A Texas man appeared to threaten opponents of Critical Race Theory (CRT) at a school board meeting this week, warning other parents that he had “over 1,000 soldiers” and was “locked and loaded.”
The incident occurred at a Nov. 9 meeting of the Fort Worth Independent School District board.
Malikk Austin, who said he was a parent, spoke at the meeting but then turned to address the audience.
A Far-Left activist in an FWISD Board meeting threatened parents all because they were criticizing CRT. The activist said that he would bring 1000 soldiers and that he will be "lock and loaded" next time. pic.twitter.com/VmqNaQQh10
— Carlos Turcios (@Carlos__Turcios) November 12, 2021
“For those who got an issue with this Critical Race Theory equity, this is something I fight for, for my children,” said Austin, who is black.
“How dare you come out here and talk about the things that my daddy and my grandparents went through, the lynching, the oppression, Jim Crow, and my kids are still being afflicted by this,” he continued.
“I got over 1,000 soldiers ready to go,” Austin told the other parents.
“I’ll bring my soldiers with me next time… locked and loaded,” he added as police officers stepped in and escorted him out of the room. His one minute to speak had expired by that point.
Some attendees shouted at him to address his remarks to the school board rather than to the other attendees, at which Austin responded by citing “my First Amendment rights.”
Some parents said they took the incident as a threat.
“Absolutely, it made me feel threatened,” Hollie Plemmons, a mom of three, told Fox News over the weekend. “I’m scared and I’m afraid he’s going to do something.”
Plemmons was at the school board meeting and attempted to speak with Austin. Earlier in the evening, she herself had spoken at the meeting and had mentioned CRT.
After Austin promised to bring soldiers next time, Plemmons responded, “Locked and loaded? Did you just threaten me?”
“Locked and loaded,” he said again.
Another woman, a grandmother of four children in the Fort Worth school district, was at the meeting and told Fox News that she and everyone else at the meeting felt “threatened.”
“This gentleman was profoundly angry. He was not putting on a performance,” Carol Guarneri said. “When he made the statement that he had his thousand soldiers and they’d be back locked and loaded, it was very frightening to me.”
Austin previously attended a school board meeting in August, when he showed up dressed in what appeared to be tactical gear, including a black vest, and described himself as a “revolutionary” and complained about attacks on CRT.
“You might kill the revolutionary, but you won’t kill the revolution,” he said at that meeting.
“I’m not playing. We’re not gonna tolerate this. You come for our kids, you come for us,” he added.
CRT is an ideology that claims racism is systemic and permeates every aspect of American culture, and is also the explanation for all “inequities” between races. It has become a controversial issue among parents in school districts across the country as some parents do not want CRT taught in schools, while others support including it in curricula.
