ALL LIVES MATTER White Reaction Time in Austin, Texas
By SH (Recirculated from Threshold Magazine)
This was inevitable. Movements of Black People in this country have always been accompanied by an intense backlash of those who benefit from black oppression. Beginning in late spring 2015 we have seen the rise of a number of diverse right-wing formations:
Alex Jones hosted a “Black Lives Matter” protest at a Planned Parenthood clinic in South Austin. He used quotes from PP founder Margaret Sanger’s participation in the American Eugenics movement to deliver the message that Planned Parenthood is the largest killer of black lives in the nation.
On June 17th, Dylann Roof a white 21 year old from Columbia, South Carolina shot and killed 9 black members of an Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church Bible study group. Roof’s friend, Joey Meek said Roof told him he wanted “to start a civil war.”
In the aftermath of Dylann’s attack what appeared to be a wave of arson of Black churches rolled across the South and Klan flyers began to appear in a number of southern cities.
KVUE’s feature of the KKK pamphlets appearing in south Austin, Texas
On August 9th 2015, a man with a massive swastika tattoo on his chest assaulted several people in a club in gentrifying East Austin with a knife. He was approached after removing his shirt to display the tattoo, a fight ensued and he took a bottle over the head as he stabbed four people. While the confrontation and resistance by other concertgoers is notable, the punk and metal music scene in Austin and nationally has been slowly welcoming white supremacist musicians, from National Socialist Black Metal to Neo-folk bands like Death In June. (More)
On February 27th University of Texas students awoke to graffiti on a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Housed on the South Mall, the statue had been the subject of years of debate along with the campus’ Civil War monuments. The graffiti said “CHUMP”, in blue chalk with a little arrow pointing up from the base. It apparently touched a nerve and the University forums lit up. Over the next six months, the debate raged, flaring up in intensity as Dylann Roof’s use of the Confederate flag sparked a national movement to remove the many memorials to the Confederacy. The statue was vandalized again in late June, and was finally removed after a lengthy process on August 30th.
Less than a week later a Confederate Flag Ride event page was discovered on Facebook, organized by the Confederate Riders of America. A response was hastily arranged. A loose anti-fascist crew gathered to greet the Riders’ arrival at the state Capitol. They were several hours past their advertised time as they were assembling several legs of a state wide ride. They displayed their flags, US and Confederate, off of their trucks and bikes as they picked up riders from small towns and metroplexes.
Following the recent shooting of Deputy Darren Goforth at a suburban Houston, TX gas station a larger more terrifying phenomenon has begun.
Using the banner #PoliceLivesMatter and a number of awful puns on Goforth’s name, the police from the rank and file, to the unions, to the brass have rallied to push back against the “anti-police movement” and endorse the “all lives matter,” propaganda. The rally on September 12th in Houston had over 18,000 RSVPs and one scheduled for the 19th in Austin has over 3,000.
The Austin “Police Lives Matter,” march, scheduled on September 22nd is endorsed by several police unions, including Austin’s. Robert Chody, organizer of the Austin “Police Lives Matter” march, constable of Williamson County went so far as to block people who had RSVP’d to the counter demonstrations from viewing the “Police Lives Matter” event page, drawing a very clear line between police and Black Lives Matter. The event page warns of the “loud minority of the anti-police movement..It is (their) turn to show that the silent majority is fed up with this criminal movement.”
Robert Chody has his own past of racial aggression. While he was an Austin police officer, the city settled a brutality case in which he was charged. He placed a 15 year old black high school student in a Full Nelson chokehold and slammed his head into a squad car. This put the boy into a seizure, and Chody accused him of faking. As the boy’s mother tried to intervene she was thrown to the ground by Chody’s partner. After the city settled the lawsuit, he won 85 million dollars in the Texas Lottery, quit APD and ran for Williamson County Constable.
Another Austin police officer, Taber White, posted a long statement on the Austin “Police Lives Matter” Facebook page accusing the media of sensationalizing justified uses of force. Taber White also helps to organize the Department of Justice funded Restore Rundberg redevelopment project which aims to increase broken windows policing under the guise of being community driven.
On September 1st, at the Austin Justice #LessTalkMoreAction event, Acevedo was informed of the #BlueLivesMatter march & the Austin Police Union’s endorsement of it. He said he was unaware and if true, would address it.
Acevedo has instead decided to address the “Police Lives Matter,” crowd at the march. He also claims he has met prior with the organizers of “Police Lives Matter” Austin and with organizers of Black Lives Matter Austin to ensure peaceful rallies on the same day, at the same time. (KVUE)
White supremacy and fascism in the US take many diverse forms, yet all have drawn their fervor from the same source: the movement of Black people for liberation and survival. In the current context they take advantage of the grey area created by the Southern Strategy and “post-racial” politics. They use their internal differences to convince the (largely white) public that they are not the enemy. The same police that arrest and incarcerate masses of Black people ask us to go to them for protection from the Klan.
In an age of anti-racist police officers and anti-klan neo-confederates, the need to draw a line is more important than ever.
Image above: John Brown Anti-Klan Committee pamphlet from a prior wave of klan organizing in Austin. (Link)