WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2023 - MISTAKES WERE MADE

 WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2023 - HATE IS FLOURISHING IN TEXAS

Almost all of today’s blog comes from the Austin Statemen Newspaper (online):

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Bridget Grumet - Austin American-Statesman - October 16, 2023

“A serious blunder.”

“Mistakes were made.”

For a moment there, you might forget Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is talking about the leader of a major conservative group — the Defend Texas Liberty PAC that gave millions of dollars to Patrick and other GOP figures — meeting for nearly 7 hours with a notorious white supremacist, Nick Fuentes, a man who has spoken admiringly of Hitler and stirs paranoid fears of a “white genocide.”

After the revelations of this month's sit-down came to light, Patrick said Fuentes' views have "no place in Texas politics." But no hard feelings against the head of Defend Texas Liberty. Patrick said he saw “no reason” to hand back the $3 million he accepted from the PAC this summer “in good faith.”

Defend Texas Liberty PAC leader Jonathan Stickland, the frontman for the wealthiest conservative donors in Texas, held that meeting because he thought he might dredge something politically useful from the fetid hate swamp of white supremacy.

And Fuentes came to Texas, thinking folks here might welcome some of his toxic ideas.

Texas has a growing problem with hatred and extremism. We can’t write it off as the actions of a fringe. We can’t minimize these moments as a blunder or a mistake.

Weeks before Fuentes’ infamous visit, a new Anti-Defamation League report documented the rise of intolerance in Texas in alarming detail:

Border vigilantes menacing migrants. Neo-Nazis shouting down people at drag events. Acts of antisemitism right here in Austin, from a swastika keyed into a car to a rock hurled through the window of a home displaying a menorah to the 2021 arson attack at Congregation Beth Israel.

Texas bears several ignoble distinctions, the ADL report notes. We’re the home of the largest number of militant Oath Keepers, the state with the greatest volume of white supremacist propaganda, and the home base for the second-largest number of people arrested in connection with the Jan. 6 insurrection.

These are different from the kinds of lists any state wants to top.

Yet our Republican-led Legislature champions policies that undergird intolerance: Book bans that primarily target LGBTQ+ authors and writers of color. Limits on history lessons that silence difficult discussions about race—elimination of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. Fiercely gerrymandered maps leave people of color with less voice, even as they represent a growing portion of our state's population.

And while the migrant crisis at the border poses a very real challenge, the response of Texas leaders has capitalized on cruelty. Gov. Greg Abbott brags of unspooling razor wire by the mile and busing unsuspecting migrants to faraway cities, using their exhausted bodies to make a political point.

The political rhetoric around the border is dangerously dehumanizing, with Abbott continuing to decry an “invasion” and Patrick asserting in 2021 that Democrats are waging a “silent revolution” by allowing so many immigrants into the country.

"This is trying to take over our country without firing a shot,” Patrick said on Fox News two years ago, evoking the same ominous chords of the “great replacement theory” espoused by extremists like Fuentes, who believe there is a concerted effort to replace white Americans.

Yet last week also brought a powerful split-screen moment: While Fuentes’ visit raised the specter of hatred in our midst, the horrific attacks on Israel prompted Texas leaders to stand righteously, decisively for persecuted people half a world away.

“Let me be clear: Texas stands with Israel and its right to defend itself against the war criminals who unleashed this mayhem,” Abbott said at a solidarity event Monday evening at Congregation Agudas Achim in Austin.

The governor made $4 million available for enhanced security at synagogues and other Jewish organizations in Texas, and he honored the victims by ordering Texas flags to be flown at half-staff. The newly created Texas Holocaust, Genocide, and Antisemitism Advisory Commission stands ready “to combat and confront hatred, prejudice, and indifference.”

When I followed up with Abbott’s office about extremism here and abroad, the governor provided a statement via email: “Nick Fuentes and his abhorrent antisemitic views are not welcome in Texas. Texas will always stand with Israel and our Jewish neighbors here at home and across the world.”

That’s a crucial start, denouncing Fuentes and other peddlers of hate. But our state has work to do in fostering tolerance and a welcoming place for all Texans.

Grumet is the Statesman’s Metro columnist. Her column, ATX in Context, contains her opinions. Share yours via email at bgrumet@statesman.com or via Twitter at @bgrumet. 

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There is hatred on both American major political parties.  There is hatred in the Middle East.  There is hatred between Russia and Ukraine.

I do have some minor disagreement with Ms. Grumet. Because you associate with a person doesn't mean that their viewpoints will be discussed.  Nick Fuentes might be a great person to spend time with. I'm very slow to label somebody as a White Supremacist and what that entails.

My community (Georgetown, Texas) is having its first-ever Pride Event on October 26th. One of the organizations sponsoring this event is PFLAG, whose motto is “LOVE IS LOVE.” 

It seems like humans like to have scapegoats to blame things on.  Hitler was able to blame the Jews for problems in Germany.  Texas blames immigrants on our southern border for taking away our jobs. And, if it isn’t immigrants, it is those LGBTQ people - perverting our country.  

Change is inevitable.  LOVE WINNING is inevitable (at least in my mind).

Toleration, acceptance, love, forgiveness, reconciliation, communication, and understanding - are all excellent terms for getting along.  

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others; it is not self-seeking; it is not easily angered; it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails.

And now, these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Bible - 1 Corinthians 13 excerpts

LOVE WINS

LOVE TRANSFORMS

KAREN ANNE WHITE, ©, OCTOBER 18, 2023