Armed with rainbow flags, cardboard signs and megaphones, almost 90 demonstrators stood Saturday morning on the corner of University Drive to protest a private event inside the Fort Worth Botanic Garden that included sessions on Christian nationalism and “The War on White America.”
Amy Ramsey, chief operating officer for the national nonprofit Defense of Democracy, said the protest was a show of community and solidarity against the Tarrant County-based True Texas Project’s 15th anniversary celebration.
Demonstrators at the protest, co-organized by Defense of Democracy and local advocacy group Justice Network of Tarrant County, said the city should not have allowed True Texas Project to reserve the botanic garden. The organization started as the Northeast Tarrant Tea Party and appeared on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s national list of extremist groups in 2022.
“We came to get the word out and show up and show Fort Worth that there are a lot of people in this community that are not going to stand for Christian nationalism in our public spaces,” Ramsey, a Fort Worth native, said after leaving the protest.
True Texas Project’s event reservation was for the group’s anniversary party the evening of July 12, followed by an all-day conference July 13 that included sessions on “Multiculturalism & The War On White America,” “The Case For Christian Nationalism” and “Great Replacement Theory,” a conspiracy theory claiming there is a plot to diminish the influence of white people through immigration and lower birth rates among white populations than non-white populations.
The conference featured several conservative activists, including Kyle Rittenhouse, who shot and killed two people during a 2020 racial justice protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Since his 2021 acquittal, Rittenhouse has formed a nonprofit foundation in Texas focused on gun rights and other conservative causes.
True Texas Project did not respond to a request for comment on the protests but posted photos of protesters on the group’s X account. The event was sold out, according to the post.
“Everyone here is having a fantastic time except for these losers,” the group wrote.
Botanic garden officials previously canceled the event reservation after The Texas Tribune published an article detailing the event’s agenda, but the city later reinstated the reservation, citing the group’s right to speech under the First Amendment. While the Botanical Research Institute of Texas runs the garden through a public-private partnership agreement, the city owns the property.
Patrick Newman, CEO and president of the garden, declined to comment to the Report and pointed to the city and botanic garden’s previous joint statement.
“The city’s legal department directed that the True Texas Project event be reinstated, as the city cannot restrict access based solely on a potential renter’s viewpoint,” the June 14 statement read in part. “The city and (Botanical Research Institute of Texas) do not endorse or condone the beliefs, opinions, or viewpoints of groups or individuals who may rent its facilities.”
City leaders have maintained that allowing “different viewpoints” on government property protects an individual’s constitutional right to free speech. Reyne Telles, the city’s chief communications officer, declined to offer additional comment on the protests.
Bryan Frasier, 48, and Shelly Frasier, 43, who attended the conference, told the Report they support demonstrators’ right to protest the event. However, they believe the True Texas Project has just as much of a right to host their event, and they’re glad the city and Mayor Mattie Parker “did the proper thing” by allowing the event to take place, Bryan Frasier said.
“The city has a responsibility to let anyone who’s not violent have a space to talk,” Bryan Frasier said. “In order to support free speech, you have to support free speech that you don’t like.”
Activists call on mayor to take stance on True Texas Project
The backlash over True Texas Project’s conference comes as city staff review policies regulating how organizations may book city-owned venues for private events. Assistant City Manager Jesica McEachern previously told the Report it is “very likely” that language prohibiting discriminatory speech will be removed from the policies.
Staff expect to have a draft of the policy update on community center reservations completed by July 15. A review of policies regulating facilities like the botanic garden and zoo will come later this summer.
Leading up to the Saturday protest, local activists and community members called on Parker to take a firm stance on the event and denounce white supremacy. Parker has not spoken publicly about the True Texas Project, and has declined requests for comment on the matter.
Laken Rapier, the chief spokesperson for the mayor’s office, told the Report on July 12 that True Texas Project did not invite Parker to their event. If the group had, Parker would not have attended, Rapier said. The mayor’s office declined to offer additional comment until she and the rest of City Council receive a full briefing on the updated event policy, which is expected to happen in August.
Everyone should know where the mayor stands on these issues, Ramsey said.
“It’s one of those situations where you do have to pick a side,” Ramsey said. “One of them is the side of fascism, and one of them is the side of ‘We just want to exist in Fort Worth without fear.’”
Roy Hill, 81, said he understands and supports the right to free speech, but believes the sessions on True Texas Project’s agenda fall into a gray area.
“I think it’s pretty close to crying out fire in a movie theater because they’re promoting hate and violence,” Hill said. “Anyone that stands up to these types of people gets death threats. They have to get security. I don’t think this country can persist while living in fear of one another.”
The city needs to go beyond issuing a statement that it does not necessarily share the views of groups that book their facilities, Hill continued, and, instead, have the mayor call a press conference.
“They need to stand up and get them and say something, advocacy that is in plain direct language that will get on local news, so people will actually know where they stand,” Hill said. “Statements get read by maybe a tenth or 1% of the people in this city.”
Police on site; Houston group brings firearms to protest
Fort Worth Police Lt. Paul Genualdo declined to give a count of officers on site, but more than a dozen squad cars were visible inside the garden, and a handful of officers stood near the protesters. Genualdo said the police presence was intended to ensure safety for everyone, as the department had been informed of the possibility of counter-protesters.
“They have every right to peacefully protest,” he said. “We just want to make sure they don’t obstruct the roadway.”
Genualdo said four off-duty officers were deployed inside the botanic garden building as security for the event. Assistant City Manager Jesica McEachern previously told the Report True Texas Project would be required to pay the cost to contract the off-duty officers.
Outside the garden, protesters chanted “No TTP, no KKK, no fascist USA.” Several demonstrators held cardboard signs bearing handwritten messages such as “True Texans love Democracy,” “Kyle Rittenhouse is a racist murderer,” “Nazis get out now,” “Y’all means all” and “Christians against Christian nationalism.”
Although Defense of Democracy and the Justice Network of Tarrant County discouraged their members from bringing firearms to the event, a handful of people with the group Houston United Front Against Facism attended bearing long guns.
“When we think we might face armed fascists, we bring weapons,” David Michael Smith of Houston United Front Against Facism said. “You’ll notice today a number of people open with very long guns, short barrel rifles, handguns, pepper spray. Oh, and there are other folks who are carrying concealed. … Frankly, we hope not to see armed fascist counter-protesters over there.”
Roughly a dozen members of the group carpooled from Houston to Fort Worth, and Smith said some members of his group felt it was important to be armed.
Linda Hanratty, 77, said the presence of guns on the protest line made her uncomfortable.
“It’s scary,” Hanratty, a member of the Justice Network, said. “I don’t like it. It just fuels violence and escalation.”
The True Texas Project event coincided with the botanic garden’s monthly Dog Days weekend series, when patrons are allowed to bring their dog with them to the venue. Leigh Ann Martin and her new rescue dogs, Eevie and Ozzy, were unaware of any protest or event before heading to the garden.
“There’s a lot going on, Martin said, “but thankfully there was a lot of police presence, so I felt safe driving in.”
Protesters and conference attendees cite importance of free speech, disagree on platforms
Laurie Duke, 47, wearing rainbow-striped sunglasses, stood among the protesters lining University Drive.
“They’re not my enemy,” Duke said of the conference attendees. “I don’t agree with them. I don’t agree with preaching hate. But that, to me, is very dangerous.”
Kathy Johnstone, 77, attends the True Texas Project’s monthly meetings because they align with her Christian values. She was also in attendance at the Saturday conference.
“We’re not what they say we are,” Johnstone said of her fellow True Texas Project members. “They need to just look into us instead of just going by the titles of our meetings.”
As the city reviews its events policy, protester Laurie Duke said she hopes the city will look at what other places have done to protect free speech and citizens in marginalized groups.
“I think there’s a reason that Europe and Germany, they have a no Nazi, no tolerance (policy) for that because of what we learned from World War II,” Duke said. “People are allowed to have their opinions, and that’s part of democracy. You might disagree. Yeah, but they can do it in a private place, on the street. Not a public forum.”
Ramsey, the Defense of Democracy leader, said she feels good about the turnout at the protest and hopes city leaders take note of the community’s stance against the event. She’s prepared to continue making her voice heard in opposition to what she described as hate speech in Fort Worth.
“I don’t know how to measure the success or failure of a protest because this is a marathon, and it’s not a sprint. It’s a war, it’s not a battle,” Ramsey said.
Cecilia Lenzen is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org or @bycecilialenzen.
Marcheta Fornoff covers arts and culture for the Fort Worth Report. Reach her at marcheta.fornoff@fortworthreport.org.
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