Duval School Board Member Calls Black Mom ‘Token,’ Mom Responds: ‘You’re Making it Seem Like Black Women Don’t Have Their Own Voice’

August 15, 2022 Updated 1:12 P.M. ET

DUVAL COUNTY (FLV) – A Moms for Liberty member called Duval County School Board Member Elizabeth Andersen’s comments racist after Andersen called the Black member “a token person” for fighting against mask mandates for her son with autism.

“So we have Quisha King, April Carney is my opponent, Tia Bess,” Andersen said in a video. “And they often will sort of parade her out as you know a token person because everyone is doing harmful things to children with special needs and that’s, you know, to push that agenda.”

“My son is not a token. I am not a token. Because I speak up for my son’s rights, we’re token?” Bess said in a video response. “Way before the pandemic of 2020, 2019, before the shutdown, I was advocating for my son’s rights.”

Moms for Liberty Member Tia Bess fought against mask mandates because she said it affected her son’s sensory issues.

“So for you to say that somebody parades me out like I’m a slave, like I’m somebody’s show pony, I ain’t nobody’s show pony,” Bess said. “Nobody’s exploiting me and nobody’s exploiting my son. You’re making it seem like black women don’t have their own voice. Like I need some group behind me to tell me what’s right and what’s wrong for my kids.”

Andersen called the comments on Twitter a smear campaign. She said the word “token” was referring to the “exploitation” of special needs children for political gain.

“This is nothing more than a desperate, last minute smear campaign intended to deflect from my opponent’s radical & extreme politics which have no place on our Duval school board,” Andersen said. “My years of child advocacy and community action speaks for itself.”

“I’m a child advocate; anyone using a child with a mental health diagnosis or disability to push a political agenda is wrong. I used the word “token” to refer to the exploitation of special needs children for political gain; the conversation in no way referenced anyone’s race.”