UPDATE: Group Calling for Removal of Sam Houston Statue in Houston Could be Fake
A few days ago, I reported that an Anti-Fascist group in Texas was calling for the removal of the Sam Houston statue in Houston's Hermann Park. The basis of this group's claim is that Sam owned slaves. This got me very upset, as this kind of slippery slope would have us choosing modern political correctness over history. In my opinion this is kind of "throwing out the baby with the bathwater," treatment has gone too far. It seems to me that removing every thing in our world that could possibly offend someone would leave this world completely barren of historical markers of any kind. I believe that statues like these are reminders of history not reinforcements of ideologies. If we removed every statue and reminder of historical figures that owned slaves, where do we stop? Do we tear down statues of the father of our country because he owned slaves? Do we rename Washington D.C.? Once again, this is my opinion.
It is because of this ambiguity and the fever for the flavor of revisionism in our country right now that internet trolls are able to confuse and befuddle people with claims like the this one. It seems like that is exactly what happened with the Texas anti-fascist group Texas Antifa. Buzzfeed is reporting that this group is part of a group of trolls attempting to discredit and dilute legitimate anti-fascist groups across the country by spreading hoaxes and comments designed to get everyone mad.
If you were fooled, don't be too hard on yourself. Established media outlets like Houston Chronicle, Houston Press, KPRC, and more were fooled also.