This is Not What Courageous Acts of Civil Protest Look Like

On Thursday night, throngs of right-wing protestors set up camp outside the home of Manatee County School Board member Mary Foreman’s home to protest É well, precisely what they were protesting wasn’t all too clear. However, the sad scene was emblematic of the state of political discourse in 2021, in which so-called activists don’t really need a reason for their anger, just a target at which to spew it.

At least part of the point seemed to be the school board’s "mask mandate," which really isn’t a mandate at all, since anyone who wishes can opt-out of it, a facet of the policy that Foreman, a conservative Republican, supported. In fact, the big fight over hours and hours of unhinged public comment on the issue essentially came down to whether it would be called a mask mandate with an opt-out or a non-mandate with an opt-in.

If those two things sound like the same thing to you, that’s because they are, in every meaningful way, the same damn policy.

Nevertheless, Foreman, a retired CPA who ran on a pledge to help the board provide oversight of the district’s many fiscal problems and received endorsements from every pro-Trump group in the county before being elected in November, is finding out exactly how difficult it is to appease the very vocal lunatic fringe of the party.

The encampment outside of Foreman’s house included the sort of angry middle-aged white women commonly found screaming about mask tyranny from the podium at school board and county commission meetings, along with a group of mostly out-of-town Proud Boys, who are always eager to jump onto an issue, regardless of whether it affects them, so long as it offers a chance for some attention.

The irony in the fact that most of them were protesting an optional face-covering policy while exercising their personal option to wear a face-covering while doing so–though in order to conceal their identities rather than for the benefit of another's health–was apparently lost on most in attendance.

The only thing sadder than that disconnect was the poor child someone brought along who had a sign that meant to insult Foreman by way of declaring the two board members who voted against the policy as being smarter than her, only to have misspelled smarter.

TBT reporter Dawn Kitterman was on-site to get video of the event, but apparently media attention–normally a primary goal of public protest–was unappreciated, as this spectacle seemed purely meant to intimidate Foreman and/or give those participating some content for their social media accounts, most of which were adorned the next day with photos of them flashing the okay sign, a gesture commonly meant to expresswhite power (yawn).

Kitterman, who had her two daughters in the car with her, was subjected to the sort of harassment one can only now come to expect at such gatherings, as Proud Boy members took pictures of her license plate and the women screamed at her, demanding to know if she was a communist (double yawn). Her video can be viewed below.

Some of those in attendance claimed that the reason they were harassing Foreman at her home was that she failed to acquiesce to their demands at the meeting–you know, the public meeting that actually exists to facilitate such discourse. Newsflash, we live under a representative democracy. As such, the loudest voice doesn't always win.

As those voices so often remind us when it suits them, elections have consequences, and that's why the ballot box is the proper place to get what you want in a representative democracy. And when you fail to find yourself on the prevailing side of a race or issue, you sometimes have to accept it as the other side of the coin when living in a democratic society. Were Foreman and other public servants to capitulate to every angry mob that storms their driveway, that would actually represent the sort of tyranny they seem to think they're living under.

A majority of Americans favor mask policies in schools right now, including here in Manatee County. The current policy is actually closer to the minority's position than the majority on this one. Take the win. If that's not good enough, go ahead and organize, go ahead and protest, but do it at the venues that are meant for such discourse, like outside of the board's chambers.

Showing up at the home of a little old lady on the local school board in an effort to intimidate her into taking your side is not only a very bad look, but it's ineffective, at best. She's free to vote as she sees fit. That sort of masked mob bullying is–and again, I appreciate that the irony is probably lost on those who most need to hear it–in direct contradiction to the very value that they claim to be defending.

Dennis "Mitch" Maley is an editor and columnist for The Bradenton Times and the host of ourweekly podcast. With over two decades of experience as a journalist, he has covered Manatee County governmentsince 2010. He is a graduate of Shippensburg University and later served as a Captain in the U.S. Army. Clickherefor his bio. His 4th novel, Burn Black Wall Street Burn, was recently released and is availablehere.