It got ugly and protesters were attacked.
This article is an account of the many public videos which can be found on social media. Please watch the videos for yourself, several are embedded in this article.
What is going on in North Texas, y’all? There is so much happening in these small rural towns. The situation in Gainesville was awful enough, but the videos of violent racists attacking protesters in Weatherford today, are like nothing we’ve seen, yet.
[mepr-hide] https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); [/mepr-hide]The first video.
What you see in this first video shows how volatile the situation was. Think about the clash at Charlottesville in 2017.
There is a young woman holding the video. She captured a white man pushing a girl. That’s when another man became upset and lunged for pusher. Then the white man pulled out at knife.
When the young lady mentioned she caught it on video, the knife-wielder knocked her phone out of her hand.
That’s just the first video.
The Texas Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans is claiming responsibility for the violence.
I asked local Scholar and Activist, Jessica Luther Rummel about the Sons of the Confederate Veterans. Here is what she told me:
“Confederate culture is the KKK. Original Confederate Veterans, United Daughters of the Confederacy, and Sons of Confederate Veterans literature champions the Confederate Veterans as the original, Reconstruction era Klansman.
These monuments in North Texas were mostly erected during the early twentieth century as black communities became increasingly independent of whites. The monuments were erected as part of a neo-Confederate “Lost Cause” revisionist history campaign, and the collective efforts of these organizations directly contributed to the rebirth of the Klan during the early 1920s.”
The fights.
Several different fights were caught on video.
(I am sharing some video from the racists, a warning for language and complete stupidity. Thanks to Freedumb Parker County + for the video and screenshots.)
[mepr-hide] https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); [/mepr-hide]Here are the words of just one of the protesters there, “Weatherford Police Department, Texas and Parker County Sheriff’s Office allowed peaceful protesters to be assaulted by pro-Confederate gatherers and did nothing as people were pushed, shoved, punched, and had things thrown at them. My friends were called racist names for peacefully protesting and cops did nothing. Cops escorted pro-confederate gatherers as they chased the peaceful protesters from the square. I was there.”
These words are repeated again and again from all of the protesters who attended and also evident by the hours upon hours of video evidence now floating around the internet.
From watching these videos, it’s easy to see who are the real terrorists and aggressor are that pose legitimate threats to our communities.
[mepr-hide] https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); [/mepr-hide].
Where were police?
In the many videos where we see protesters being assaulted, police are almost nowhere to be found. We see a cop or two, here or there, but mostly the violent racists were able to assault the protesters unchecked. According to witnesses, there were a few sheriffs at the courthouse, none on the lawn, and no intervention when fights did break out.
Weatherford police should be ashamed of themselves right now.
The situation today was tense as both the protesters and the violent racists who showed up to harass and intimidate them were armed. The amount of Trump and Confederate flags there made it look like a Trump rally, the only thing missing was the orange one, himself.
I’m sure he would have been proud of these toothless hillbillies pushing women and calling minorities racial slurs.
The Statue on the courthouse lawn.
I spoke with the organizer of the protest, Tony. He had two ancestors lynched on the same Courthouse lawn in the 1860s.
[mepr-hide] https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); [/mepr-hide]Tony and other anti-slavery, anti-racist protesters have been out at the statue protesting for weeks. I asked Tony if the violent racists we see on the videos have been showing up as well. “There are a few every time but here’s the thing. I’ve actually sat down with the local Texas freedom fighters,” Tony told me. “That’s what they call themselves. They know that we aren’t going to tear the statue down. They know that the state chapter of the UDC has filed a letter asking for the statue to be returned. Yet they went on Facebook and sent out a call telling everyone that we were going to tear down the statue today. That’s why all the local and outside militia showed up.”
The following is a text conversation between Tony and Weatherford Chief of Police, Lance Arnold
Were Weatherford police involved?
When Tony says to the Chief that the Square is full already, Chief asks “with Patriots or BLM” It looks like the Patriots and police were coordinated, as if they let them surround those protesters. Is this why they showed up late? To created a situation that would incite violence?
[mepr-hide] https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); [/mepr-hide]According to eye witness accounts, Tony, and several videos, when the protest was over, police allowed the violent racists to follow the protesters back to their cars.
The racists came in caravans from everywhere in North Texas. According to an organizer with PRO Gainesville, some of the same protesters that were at the protest in Weatherford also were up in Gainesville harassing them.
The Confederate States of America no longer exists.
And until these backwoods hillbillies realize that, they will continue to harass, threaten, and assault every anti-racist working to make the world a better place.
Slavery is over. The sooner that the violent racists realize it, the sooner we can start to heal.
[mepr-hide] https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); [/mepr-hide]Protesters will be at the Weatherford courthouse lawn again next Saturday, and every Saturday until the statue is gone.
Still Blue in Texas 