Propelled by presence of hate group, Texas sees ‘alarming’ rise in extremism, report says

From the spread of hateful propaganda to the slaughter of innocent shoppers, Texas has experiencing an “alarming” rise in hate and extremist activity over the past few years, according to a report released Thursday by the Anti-Defamation League.

The continued proliferation of hate, including antisemitism, white supremacy and homophobia, can be at least partially attributed to the presence of Patriot Front, a white nationalist group that was founded in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburbs in the wake of the “Unite the Right” rally in Virginia, according to the report.

In 2022, the number of antisemitic incidents in Texas reported to the ADL rose 89% from the previous year, compared to a 36% increase nationally. Among the most serious incidents was the siege of a Colleyville synagogue by a gunman demanding the release of an alleged al-Qaeda associate imprisoned in nearby Fort Worth. The hostage-taker, Malik Faisal Akram, was killed by FBI agents.

“These are pretty alarming statistics,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said. “This is not unique to North Texas per se, but there’s a phenomenon afoot across the country that does seem to be concentrated in the Lone Star State.”

Patriot Front, founded in 2018 by Coppell High School graduate Thomas Rousseau, made Texas the top state in the country for the spread of white supremacist propaganda between 2021 and 2022, with more than 850 reported incidents. Patriot Front was responsible for 71% of those incidents, which included banner drops and the spread of fliers in public areas.

More than 30 members of Patriot Front, including seven Texans, were arrested outside of a pride event in Idaho in June 2022. Inside a U-Haul van being rented by the group, police found riot gear, a smoke grenade, shin guards and shields, police said, adding that the group was “preparing to riot.”

The Idaho arrests haven’t stopped Patriot Front from continuing its public marches and displays. In July, about 100 members of the group marched in Austin.

Hate groups have also coalesced against LGBTQ pride events in Texas, including drag shows. The protests, which frequently feature opposing armed groups, have often turned tense. In December, a small group of Neo-Nazis from the Aryan Freedom Network turned out to oppose a drag show in Grand Prairie, taunting attendees with homophobic slurs and racist rants.

While leaving the protest, one member of the Neo-Nazi group grabbed at a handgun concealed in his pants, appearing to threaten counterprotesters.

The December protest was one of five times the Aryan Freedom Network demonstrated last year, according to the ADL. Members of the group also protested in Vidor, near Beaumont, this August.

The ADL tracked 22 anti-LGBTQ incidents in 2022, and 10 in the first five months of 2023. The incidents peak in June, which is celebrated as Pride Month.

Texas has also hosted several events related to QAnon, an at-times violent conspiracy theory. In November 2021, hundreds of supporters of an offshoot of the theory, led by Michael Protzman, gathered in Dealey Plaza, awaiting the arrival of long-dead President John F. Kennedy and his also deceased son, who the followers believed would help reinstate Donald Trump as president.

While that prediction never came to pass, the group remained committed to their cause and to Protzman, traveling across the country to attend Trump rallies until Protzman died in June.

Also in 2021, Dallas hosted a three-day QAnon-centric conference, which featured then-Rep. Louie Gohmert, Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller and then-Texas GOP chair and eventual gubernatorial candidate Allen West. The ADL said that event helped contribute to the mainstreaming of the conspiracy theory.

Threats from conspiracy theorists even forced the temporary closure of a butterfly sanctuary near the Texas-Mexico border over false accusations the sanctuary was involved in human trafficking.

In the most violent extremist-related event in recent years, a gunman who had tattoos of Nazi symbols on his body killed eight people and wounded seven others in Allen in May. The gunman left a wide-ranging social media presence where he declared his admiration for Adolf Hitler and expressed support for misogynistic ideas.

Following the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, leaders of some of the most prominent extremist movements in the United States, including the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, were sentenced to lengthy prison terms. While significant, those arrests might just cause extremist movements to adjust their tactics rather than cease their activity altogether, said Greenblatt and another extremism expert.

But, Greenblatt said, “while it’s definitely true that extremists will adjust their tactics, when the legal system works, when the wheels of justice create clear consequences for overt acts of intolerance, it makes a difference.

“You can’t beat hate by just arresting people or prosecuting people,” he added. “You also have to build hope.”

Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers, lived in Granbury prior to being sentenced in May to an 18-year prison term on seditious conspiracy and evidence tampering charges related to his involvement on Jan. 6. His arrest and prosecution are not likely to serve as a meaningful deterrent to some of the most hardcore adherents to his anti-government ideology.

“For the most committed people, they’re not going to see these arrests, trials and convictions as anything other than an example of the bad government they’re trying to organize against,” said Sam Jackson, senior fellow for anti-government extremism at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, and author of Oath Keepers: Patriotism and the Edge of Violence in a Right-Wing Antigovernment Group.

The ADL report also includes several policy recommendations, including strengthening the state’s response to hate crimes, creating specialized offices and strategies to address violent extremism, and allocating additional funding to combat terrorism and hate.