In 2019, Oklahoma teacher Regan Killackey took a family photo. His young son was chasing his daughter around with a plastic sword while she wore a Halloween mask of Donald Trump. It sat untouched on his Instagram for five years.

Then, in 2024, following a failed assassination attempt on Trump, former Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters announced he would pursue the teaching licenses of anyone who had threatened the president. He spotlighted Killackey's photo. Chaya Raichik, founder of the Libs of TikTok social media account, posted it to X, where it was viewed more than 1.2 million times. What followed were nearly 1,000 days of online targeting and a formal effort by the state of Oklahoma to strip Killackey of the career he had spent years building.

Killackey is now suing Walters and the Oklahoma Department of Education for defamation. The state's own legal response admits to many of the actions described in the lawsuit. What it cannot explain away is this: the AWAREITY system, a technology designed to identify potential crimes before they happen, was allegedly repurposed by Walters' department to build cases against teachers. A tool meant to protect students was turned into a political weapon against educators.

Raichik and Libs of TikTok have repeatedly been accused of stochastic terrorism, a term describing public rhetoric that inspires harassment by followers without explicitly directing them to act. Raichik has laughed off the label in interviews. The consequences for teachers like Killackey are not funny. Neither is the precedent: a sitting government official, using state resources, allegedly coordinating with a private social media account to target a private citizen over a five-year-old family photo.

Walters' successor reversed the decision to pursue Killackey's teaching license. But reversing one decision is not reform. Oklahoma lawmakers must establish independent oversight of how the State Superintendent exercises licensing authority, prohibit the misuse of school safety technology to build political cases against educators, and pass clear protections for teacher speech outside the classroom.

No teacher should spend nearly 1,000 days fighting for their career over a family photo. Sign this petition to demand accountability for what happened to Regan Killackey and protect every Oklahoma teacher from political retaliation.