‘This is an insult’: Effort to honor Tarrant social workers turns into culture war fight
Republican elected officials cut mentions of race, gender, immigration and other politicized issues from a proclamation to honor social workers at during the Tarrant County Commissioners Court meeting on March 11.
Brought by Precinct 2 Commissioner Alisa Simmons, an Arlington Democrat, the proclamation to dub March National Social Work Month appeared as uncontroversial as any other on the agenda, but opposition popped up during the court’s discussion of it.
Attending the meeting virtually, Precinct 3 Commissioner Matt Krause spoke up to thank Simmons for her proclamation, but proposed some changes.
“A couple of those terms in there are in conflict with Texas policy, the new administration’s policy,” he said.
He proposed amending a statement related to workers who “have advocated for this nation to live out its true values of equal rights for all people, no matter their race, sexual identity, gender, gender expression, culture or religion.”
His suggestion was to cut the language on race, gender, sexual identity and other cultural hot-button issues after the first comma in the cited text.
“Just put a period there, not necessarily need to go into everything else,” he said.
Krause also took issue with a paragraph farther down in the text that said, “Social Workers now are helping end gun violence, offering mental health for all and urging the adoption of immigration reforms.”
“Are we talking about Secretary Mayorkas in the last administration? … Are we talking about the border ‘czar’ Tom Homan’s current reforms?” he said. “I just think there’s things in there that people might have questions about.”
Simmons did not agree with his proposed amendments.
“This is an insult,” she said, and suggested the social workers in attendance provide their input and decide if they wanted to accept the proclamation.
Krause said the changes he proposed were “no way an insult or swipe at our great social workers,” and that the county could honor them just as well without the language.
Precinct 4 Commissioner Manny Ramirez accused Simmons of insulting the social workers by “trying to insert politics into something honoring” them.
Simmons countered by saying the Republicans were politicizing the proclamation by cutting out words they didn’t agree with.
Before the vote, social workers attending the meeting to accept the honor told commissioners they stood behind the proclamation as it was written.
Derelle Walker, an assistant court investigator, said that the words the Republican commissioners wanted to cut were taken from language promoted by the National Association of Social Workers.
“It is indeed the things that we actually do here on a daily basis,” he said.
Two other social workers who addressed the commissioners said they agreed with the language of the proclamation and preferred to leave it in.
Krause’s motion to amend the proclamation passed along party lines, as did the motion to accept the amended proclamation.
Walker and the other social workers in attendance declined to comment, saying they are not allowed to as county employees.
Speaking with reporters after the proclamation passed, Simmons called the amendment “disrespectful” to the county’s social workers.
“It is unfortunate that we have county leadership that will play politics with a profession as noble and as necessary as social workers,” she said. “This is politics, pure and simple.”
She said she planned on presenting their office with a different proclamation with the original wording.
In a written statement, Krause said his amendments got rid of politicized language in the proclamation.
“My efforts were aimed at getting the proclamation to a place where there could be unanimous agreement on the Court to express our gratitude for the social workers in our county,” he said.
Ramirez said in a statement that his support of Krause’s amendment was meant to focus on the workers’ service, not politics.
“It was shameful that instead of honoring our incredibly hardworking social workers for their service on behalf of ALL citizens … a proclamation was presented that included unnecessary and politically charged language that stood in direct conflict” with state and federal policy, he said.
County Judge Tim O’Hare did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This story was originally published March 11, 2025 at 3:22 PM.
