FORT WORTH, Texas — Fort Worth police plan to be on site to monitor protests and an event celebrating a Christian Nationalist group that is scheduled to be held at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden Saturday. The True Texas Project, which is listed as an anti-government group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, is hosting a conference marking its 15th anniversary starting Friday night. The event includes lectures on a so-called "War on white America" and a conspiracy theory that white people are being replaced by immigrants -- rhetoric that has inspired mass shootings, including a massacre at an El Paso Walmart, the SPLC said.
Kyle Rittenhouse, who was acquitted for the killing of two men during Black Lives Matter protests in Wisconsin, will lead one session at the event. "This is dangerous rhetoric that is being spewed at a place of education and beauty in Fort Worth," said Amy Ramsey, the chief operating officer of activist group Defense of Democracy and one of the organizers of the Saturday protest. "I don't like seeing hate in my city.
" The organizers of the True Texas Project did not reply to multiple interview requests Friday. In a video posted to Facebook, the group's founder and president said the conference is sold out. The Botanic Garden as a venue for the conference inspired controversy over the past several months.
The organization that runs the garden initially canceled the reservation. The city of Fort Worth, however, required the reservation to go forward because .