'You can't say that to a woman in 2024': Texas judge's words called racist, misogynistic

FORT WORTH, Texas — Residents and members of local civil rights organizations gathered Thursday to denounce Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare’s recent treatment of Commissioner Alisa Simmons, which they described as racist, misogynistic, and publicly intimidating.

The news conference sprang from an exchange between O’Hare and Simmons at a meeting of the Commissioners Court on Tuesday, during which O’Hare told Simmons, “I’m the one talking now, so you’ll sit there and be quiet and listen to me talk.”

O’Hare is white; Simmons is Black.

A news conference was held Thursday morning in front of the Tarrant County Administration Building in downtown Fort Worth with about 20 people in attendance, including representatives of the Fort Worth and Arlington chapters of the NAACP and United Fort Worth.

O’Hare did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Those in attendance said they want Tarrant County citizens to stand up against O’Hare’s disrespect of Simmons by speaking at the May 7 County Commissioners Court meeting.

“In the wake of everything that’s been going on with the statement that he made, ‘Sit down and be quiet,’ You can’t say that to a woman in 2024,” Kennedy Jones, president of the Arlington NAACP chapter, said.

Simmons approached the crowd at the end of the news conference. She said she didn’t expect such a response from residents but was appreciative that they recognized the inappropriateness of O’Hare’s behavior.

“Because I was not going to be quiet does not mean that I’m out of order,” Simmons said. “I was speaking, I even attempted to answer his questions, and he didn’t like my question, so he didn’t answer so he would speak over me. I’m not tolerating that.”

The exchange between O’Hare and Simmons came after Simmons voiced opposition to a five month, $5,000 contract with Noah Betz, the executive director of the Huffines Liberty Foundation, to work in O’Hare’s office.

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