Tempers flared during a Charleston, South Carolina, city council meeting Tuesday that resulted in a failure to pass an ordinance that would have mandated masks inside the city’s schools.
The discussed measure would have required adults and children over the age of 2 to wear masks “in all public facilities, including public schools, private schools and daycares,” The Charleston Post and Courier reported.
A group of protesters was seen holding signs reading “unmask our children” and “my body, my choice” outside the meeting before it began, according to The Charleston Post and Courier. Inside, dozens of speakers addressed the council during the discussion, with some of them shouting at the officials.
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“Can we give y’all some advice, since you wanna dictate and mandate things for us?,” a woman wearing a tank with the American flag on it said. “There’s four vaccines, go get all of them and go take all thirty-three boosters. And then … put thirty-three masks on your face. And if that does not work, stay home for six hundred and sixty-six days!”
Another concerned parent pleaded with the council to consider the effects of the proposed mask mandate on children’s academic performance. (RELATED: Teacher Files Lawsuit Against School District Over Mask Requirements)
“I do not understand how you think they are going to learn to read with a mask on their teacher’s face or their face … they cannot see the enunciation of letters,” she said, also citing the lack of studies on the long-term effects on the health of children wearing masks.
“We the people do not consent to being governed in this tyranny,” another speaker said, after which she offered a prayer.
Councilman Harry Griffin decried the way the speakers behaved, saying that he was “totally embarrassed at how out of control things got.”
“I’ve never been more ashamed than I am right now,” Griffin explained.
Parents gathered outside a Franklin, Tennessee, county school board meeting, protesting a mask mandate approved by the Williamson County Board of Education on Aug. 10. A video of the commotion showed parents chanting “We will not comply!” and “No more masks!”