Tulsa School District Bombarded With Bomb Threats After Right-Wing Influencer Post

Nikki McCann Ramirez
·3 min read
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Schools on the outskirts of Tulsa, Oklahoma, are being harassed with repeated bomb threats, which began the day the state’s superintendent shared a post from the right-wing account Libs of TikTok targeting a librarian in the Union Public Schools district.

According to the district, bomb threats were made against various schools on six consecutive days. The threats were evaluated and deemed “not credible” by the Tulsa Police Department and FBI. The threats have disrupted the beginning of the school year for students, families, and faculty, and the district has indicated they are conducting full sweeps of the threatened buildings.

On August 22, State Superintendent Ryan Walters, a Republican, quote-tweeted a video posted by right-wing social media account Libs of TikTok targeting a Tulsa-area elementary school librarian. The librarian’s video, originally posted on TikTok, included the text: “POV: teachers in your state are dropping like flies but you are still just not quite finished pushing your woke agenda at the public school.”

In the caption of the video, the librarian added: “my radical liberal agenda is teaching kids to love books and be kind hbu?? I think I’m going to make one of these every year until I die or end my teaching era #teachersoftiktok #schoollibrarian #liberalagenda #scandal #okpolitics.” (The caption was not included in the post by Libs of TikTok, which is operated by right-wing influencer Chaya Raichik.

Walters amplified Raichik, writing on X (formerly known as Twitter) that “Democrats say it doesn’t exist. The liberal media denies the issue. Even some Republicans hide from it. Woke ideology is real and I am here to stop it.”

The threats against the schools began the morning of Walters tweet, and specifically referenced the teacher.

“The innocence of children is sacred, that is a fact that has been known for the entirety of human history and the end of civilizations such as in ancient Rome are often marked by normalization pedophilia and child abuse,” read one email, obtained by Oklahoma news station KFOR. “I’m not going to stand by as you b******s continue to indoctrinate and prey upon our children. This is why we placed a bomb in the school. You will evacuate the building so nobody dies.”The email also included a threat against the librarian’s home.

Another threat, which also referenced the educator, demanded the schools “stop pushing this woke ideology or we will bomb every school in the union district.”

In response, Democrats in the Oklahoma House of Representatives have called for an evaluation of impeachment charges against Walters.

“Due to his consistent pattern of inflammatory language aimed at our public education teachers, outright lies and targeted attacks on local control, along with the continued criminal investigations into the potential financial mismanagement of ODE funds and continued refusal to cooperate in good faith with lawmakers, we believe it is now time for us to use the authority afforded to us by House Rules and the Oklahoma Constitution,” state House Democrats wrote in a statement issued on Tuesday.

Walters responded in a statement, accusing Democrats of posing a “direct threat to our democracy,” in seeking to remove a “popularly elected constitutional officer” from office. Earlier this week, Walters celebrated his successful ouster of Tulsa Superintendent Deborah Gist, an elected officer. Gist stepped down in order to ward off a state takeover of her district threatened by Walters.

“I would advise Tulsa Public Schools and their leadership: Do not test me,” Walters had said.

An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified Oklahoma’s Superintendent as Brian Walters. His name is Ryan Walters.

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