OPINION:
As someone who escaped the Soviet Union, I recognize the tactics of authoritarianism when I see them, so I couldn’t remain silent when they were on full display during the COVID-19 emergency, particularly during school closures. That’s why I made the film “15 Days”: to hold those who hurt our children accountable so we don’t repeat the same mistakes when the next crisis inevitably arrives.
Some want to close this chapter. Others want to rewrite it entirely. Yet the federal government created an illusion of consensus through suppression and censorship, and the children who had the most to lose lost months and years of precious childhood, time that cannot be recovered. Parents must take responsibility for seeking the truth from various sources rather than accepting a single approved narrative.
There was a time when Americans believed they could trust major institutions. I left a country where the state controlled information, and I watched that same playbook unfold here during the pandemic crisis.
Teachers union leaders such as Randi Weingarten and Becky Pringle wielded enormous power over school closures, prioritizing political agendas over children’s well-being. They ignored the science showing schools could safely reopen and silenced parents who demanded better. Words are not violence, yet Drs. Jay Bhattacharya and Scott Atlas faced threats for raising legitimate concerns. They were right, but they deserved the freedom to speak even if they had been wrong.
We must expose this coordinated effort to keep schools closed. Even worse, the censorship machine remained operational after the original “15 days to slow the spread” ended. Recent revelations about the Biden administration’s pressuring Google to suppress information confirm what I witnessed: The government systematically silenced dissenting voices. This is how it begins in totalitarian societies.
Parents who spoke at school board meetings demanding schools reopen were labeled domestic terrorists by their own government. Mothers and fathers exercising their First Amendment rights to protect their children were branded enemies of the state. I’ve seen this before. It doesn’t end well.
What’s revealed in “15 Days” is how teachers unions orchestrated these closures. Ms. Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers and Ms. Pringle of the National Education Association had the power to reopen schools but chose to keep them closed. They controlled the narrative, influenced guidance for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and kept children locked out long after the science showed it was safe. These union leaders must be held accountable for their damage to a generation of children.
Consider the children who lacked engaged parents during lockdowns, left to navigate a hostile cultural landscape alone. While some of us fought to keep our children grounded, most families trusted the system. That system betrayed them. I recently spent time with parents whose children have “transitioned” to different genders. These parents were devastated. Their children, teenagers during school closures, were isolated without teachers or peers. Still, online communities of transgender activists were accessible, welcoming vulnerable young people: “You’re different, you’re unique. Come join us.”
One mother, educated and affluent, described torment. Two of her children transitioned, and a third struggled to maintain relationships with siblings whose identities had been transformed. Activist networks enveloped these vulnerable children, offering constant affirmation. When her son expressed doubt — “Mom, maybe I’m not a woman after all” — activists reassured him, “You are your authentic self.” With only his parents offering alternatives, the family was fractured. She asked in anguish, “How did they take our children?”
This mother had done nothing wrong. She had kept her profession and maintained normalcy. Yet we have reached a point where parents must maintain constant vigilance against predators operating through children’s devices, which school closures forced children to rely upon.
It’s extraordinary that we have arrived at this necessary distrust of institutions. This burdens families, but ignorance creates worse outcomes. Despite challenges, I’m grateful for keeping my children close and consistently drawing them back to the stability of our home. This included providing spiritual grounding. When I saw my 8-year-old struggling, I realized children need spiritual identity, community and meaning. If parents don’t provide these, others will. Young souls cannot remain hollow.
That was what happened. We abandoned children in virtual spaces, and predators filled the void. Not everyone can be a superhero risking everything to expose the truth, but we can become aware, and these stories must be preserved.
This is why I’m speaking up and hope you will too. We cannot allow this history to be buried or rewritten. We must preserve, understand and honor what happened so we can reclaim our agency and empower ourselves as parents for our children’s future.
• Natalya Murakhver is the director of “15 Days” and the co-founder of Restore Childhood.
For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.
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