According to the FBI, domestic terrorism is defined as acts dangerous to human life that violate criminal law and are intended to intimidate and coerce a civilian population or influence the government’s policy.
Several weeks back, there hearing in Austin over the Jim Crow relics placed all over the state of Texas. During that hearing, a group of organized individuals showed up and testified that they wanted the Jim Crow statues to stay where they for the continuance of unequal justice in Texas. They also admitted to connections to multiple incidents last year, when white militias targeted peaceful protests and then harassed, intimidated, and assaulted people who were using their Constitutional rights.
[mepr-hide] https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); [/mepr-hide]They call themselves, “This is Texas Freedom Force,” that’s the name they’ve registered with the state. Still, they’re actually a network of extremist white militias, with ties to January 6th and domestic terrorism. Not only have they been allowed to travel the state terrorizing Black and brown people legally, but they have also been doing this with the help of law enforcement.
There are countless state and federal laws that this group has violated and the civil rights of others. The FBI is aware of them, and the Texas government is aware of them, yet, they continue to operate freely in Texas. (More on the laws and statutes they have directly violated.)
The FBI called them an “extreme militia group.”
When Guy Wesley Reffitt was arrested for participating in the violent insurrection on January 6th, his arrest warrant referenced a post he made on the TITFF website. Then the next line said, “On information and belief, the Texas Freedom Force is a militia extremist group.”
[mepr-hide] https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); [/mepr-hide]Texas Public Radio (TPR) had a good breakdown of the group and some of their activities. They were the aggressors during the incident at the Alamo last year. According to TPR, TITFF put out a statement on their website saying, “TITFF is not a militia, we are not anti-governmental, we support law enforcement as long as they are upholding their oath and we call out the bad apples that break their oath.”
It’s interesting because, on the first day of the Texas Legislature, 3% showed up at the Capitol in Austin to allegedly “keep the building safe from Antifa.” Still, in the video, they are heard saying that they back the blue as long as they honor their oath. TITFF was there that day in Austin, as well.
In Texas, are extreme militia groups above the police?
The frumpy man with the mask covering his face is Kenny Wolfam, and he can also be seen in TPR’s article at the Alamo engaging in intimidation tactics. The person who recorded the video was far-right wing Houston extremist, Doc Greene. Greene was present at the insurrection and hosted an online podcast. He often talks about taking up arms against undocumented immigrants and sacrificing himself to make sure “illegals” don’t come to America.
Greene can usually be spotted at far-right extremist events, including some organized by TITFF.
TPR also reported that TITFF’s ideology is both ‘Lost Cause’ and ‘3%er.’ They also point out how at the Alamo incident, TITFF was the aggressors, and their targets were a group of Black protesters. They’re a 501(c)3 — a tax-exempt, charitable organization and claim a membership of 60,000 people.
The incident at the Alamo last year.
The George Floyd Uprising began on May 28th, and by June 2, white militia and the Boogaloo Bois were showing up to protests in Hawaiian shirts and armed with assault-style rifles. An article from My San Antonio published how the white militia, Texas Freedom Force, and Boogaloo Bois teamed up to “protect” the Alamo.
What were these white men armed with weapons of war protecting the statue from? Unarmed Black people peacefully protesting for equal justice.
Local activists spoke of a rumor at the time, where white supremacist vigilantes shared with their friends that the Chief gave them “permission” to “shoot protestors who cross the police line” at will.
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It’s been established that TITFF is associated with 3%ers and Boogaloo Bois, both of which would be labeled as domestic terrorist organizations if we had the proper domestic terrorist laws on the books. A point, which AOC pointed out for us last year:
The incident at the Alamo last year was a racist incident.
While TITFF will deny any accusations of white supremacy or racial terrorism, their actions speak louder than their words. A group of white men in body armor and carrying semi-automatic weapons showed up to a peaceful protest where the crowd was mostly Black and stood in a line against them to intimidate and harass. The white militia members who participated in such an ugly act of white supremacy should have been ashamed of themselves.
[mepr-hide] https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); [/mepr-hide]But they weren’t. Not only were they not ashamed, but they also took a picture of their deed, framed it, and gave it to Bryan Slaton.
I wonder if Bryan Slaton proudly hung this picture of racial violence in his office.
Do you know who else used to be proud of and photograph their acts of racial violence?
The Ku Klux Klan. Notice the inscription on this photo, which can be found in the Portal to Texas History. It says “Guards on Duty.” The Klan used to fancy themselves as “protectors” and above law enforcement, just as TITFF does now.
How many other groups are connected to or associated with TITFF?
Several. They frequently team up to do joint training exercises and have even established a coalition with other militias in other states.
According to this 2017 post, TITFF was started by Robert Bradly, a commander in the ‘Texas State Militia, Phoenix Unit.’
Apparently, the idea was to go from a white militia group to an armed security force. Who is the Texas State Militia, Phoenix Unit?
With the armored truck, that’s them, carrying semi-automatic weapons while flying the flag of traitors. I only heard about them recently, after civil rights activists in far-north Texas have complained about being targeted by this group.
Last year, they put out a “call to arms” against people seeking racial justice. According to the Oxford dictionary, a “call to arms” is defined as “a call to prepare for confrontation.”
So, they strapped on semi-automatic weapons, and showed up in Dallas that day to confront peaceful protesters, asking for racial justice.
This is Texas Freedom Force are not the good guys, which is evident by everything they have done over the last year. In San Antonio, police had to even stand in between them and the peaceful protesters.
Here is a Facebook post they liked, which talked specifically about killing people who say the lives of Black people matter.
TITFF has been threatening to kill people, and espousing racist views for a while.
Robert Beverly was the founder of TITFF and the commander in The Texas State Militia, Phoenix Unit. However, since January this year, Brandon Burkhart is now the president of this organization. Burkhart admits to being the militia involved with “defending” more monuments in Texas than any other organization.
It’s interesting because Living Blue in Texas documented almost every incident last year where armed white militia confronted peaceful Black protesters. During those incidents, the protesters were called racial epithets, harassed, and assaulted.
And even though it’s been documented by us and others that these militia people fit into the Texas Department of Public Safety definition of a Domestic Terrorism Threat, they also have close ties with law enforcement and elected officials.
Last month the Texas Standard published an article titled, “Critics Say Texas Not Doing Enough To Combat Domestic Terror, Private Militia Threats.” In this article, they specifically point to TITFF and their activities and cite the anti-militia statutes that TITFF has violated repeatedly.
The after effect of Texas allowing domestic terrorism to go unchecked.
Politicians in Washington D.C. (especially those not from Texas) are setting up a commission to investigate the January 6th insurrection because they want to understand how we got to the point of an insurrection. More of the arrests for the insurrection have come from Texas than any other state. That’s because the year leading up to the insurrection, groups like TITFF were already committing domestic terrorism towards Texas’s Black and brown people. Undoubtedly, the terror these militias inflicted on the people of color in Texas last year was simply a warm-up leading to January 6th.
All over Texas, from San Antonio to Gainesville, law enforcement officials and the Texas FBI have done nothing to protect Texans from TITFF and the multitude of militias to which they are connected. Just as in the 1900s, they did nothing to protect Black people in Texas from the Ku Klux Klan.
Call your local elected representatives, whether they are Democrat or Republican, and express your concern on how these domestic terrorists and white militia have gone uncheck and unpunished for everything they’ve done over the last year. To find out who your local representative is, go HERE.
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