Several Fort Worth Democrats demand Mayor Mattie Parker apologize to a community activist for a comment Parker made that they described as a political threat.
Patrice Jones, a Fort Worth resident, said Parker made a “terroristic threat” against her after she addressed the mayor and council members at a Sept. 30 public meeting. Jones was among a handful of speakers urging council members to vote against reducing opportunities residents have to make public comments during council meetings. The proposal passed with a 7-4 vote.
“Patrice, I still have your casket,” Parker called out from the dais as Jones took her seat in the audience after addressing the council.
During her remarks, Jones warned that limiting public comments could force her and others to seek out alternatives to air concerns to council members.
“You may as well give us the opportunity to do what you were elected to do and hear us here so we don’t pop up at your church or wherever you’re at and make you uncomfortable in your comfortable spaces,” Jones said.
In a phone interview Thursday, Jones said she wants the mayor to apologize and clarify what she meant with her remark.
“I want Mattie to publicly come out and say exactly what she meant by that, because my interpretation of ‘I have your casket’ — it’s a threat,” Jones said. “I mean, it’s a terroristic threat, plain and simple. I look at that as you’re saying that I’m going to die.”
In a statement to the Fort Worth Report, Parker said Jones “crossed a line” during her public comments and accused the speaker of threatening the council.
“As your mayor, I have presided over hundreds of meetings, including public comment, and I do not respond — no matter what outlandish thing is said,” Parker said. “Her words did provoke me; it provoked my first responsibility as a mother and role as protector of my family.”
Parker wrote that “in the heat of the moment,” she wanted Jones to know that she was aware of the activist’s role in leaving an empty casket in the front yard of her home in 2022.
Three years ago, Fort Worth police reported that an unknown person dumped an empty casket bearing the name “Atatiana” and splashed with red paint in Parker’s yard. Police investigated the incident as a terroristic threat but did not announce any arrests.
Parker alleges there is evidence that Jones was involved in the incident in the police report, plus eye witness accounts.
Jones said she attempted to report Parker’s comment at Tuesday’s meeting as a terroristic threat to the Fort Worth Police Department, but officers told her it didn’t qualify because Parker didn’t say she would physically put Jones in the casket.
Police spokesperson Cynthia Wood said via email that Jones’ report is part of an ongoing investigation, adding, “If we receive any information that can be released, we will do that at that time.” She declined to release copies of Jones’ or Parker’s police reports without an open records request.
Jones is the founder of Southside Community Garden, an initiative led by the local nonprofit By Any Means 104, which builds gardens for residents living in the ZIP code 76104. She has been an outspoken critic of police violence, particularly against Black women such as Atatiana Jefferson, who in 2019 was fatally shot inside her home by a Fort Worth police officer.
Jones, a Black woman, accused Parker of racism with her remark.
“I believe that the tone of her voice, it was similar to that of a slave master’s wife putting a slave back in line for having the audacity to come and address them and speak truth to power,” Jones said.
During the Tuesday meeting, Jones criticized Parker specifically for reducing public comment opportunities and told the mayor she needs “tougher skin,” referencing past meetings where speakers accused Parker’s family of having ties to the Ku Klux Klan that “caused you to turn red and leave the chamber.”
Parker’s remark and Jones’ retelling of the incident on social media prompted a handful of Democratic activist groups to publish open letters to the mayor Wednesday evening and Thursday morning. The hosts of 817 Podcast, a Democratic take on Fort Worth politics, accused Parker of a double standard after she recently condemned political violence.
Last week, Parker joined Arlington Mayor Jim Ross and about 40 other bipartisan mayors across the country in signing a declaration denouncing political violence. The declaration came two days after a deadly shooting at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Dallas and weeks after the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
“Such language from an elected official, particularly directed at a Black woman who is deeply engaged in civic participation, is both unacceptable and damaging to our community,” 817 Podcast hosts wrote in a letter shared to social media. “It undermines the spirit of open dialogue and civic engagement that we must uphold.”
In a statement on political violence last month, Parker condemned an unnamed council member for “essentially condoning violence because of someone’s political views.” The statement came after council member Elizabeth Beck faced backlash from Republican activists for a post she made about Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, shortly after news of his shooting broke.
“When you take an oath of office, you have a responsibility to encourage civility, kindness, and decency,” Parker wrote then. “As elected officials and community leaders, we are held to the highest standard, and we owe it to the people we represent to always be above board.”
Letters published by Tarrant4Change and United Fort Worth, groups that advocate for social justice, demanded Parker take accountability and issue a public apology to Jones.
On social media, council member Charlie Lauersdorf defended the mayor. He commented on one post about her remarks that it’s “common knowledge” that Jones was involved in the casket incident.
Jones said via text message that Lauersdorf defamed her character by alleging she was the one that left the casket, which she denies doing. She also accused the council member of threatening political violence for a comment Lauersdorf made during the same Sept. 30 meeting warning constituents against threatening the council during public comments.
“Speaking with the city attorney, she probably wouldn’t want me to say, ‘F around and find out,’ so I won’t,” Lauersdorf said during the Tuesday meeting. “But I will say, ‘Please test that assumption, and then take note of the results.’”
Lauersdorf did not return a request for comment.
Cecilia Lenzen is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org.
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