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

• Anti-mask parents harassed and threatened other parents outside a school board meeting on Tuesday.
• The Williamson County board had approved a temporary mask mandate for elementary-school students and staff.
• "We know who you are," one man yelled at a masked parent, adding, "We will find you."

Anti-mask parents in Franklin, Tennessee, harassed and threatened parents wearing masks outside a Williamson County school board meeting on Tuesday night after it approved a temporary mask mandate for elementary-school students and staff.

A video showed a crowd of parents outside the building chanting "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 yelled 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 that the police officers attempting to control the crowd were "on our side."

"The news is trying to capture you angry," one man said. "We're going to 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."

The man added, "We'll show them that by behaving like parents tonight."

At the crowded 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 closures because of outbreaks. Anti-mask parents regularly interrupted the meeting.

"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 decisions about whether to require masks in schools. Williamson County's temporary mask mandate is set to 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 mask policies. Tennessee has never had a statewide 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 health department urged teenagers to get vaccinated. 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 criticism from conservative state lawmakers, the department ended its digital vaccination outreach to teenagers.

The state has one of the lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates in the country: 40% of the population is fully vaccinated, behind the national average of 50%. And it has had a surge in infections and hospitalizations as the hypercontagious Delta variant spreads.

But Tennessee is not an outlier in its politicization of the pandemic. Public-health officials across the country have been targeted, harassed, and threatened over their efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19.