Texas Dad Strips At School Board Meeting To Make A Point About Mask Mandates
A Texas dad took off his clothes at a school board meeting to demonstrate that common sense rules aren’t an infringement on personal liberty
As the delta variant continues to fuel COVID-19 surges across the country, parents and teachers in Texas are up against a completely unnecessary challenge: the state’s governor, Greg Abbott, has banned school districts from requiring students to wear masks. Despite the governor’s ban, a number of school districts have imposed mask mandates anyway, sparking an ongoing battle between those who want to protect kids from a deadly virus, and anti-mask asshole parents. At a school board meeting in Dripping Springs Independent School District, one dad resorted to a desperate (but hilarious) ploy to get board members to see the sense in imposing mask mandates in schools.
During Monday night’s meeting, Texas dad James Akers stepped up to the podium, fully clothed, and started his speech.
“I do not like the government, or any other entity, telling me what to do,” he said. “But sometimes I’ve got to push the envelope a little bit. And I’ve decided I’m not just going to talk about it, I’m going to walk the walk.”
He then started pointing to different articles of clothing he was wearing and explaining his feelings about all of them.
“At work they make me wear this jacket. I hate it,” he said, while taking his jacket off.
Akers continued, “They make me wear this shirt and tie. I hate it,” while taking those off, too.
Akers then told the board that on his way to the meeting, he ran three stop signs and four red lights. He also admitted that he parked in an accessible parking space at the meeting, saying, “I have every right to drive as fast as I want to.”
After he stripped off his pants, standing at the podium in just a bathing suit, Akers explained his point: Sometimes, in society, we have rules because it just makes sense to follow them.
“It’s simple protocol, people,” he said. “We follow certain rules. We follow certain rules for a very good reason.”
Unsurprisingly, because this is Texas, Akers’ speech was met with fierce debate — from both sides. I don’t really expect the anti-mask folks to get it.
“There are too many voices out there that I think are digging in for political reasons, and absolutely just not thinking about the common sense decisions we make every day to comply with everything from driving down the road and being safe and courteous to other drivers to not parking in handicapped spots,” Akers told his local news station. “All these rules that we’re given every day that we follow, because they make sense.”
