As a city-owned venue prepares to host conservative activist group True Texas Project’s 15th anniversary celebration and conference, Fort Worth leaders, police and local activists are balancing safety concerns with the right to freedom of speech and assembly.
The national nonprofit organization Defense of Democracy and local activist group Justice Network of Tarrant County plan to peacefully protest the July 12-13 event at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden.
Leaders of the two organizations said the nature and content of the event poses safety concerns for marginalized groups living in Fort Worth. They believe the city should not have allowed True Texas Project — which started as the Northeast Tarrant Tea Party and has since appeared on a national list of extremist groups — to reserve the city-owned botanic garden.
Defense of Democracy and Justice Network of Tarrant County members sent a letter to Mayor Mattie Parker on July 8 outlining their concerns and urging city leadership to revoke the event reservation.
“For a city that prides itself in its support of our Black and brown community, LGBTQ+ community, and Jewish community, it is essential for our community spaces to be inclusive and welcoming to all residents, and to refuse to give a platform to openly discriminatory speech,” the letter, which had 436 signatures, stated.
True Texas Project’s reservation is for the group’s 15th anniversary celebration July 12, followed by an all-day conference July 13 that features several prominent speakers. Among them is activist 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.
The July 13 conference is scheduled to include sessions on “Multiculturalism & The War On White America,” “The Case For Christian Nationalism” and “Great Replacement Theory.” Botanic garden officials originally canceled the event following the publication of a Texas Tribune article, but the city later upheld the group’s reservation.
True Texas Project did not respond to the Report’s request for comment, but the group has previously said their attorney threatened to sue the city if the event was not reinstated.
“The True Texas Project does exactly this: we teach people to fight back,” the group posted on X last month. “While most groups cower, our True Texas Army went to work getting this fixed.”
City leadership has maintained that they are upholding the First Amendment by allowing the group to host their event, but that the decision does not equate to an endorsement of the event topics.
“Allowing differing viewpoints to speak at our government properties should not be confused with the city supporting the viewpoint of this or any speaker,” Reyne Telles, the city’s chief communications officer, said in a July 10 statement.
The True Texas Project conference, along with controversies over previous event reservations, has prompted the city to review its reservation policies. City officials, who expect to deliver part of the review by July 15, have said it is “very likely” that language prohibiting discriminatory events will be removed from the policies.
City planning police presence at botanic garden
Fort Worth Police Sergeant Bradley Perez told the Report several police officers will be on-site at the botanic garden throughout the weekend event. The department is aware of planned protests and will monitor the situation in an effort to be “proactive” against any dangerous or illegal activity, he said.
“I don’t think we’re looking to make a statement with police presence,” Perez said. “We’re just obviously there to keep the peace.”
Assistant City Manager Jesica McEachern, who oversees the city’s park and recreation department, said in an email it is up to the police department’s discretion to determine how many on-site officers are necessary at the event. The department will deploy off-duty officers inside the botanic garden, and the event holder — in this case True Texas Project — is required to pay what it costs to contract them.
If the police department determines that a police presence is needed outside of the event as well, on-duty officers will take on that role, McEachern said. The expense for those officers will be absorbed through normal operational costs.
Experts advise minimal police presence to ensure freedom of expression
Aaron Terr, director of public advocacy for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, said the city and police department have an obligation to ensure that the botanic garden remains safe and secure for both the event attendees and protesters. However, Terr said, they should deploy as few police officers as necessary to maintain public safety and best ensure they’re not discouraging or obstructing protesters’ right to assembly.
“It’s important in these situations for there to be a police presence, but also important for the police to understand limits on their authority and to not restrict anyone’s right to speak or protest,” Terr said.
As long as protesters are assembling peacefully and lawfully, police should not restrict their demonstration, he said.
Peter Steffensen, assistant director of the First Amendment Clinic at Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law, said the First Amendment protects typical protest activity, such as speaking, chanting, singing and holding signs on public property. Offensive language and gestures are constitutionally protected as long as they aren’t intended to incite violence, he added.
One of the most common ways protesters violate the law is by obstructing roadways, Steffensen said. In that case, police can order protesters to disperse and then make arrests if protesters don’t comply.
When an event prompts opposing or competing organizations to protest and counterprotest, as the True Texas Project event likely could, Steffensen said that creates a “recipe for things devolving very quickly.” He advises protesters to leave the site if they begin to feel unsafe.
“My No. 1 piece of advice would be to keep it peaceful. Threats and violence aren’t free speech,” Terr said. “Anybody who is seeking to peacefully protest the event should disavow any type of violence and any individuals who intend to engage in violence.”
Defense of Democracy and the Justice Network of Tarrant County said in a joint statement that they are committed to protesting peacefully and they are not affiliated with any organizations who may plan to openly carry firearms at the botanic garden. Texas law allows people to openly carry firearms wherever they are not expressly prohibited. The Fort Worth Botanic Garden does not allow patrons to carry firearms on its grounds, public relations manager Dena Lewis said.
Amy Ramsey, Defense of Democracy’s chief operating officer, told the Report she trusts the police department to do its job, and she hopes other protesters can make their voices heard safely.
“If we peacefully protest, we can show the city of Fort Worth and all the other community members in Fort Worth that there is a large amount of people who are opposed to this,” Ramsey, a Fort Worth native, said. “People need to see that there is a large presence here in Fort Worth of people who do not tolerate hate, and we do not tolerate extremists.”
Cecilia Lenzen is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org or @bycecilialenzen.
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This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.