school systems.”

Dr. Christopher Kelly, a professor and director of an educational leadership program, has a philosophy that leadership is “a very collaborative and inclusive process.” Collaboration and inclusivity should for all intents and purposes be a bedrock of public education. Instead, we are being left with whitewashing with a white supremacist brush.

“The most recent attacks and systematic removal of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the K-12 education system and higher education, through vigorous efforts to bar AP African American studies and critical race theory (CRT) should be referred to as the modern attempt to whitewash our American history and education,” Dr. Kelly said.

“The term ‘whitewash’ or ‘whitewashing,' in this particular context, refers to the intentionality of the political attacks that attempt to conceal the history (book banning and curriculum eliminations) of those white Americans being identified as culprits  (i.e., murderers, rapists, kidnappers, thieves), and further being responsible for a host of various other atrocities regarding the positionality of the black race in America as it pertains to African American history and education.”

“There’s a reason they don’t want us to know this stuff,” Dr. Horne tweeted. “They don’t want us to know that they’re doing it right now -- at this very moment -- expanding the power and violence of the racial state.”

“These political attack efforts are further galvanized by attempting to defund programs that support diversity, equity, and inclusion,” Dr. Kelly said. “Rest assured, these political attacks are strategic in nature, not only towards higher education but in the K-12 educational realm as well. This is due to the extent that CRT is now presently cited as the basis of most diversity and inclusion efforts regardless of how much CRT actually informed those programs. Consequently, making CRT the ‘bullseye target’ of the political attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

But what can be done to combat the push for far-right extremist rhetoric? What recourse do parents, particularly Black parents, have for such a situation?

“Black parents can advocate for increased school diversity education, including anti-bias training and cultural competency initiatives,” Mulla said. “They can partner with public school system experts to ensure their ideas are correctly implemented. This may involve working with other parents within the community to ensure that all students are aware of the importance of acceptance and respect for different backgrounds and viewpoints.”

“By addressing these issues head-on, we can help create a safe space where every student is welcome regardless of race or religion.”

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