Anti-mask Tennessee parents caught on video screaming threats at fellow parents who support masks in schools

Learning Support teacher Sabrina Werley works with 4th grade student Jeremiah Ruiz at Cumru Elementary School in Cumru township Wednesday morning April 14, 2021.
Ben Hasty/Getty Images

Anti-mask parents in Franklin harassed and threatened other parents outside a school board meeting.
The Williamson County board approved a temporary mask mandate for elementary school students and staff.
"We know who you are," one man screamed at a masked parent. "We will find you."
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Anti-mask parents in Franklin, Tennessee harassed and threatened mask-wearing parents outside a school board meeting on Tuesday night after the Williamson County schools approved a temporary mask mandate for elementary school students and staff.

A crowd of parents outside the building chanted "will not comply" and "no more masks" as pro-mask parents, some of whom were doctors and nurses, exited the building.

"We know who you are," one man screamed at a parent trying to drive out of the parking lot. "You can leave freely, but we will find you."

Another man repeatedly yelled at the same man, "You better watch out." Another held his middle finger up to the car window and screamed, "Fuck you."

-Natalie Allison (@natalie_allison) August 11, 2021

A few protesters urged the group to be peaceful and insisted the police, who were attempting to control the crowd, were "on our side."

"The news is trying to capture you angry," one man said. "We're gonna do it the right way, we're not going to give the news what they want ... and show the people in power here how flimsy that power really is ... we'll show them that by behaving like parents tonight."

At the crowded Tuesday night meeting, a diverse array of parents in one of the state's wealthiest enclaves spoke for and against the mask mandate. The parents included many physicians and other health providers who urged the board to mandate masks in order to slow the coronavirus' spread in schools and prevent them from being shut down due to outbreaks. The meeting was regularly interrupted by the anti-maskers in attendance.

"There is only one enemy amongst us and that is COVID," one parent, a pediatrician, said. "And in order to prevent its spread, we need to mask up."

In deep-red Tennessee, local school boards are empowered to make their own decisions about whether to require masks in schools. Williamson county's temporary mask mandate will expire on September 21. The state's Republican governor, Bill Lee, has so far resisted calls from the right flank of his party to prohibit schools from deciding their mask policies. Tennessee has never had a state-wide mask mandate.

Many Republican leaders in Tennessee have fanned the flames of the political debate over COVID-19 mitigation efforts. In one extreme example, the state government fired its top immunization official, Dr. Michelle Fiscus, last month after the state health department urged teenagers to get vaccinated -- an entirely legal effort. Under the state's Mature Minor Doctrine, established in 1987, caregivers aren't required to have parental consent to vaccinate minors over the age of 14.

After attacks from conservative state lawmakers, the state health department ended its digital vaccination outreach to teenagers.

The state has one of the lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates in the country with just 40% of the population fully vaccinated, far behind the national average of 50%. And the state is seeing a surge in infections and hospitalizations as the hyper-contagious delta variant spreads.

But Tennessee is far from an outlier in its politicization of the pandemic. Public health officials across the country have been targeted, harrassed, and threatened over their efforts to contain COVID-19.

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