Fort Worth school committee defends co-chair accused of doxxing over mask mandate lawsuit

Members of the Fort Worth Independent School District’s Racial Equity Committee came to the defense of their co-chair Norma Garcia-Lopez on Thursday, after she received dozens of threatening and racist phone and social media messages in November.

The threatening and racist messages came after a Fox News article reported that Garcia-Lopez doxxed the people who filed a lawsuit against the Fort Worth school district over its mandatory mask mandate this summer. Doxxing means to reveal private or identifying information about someone on the internet.

The messages to Garcia-Lopez included racist and fat-shaming statements toward her, demanding that she “go back to Mexico,” calling her “a great candidate for a having a stroke” and accusing her of being “owned by the filthy cartel.” Some threatened her life and the safety of her family.

Garcia-Lopez said she identified one of the Fort Worth parents who filed the suit and left one of them a voicemail that the Fox News article said was “profanity-laced.”

“Some people consider my actions doxxing,” Garcia-Lopez said in a prepared statement. “It’s not doxxing when you expose someone who filed a public motion in a public court of law that impacts public school children.”

Garcia-Lopez also admitted to leaving the voicemail for one of the parents.

“My message contained harsh language — no threats,” Garcia-Lopez said in her statement. “Some people find my choice of words in that message offensive. But what’s really offensive is that four white parents could hold so much power.”

According to a social media post releasing what is said to be Garcia Lopez’s voicemail message, Garcia-Lopez uses profanities and points to the parent’s “white privilege” and accuses the parent of not caring about the well being of others.

Garcia-Lopez left the message before she was made co-chair of the Racial Equity Committee.

Garcia-Lopez said she was angered by the parents who she said put Fort Worth students who are nearly 90% minority in danger. CDC data has shown that people of color have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic.

A judge granted a temporary injunction saying that a school district couldn’t mandate the use of masks in August, and courts of appeal have since upheld it.

Doxxers have released Garcia-Lopez’s phone number, personal email and home address. She has since moved, following local law enforcement’s recommendation for safety, according to a news release from Mindia Whittier, who is active in racial equity matters in Fort Worth.

“They sent a lynch mob to attack me,” Garcia-Lopez said in a prepared statement. “They want to silence me from advocating for equity, by pressuring me into resigning as co-chair of the Racial Equity Committee.”

At Thursday’s Racial Equity meeting, co-chair and District 3 school board member Quentin Phillips said he would not ask Garcia-Lopez to step down from her post and was moved to tears by the thought of the messages sent to his colleague.

Some members of the committee drafted a resolution demanding that the school district express its support for Garcia-Lopez and publicly denounce the messages sent to her.

The Racial Equity Committee was formed in 2016 to make recommendations to the school board about how to implement practices that support, rather than disenfranchise, students and staff of color.

Since 2016, actions by the committee have led to reduced disparities in suspension rates and more hiring and retention of racially and ethnically diverse staff members, according to the committee’s resolution.

“We’re only just beginning to make progress in all of these areas,” said committee member Max Krochmal. “It’s time for Fort Worth ISD to recommit to this work, and, more so, to raise the bar on what it means to do racial equity work in Fort Worth ISD, what it means to actually root out and identify every form of inequity that exists in our district.”

Some parents who attended the meeting expressed support for Garcia-Lopez and demanded action from the district.

Tristeza Ordex has a 16-year-old son in Fort Worth ISD and has been following the Racial Equity Committee’s work for several months.

Why is “Fort Worth ISD not protecting these people? Because, as you can see, it’s dangerous. It’s dangerous to talk about being a Latina; it’s dangerous to talk about wanting to bring equity,” Ordex said.

Representatives of the district didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment for this article.

At Thursday’s meeting, Philips said the resolution was a draft and would have all committee members’ stamp of approval before being taken to the school board.