Of course, they are in a close battle for that title with Parker County.
Ladies and gentlemen, today many of us witnessed one of the most ignorant and appalling displays of open bigotry on a local government level in the 21st century. It happened in Cooke County, Texas. And if you so happened to miss it, here is the full video.
In short of it, 5 white men took a slew of comments from residents, many of those comments were bound in white supremacy and ignorance. Then, those 5 white men voted on a Black rights issue. Want to guess how they voted?
Today Cooke County Commissioners voted to keep the racist, white supremacist, Confederate monument which towers high above the county courthouse lawn in Gainesville, Texas.
This isn’t just any every day racist Confederate monument.
The inscription is a blatant ode to white supremacy.
“Oh, home of tears, but let her bear this blazoned to the end of time; No Nation rose so white and fair, none fell so pure of crime.”
Yes, that is the actual inscription of the actual Confederate monument, which rests on county property in Cooke County, Texas.
The local progressive group, PRO Gainesville has been protesting for the removal of the statue every week for months. They have been peacefully protesting, but they have been met with armed white supremacists carrying Confederate flags, who shot racial slurs and white lives matter at them.
Cooke County Commissioners.
Not only did they vote to keep this racist statue, their vote was in support of the white supremacists and white militias that have been terrorizing peaceful protesters for months.
Cooke County commissioner’s vote today was a loud and clear shout that they think that Black and brown Cooke County residents don’t matter. The rights of white supremacists to come out and shout racial rhetoric is more important to them than the safety and inclusion of all citizens in Gainesville.
They allowed public comment before the vote.
While some of the residence who spoke were eloquent, educated, and spoke about doing the right thing; many other likely never read a historical document in their life. We heard them talk about northern aggression, erasing history, Confederate veterans were American veterans, and a whole bunch of other Lost Cause rhetoric, none of which was based in fact.
If all of the Lost Cause Rhetoric wasn’t enough enough to make you sick, Cooke County Commissioners took it one step further.
Just like racist Weatherford, Cooke County allowed Darlene Denton, a representative of the white supremacist group, the United Daughters of the Confederacy have a voice. Really, they ought to be ashamed of themselves.
Don’t believe the UDC is still a racist organization? Look no further than Darlene Denton’s recent public controversy when she called one of the PRO Gainesville leaders a “mulatto.”
And just like Weatherford, pro-Confederate residents called their neighbors BLM.
They spoke about BLM and the BLM agenda to remove the statue. Somebody has to understand what’s wrong with these people. I don’t. PRO Gainesville believes Black Lives Matter, that doesn’t mean that PRO Gainesville is a secret arm of the Black Lives Matter movement. They spoke about “outside agitators,” socialism, and Commissioner Gary Hollowell even brought up Chicago.
This is the same Commissioner Hollowell that told PRO Gainesville members that George Floyd got what he deserved.
Courthouses should be beacons of justice and justice should be impartial and fair. Yet, the courthouse in Cooke County houses a monument to white supremacy. How can any Black or brown person walking into the Cooke County courthouse believe they will be treated equally or fair when before they even reach the front door an advertisement of the hatred of the color of their skin glares at them from 20 feet above the ground?
In 1862, forty people were lynched for being suspected Unionists in Gainesville. In 1921, twenty thousand Klansmen marched in the town of Gainesville. And in 2020, five white men decided to continue Cooke County’s long legacy of white supremacy.
You must be logged in to post a comment.