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[WedgeX]

On the north side of Hermann Park, a 445-acre urban green space in the heart of Houston’s Museum District, a massive monument stands to honor the city’s namesake. The statue, a bronze depiction of Sam Houston in military garb atop his horse, pointing east toward the San Jacinto battlefield, sits on a colossal granite arch. The monument, nearly fifty feet tall, is one of the city’s most iconic pieces of art and history and has stood over the park’s entrance since 1925. And, in May, a plan was launched to destroy it.

The threat started with a Facebook post on May 18 from a group calling itself Texas Antifa. “We’re about to have a huge event in Houston,” the post read. “The Fascists better not show up with violence or they will be limping home bruised, broken, hurt, and crying with their tails tucked between their legs.” A follow-up post on May 22 featured a picture of the Sam Houston monument covered in text: “This statue’s demise begins on June 10.” An accompanying message read, “Comrades, we need to fight to remove the disgusting statues of ALL war criminals and slave owners. Texans want these statues removed!” Yet another post promised that after the Hermann Park monument was dealt with, the towering Sam Houston statue on Interstate 45 in Huntsville would be pulverized to gravel and Houston’s namesake national forest would be renamed.

The Houston Chronicle published a story about Texas Antifa’s plans, and local television station KPRC ran a similar report on its five o’clock broadcast, complete with a live shot from the statue, man-on-the-street interviews, and a comment from Houston’s mayor. “Antifa,” a name long used to define various far-left activist groups across the country pushing for “anti-fascist action,” had become a bit of phenomenon in recent months, thanks to their violent clashes with police and counterprotesters. Now, it seemed, Antifa had brought the fight to Houston.

...

News of the group’s plans spread across right-wing blogs and message boards, and a story posted on Glenn Beck’s site went so far as to proclaim that “radicals in Texas have declared war.” On May 31, Houston activist Quanell X appeared on the local Fox affiliate’s morning show to declare his support for Texas Antifa. “They’re absolutely right; pull that racist Sam Houston down,” he said. “We’ll all pull him down.”

The interview seemed to be a tipping point. In the days that followed, an official counterprotest group, This Is Texas, emerged and posted a call to arms. It read, “Antifa has come out saying they will be bringing several large (communist) groups together to host a rally. . . . This list includes Black Panther Party, Antifa & more. Their goal is to remove the Sam Houston statue. . . . We invite anyone who loves Texas and wants to protect our sovereign soil and history to join us. Open carry is welcomed and encouraged as well as any armor or ballistics vests. . . . Bring your flags and fly them high!”

...

As the sun set on the rally that day, the answer was revealed when Texas Antifa posted a new message. “This was a fake Antifa [event],” it read. “It was never intended to attract Antifa or other groups, but, rather, to dissuade them from showing. It was intended to bring many Texans together to hopefully create a more cohesive defense against such groups.”

Texas Antifa, in short, doesn’t really exist. The entire thing was apparently a right-wing hoax—though who, exactly, was behind it remains a mystery. The people who created the so-called Texas Antifa claimed that by unifying Texas “patriots,” they could pressure Texas legislators to pass a law protecting public monuments from removal, so that what happened in New Orleans wouldn’t happen here. “We said there would be several groups there, and there were,” the post explained. “They were not groups on the Left, but on the Right. The largest Texas Patriot Rally in a very long time was accomplished. This is in your hands now.”

Texas Monthly: The Monument Men

Grassroots organizing through fake news. Certainly a different era we're living in.

 

[Luschient]

10D chess?

 

[besada]

The same sort of thing happened in Gettysburg. There was an antifa announcement by a fake antifa group and the only people who turned up were angry right wingers, one of whom shot himself accidentally.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/adolfoflores/hoax-anti-confederate-rally

 

[adj_noun]

How do we know it was a false flag event

Maybe a crisis actor made that post

How far does this rabbit hole go

 

[akira28]

this is in your hands now

geez...someone get that guy a wet towel or something so he can clean his hands off?

also, antifa sounds vaguely foreign, so of course people are lining up to stand against it.

 

[Frozenprince]

The same sort of thing happened in Gettysburg. There was an antifa announcement by a fake antifa group and the only people who turned up were angry right wingers, one of whom shot himself accidentally.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/adolfoflores/hoax-anti-confederate-rally

How the fuck are you gonna do some fuck shit at Gettysburg?

These idiots just have no decorum.

 

[Gaius Cassius]

From Texas here, Austin. Honestly, I feel the need to remind you people how crazy and desperate some of the Trumpists and right wingers are these days.

For a long time I was a Republican moderate. However since the election I saw how things began to change suddenly. They no longer hid their racism for example. I worked retail during the election at a hunting and gun outfitter and had to hear daily how much these people wish to harm and kill those different from them. I watched mentally ill, disturbed members of them, among them, purchase firearms. They would laugh and talk at how theyre looking so forward to Hilary winning so they could kill people.

So, I ask you, is this at all odd? No. Just a continuation of things before, they've only changed their tactics. However, I feel the need to tell you that these individuals still hope to harm those different from them and that won't change any time soon.

 

[devilhawk]

Texas Monthly: The Monument Men

Grassroots organizing through fake news. Certainly a different era we're living in.

You think this shit is new?

 

[WedgeX]

You think this shit is new?

America's done it a few times for war, like the Mexican-American War and Vietnam, and trying to frame candidates for abhorrent (to voters, at least) views.

But to rally US citizens to arm themselves against other (imaginary) US citizens?

Can't say I have seen that before.