Fort Worth freedom rally held at the Tarrant County Courthouse. Here was the message.

About 110 people gathered outside the Tarrant County Courthouse on Saturday to take part in one of several “freedom rallies” held across the country and coordinated by the group Operation Take America Back.

While taking part on the same day as the “Justice for J6” rally in Washington, D.C., rally organizer and founder of the group Texans for Medical Choice Lori Jean explained the event was meant to bring together different groups with the shared cause of promoting personal freedom.

“That could be gun rights, people could just want freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom to just be,” Jean said. She said the rally was not meant to be anti-vaccine, however, several rally goers carried signs questioning the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines, and voiced opposition to vaccine mandates.

Several speakers put an emphasis on civic organization. Rally emcee and conservative political activist Troy Jackson urged people to learn who their voting precinct chair is and encouraged attendants to get active in turning out voters in their local precincts.

Attorney and state senate candidate Warren Norred, who’s representing the four parents challenging Fort Worth ISD’s mask mandate, said rally goers should approach political opposition the way a Christian missionary approaches a pagan.

“You would not walk up to a pagan and throw the New Testament at them, and say ‘read this you stupid moron’,” Norred said. “Your goal is to help them see the light.”

Professional public speaker Scott Ross told the crowd that the most important issue is not about masks or vaccines, but rather tyranny versus liberty. He referenced Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, telling the crowd they need to be able to breathe before being able to “self actualize.”

Ross said Americans had been, “indoctrinated in state run education asylums,” and had lost a sense of what makes a person free. He argued that property rights are the core of freedom, using a sandwich metaphor to explain.

“You need to own a utensil to spread the mustard, you need to own pickles, you need to own turkey, and you need to own tomatoes,” Ross said. “If you don’t own those things, you can’t be free.”

Jackson acknowledged the rally attendance was less than expected. However, he implored rally goers to take what they’d learned and spread it to their friends and neighbors to help educate the electorate.

“When you have educated voters, you know what they do? They hold their elected officials accountable,” Jackson said.