DOMESTIC TERRORISTS:

Hillary MacKenzie knew the first board meeting of the new school year would be contentious. When students in Orange County, North Carolina, returned to in-person school after nearly a year of remote learning due to the coronavirus pandemic, the school board was still trying to figure out the best practices to keep them safe.

Going into that first meeting, MacKenzie, who chairs the Orange County School Board, worried some parents would be angry about mask mandates and other policies the board had implemented to help protect the community from COVID. But when she spotted two men in Proud Boys apparel in the crowd, she realized something more insidious was at play.

"One wore a stocking over his face, which completely obscured his entire face for the whole meeting," MacKenzie recently told a local radio station. "The other one told our board during public comment that someone should tie rocks around our necks and we should throw ourselves in a river."

A "knife and a spear" were also confiscated from people at a school board meeting, MacKenzie told the American Independent Foundation in a phone interview.

"That was the first time it felt threatening," she said.

Since that first meeting on September 13, MacKenzie and her school board colleagues have experienced what she describes as a full-on harassment campaign. What started as a contingent of concerned, vocal parents has since devolved, with members of the violent white supremacist extremist group the Proud Boys showing up to board meetings in growing numbers.

"I didn't know that I was going to have to get a home security system because of serving on the local school board," MacKenzie said. "It's just a sad statement to the environment that we're working in right now."

The situation in Orange County is not unique. In recent months, instances of violence and harassment from extremist groups have spiked. Proud Boys members have teamed up with anti-maskers to protest school board meetings across the country, harassing board members over COVID safety protocols.

School officials are quitting or retiring early in droves in response to the vitriol, threats, intimidation, and harassment they are experiencing at their jobs.

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