Along with our friends at HedgeClippers, Trans formative Schools, Citizen Action of New York, and Strong Economy for All, we are proud to announce the release of a new report on the billionaire-backed hate-mongering group PLACE NYC, which is now attacking public school students.
The alliance of New York City parents, educators, and activists released this report unmasking PLACE NYC as an astroturf organization focused on hate-filled attacks on city public school students that is backed by billionaire Wall Street fund managers and corporate elites.
The HedgeClippers report, “Billionaire-Backed Bigots in the Big Apple: New York City Schools Under Siege,” exposes the billionaires who support PLACE, and explains PLACE’s role in a larger web of organizations seeking to roll back civil rights and undermine public education.
The Right-Wing Ring Leaders: Maud Maron and Yiatin Chu
Maud Maron is an openly racist, homophobic, and self-proclaimed anti-trans member of Community Education Council 2, with connections to Moms for Liberty and Megyn Kelly. Her partner in crime, Yiatin Chu, is a transphobic extremist who is vehemently opposed to civil rights and anti-discrimination laws.
The Hate Groups: PLACE NYC and FAIR
Parent Leaders for Accelerated Curriculum and Education (PLACE NYC) is an across-the-board propaganda mill that was created to block educational equity efforts and spread racism, homophobia, and transphobia throughout NYC. The leaders of PLACE include multimillionaires from Manhattan and Brooklyn with finance industry fortunes and luxury apartments, as well as a problematic cop with a record of misconduct allegations. Maron and Chu are two of the co-founders.
The Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR) is a national right-wing attack organization that’s closely allied with PLACE. Both Maron and Chu held leadership positions within the organization. FAIR shares many alt-right donors and advisors, including Christopher Rufo, with the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank with an anti-LGTBQ and pro-billionaire agenda.
The Billionaire Backers: Nine billionaires and their tax-exempt foundations
These hate groups are bolstered by billionaires, including Nazi enthusiast Harlan Crow, Republican hedge fund billionaires Joseph Edelman, Dan Loeb, Paul Singer, Cliff Asness and Bruce Kovner, the hyper-conservative Bradley family from Wisconsin, the foundation of the late “funding father of the right” Richard Mellon Scaife, and the controversial and scandal-marked Walton Family. Together, these nine billionaires and their families have hoarded combined wealth of almost $300 billion.
“Nine billionaires and their tax-exempt foundations gave over seven million dollars to the Manhattan Institute and a million more to FAIR to build the billionaire-to-bigot pipeline that’s spewing hateful garbage all over New York City public school students and our communities,” said Charles Khan, Deputy Director of the Strong Economy For All Coalition and a leader of the HedgeClippers campaign. “The hateful rhetoric of Maud Maron and Yiatin Chu is just the latest example of how these billionaires seek to divide our communities to limit the power of working people and build their power and wealth at our expense.”
It is easy to think that rampant racism, homophobia and hate-filled attacks on students happen in other parts of the country and not in historically progressive New York City. Yet PLACE has leveled those attacks in local community school boards and individual school communities across New York City, the report found. These attacks are fueled by PLACE leaders, and by PLACE-supported candidates for local school boards.
“In March, Maud Maron sponsored a resolution designed to whip up trans panic and attack the DOE’s existing protections for trans kids – and it passed, with two thirds of sitting CEC 2 members voting in support. At every meeting since then, we have been working with ACT-UP and allies to build a movement to reject this kind of blatant transphobia in our schools and protect the lives of trans kids in our communities,” said Alaina Daniels of Trans formative Schools. “We know that attacking trans girls is just one part of Maud Maron’s hateful, harmful agenda. Before all of this, she was on our radar for banning books and attacking Black racial justice leaders. Now we know that Maud’s hate speech has been bankrolled by billionaires.”
The report exposes the connections between PLACE leadership and well-funded efforts to roll back civil rights by many of the nation’s wealthiest Wall Street operators.
“We are not surprised by the billionaires highlighted – they are the same people who want to dismantle public education and profit on the backs of Black and brown children,” said Zakiyah Shaakir-Ansari, Co-Executive Director of the Alliance for Quality Education. “Maud and Yiatin are professed members of Moms for Liberty, a hate group designated as such by the Southern Poverty Law Center – and they are the beneficiaries of this dark money. They have been known to mercilessly target Black and brown women who raise their voices in solidarity with others. In addition, Maud proudly schemed to pass a resolution to deny the existence of trans children. Neither one of them should have the privilege to sit on a CEC, much less run for political office.”
“The report makes it clear that PLACE NYC is a front for well-funded, billionaire-backed efforts to roll back civil rights and sow division in our communities,” said Kenneth Shelton, Training and Organizing Director for Citizen Action of New York. “These extremist attacks on public school students are a direct result of wealthy elites using their influence to push hate and inequality. Citizen Action stands firmly against this agenda and will continue to fight for a more just and inclusive education system for all New Yorkers.”
HedgeClippers, AQE, CANY and rank-and-file parents, educators and activists hope to peel back the facade PLACE has created. This group’s extremist ideology is not supported by the majority of New York City parents or residents.
Notes on key billionaires funding the billionaire-to-bigot pipeline:
- Best known for his Nazi memorabilia collection, including a copy of Mein Kampf signed by the author and swastika-embossed linens, and for treating Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to (undisclosed) “extravagant trips” and rides on his private jet.
- $2.5 billion estimated net worth; Crow Holdings family office has $31 billion AUM
Dan Loeb
- Said that NY’s Black Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins did “more damage to people of color than anyone who has ever donned a hood”.
- $3.2 billion net worth
Paul Singer
- Attempted to seize pension assets of thousands of workers in Argentina during a time of widespread poverty and depression, helping to drive millions into poverty.
- $6.2 billion net worth
Cliff Asness
- Invests billions into fossil fuels while pushing denialism on climate change.
- $2 billion net worth
Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation
- Donated millions of dollars to conservative causes, including to organizations that lead the climate change denial charge.
- The founders sold their business for over a billion dollars.
Walton Family
- Gave money to Gov. DeSantis right before he and the Florida state legislature passed a bill that allows billionaires to conceal their fortunes.
- $267 billion net worth
Bruce Kovner
- “George Soros’ right-wing twin,” according to New York Magazine — multi-million dollar backer of right-wing think tanks and conservative politicians.
- $8.6 billion net worth
Sarah Scaife Foundation
- The foundation’s CEO, Michael Gleba, is a member of the Heritage Foundation’s Board, the organization behind Project 2025.
- The fossil-fuel fortune founder had a $1.45 billion net worth