The radical Right wing of Long Island has been on the move, taking over Board of Education elections and clogging up Jericho turnpike with their rallies since September of 2020. The Loud Majority, founded by Long Island resident Shawn Farash and Kevin Smith is a Conservative organization with over 6,000 committed members, dedicated to giving the “Silent Majority” a voice.
The organization’s mission, as stated on the groups web page is to “…inspire Americans to speak up: Patriotism is not a crime and does not need to be kept a secret.”
This past May, the Loud Majority led campaign after campaign, gaining support against New York State’s Diversity, Equity and Integrity Act. As stated by the NYS website, one of the goals of this act is to, “Specifically [acknowledge] the role that racism and bigotry have played, and continue to play, in the American story,” as well as “[create] student-centered learning environments that affirm cultural identities…],” according to the organization.
To the followers of the Loud Majority, these concepts are completely unacceptable. As stated on their site, the diversity act will, “…drastically decrease the quality of education for our students.”
Their campaign against the act proved successful at Smithtown’s BOE election on May 19.
The Loud Majority has most recently been campaigning against New York State’s mask and vaccine mandates within our public schools.
An anti-mask rally held in Massapequa on May 28 proved to be another win for the Loud Majority, as Massapequa School District loosened their face-covering restrictions beginning on June 4. On the Loud Majority’s Facebook page, post after post shows screenshots of emails from Long Island school districts such as Lindehurst and Connetquot, all lifting mask mandate restrictions.
With the fuel of recent success, the organization had been anticipating their largest campaign yet; the Unmask the Kids Rally in Mineola.
Joined by local organizations, Moms of Liberty and LI Parents for Educational Freedom, the Loud Majority had over 100 parents, children and supporters protesting on the steps of Democratic Nassau County Executive Laura Curran’s office.
Parents took turns expressing their concerns and beliefs over the crowd as their children stood atop of the county buildings steps, holding signs and screaming chants of protest. Some protestors sported their Loud Majority t-shirts, others waved blue line flags over the heads of the crowd.
They worried their children would overheat in school with the masks on. Others felt as though NYS was telling them what to do and put on their bodies.
For two hours, protestors rallied with chants and shouts under 90 degree weather, all maskless and all determined.
It is evident from the group’s Facebook page that the Loud Majority is picking up more and more followers with each passing day. The nine-month old organization has obtained over 6,000 followers since its creation back in September, even gathering up to 9,000 attendees to recent protests and rallies.
As the Loud Majority continues to take over the Island’s school districts, it’s a wonder as to what they’ll target next.
UPDATED AS OF 2022: The Loud Majority has officially been classified as an anti-government hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
