I haven’t seen anyone bring this up on here yet so I wanted to to let people know: there is a protest/march seemingly being organized for BLM and George Floyd in Vidor, Texas for Saturday, June 6th.
If you know anything about Vidor, you know it’s one of several famously racist east Texas locations and is still considered the sundown town that it was proud to be known as up until the 1990s. The attempt to integrate its housing projects were met with violent resistance and domestic terrorism from locals as well as KKK chapters from the town and other Texas towns. One of the Black people that were moved into the housing projects was later murdered. Here is an account from someone who grew up there from the 80s through to the early aught and witnessed this. Activists and protestors have been trying to track down more details about the organizers/origins of the march and we have yet to find any concrete proof that this event is being put on legitimately and with good intentions.
It is possible that the event is a genuine effort by some people in the town to facilitate racial healing and show support for the Black Lives Matter movement as many towns and cities have been across the country. Considering Vidor’s history, it is also entirely possible that this march is a thinly veiled attempt to get black people and people of colour to gather there in order to have violence incited against them. Almost everyone from Texas has been told by generations of black parents and grandparents that when traveling in east Texas, you don’t stop in Vidor for ANYTHING. This is advice that even white people from other areas of Texas are aware of and adhere too.
If this is indeed an authentic event, this could be a great opportunity for white protestors and BLM supporters in Texas to put themselves on the front line to advocate for BLM and change as they are the least likely to face physical danger in this situation. However, even if this march is legitimate, I’d would advise that black people and people of colour refrain from attending this march and if you do, to use extreme caution, go everywhere with at least one other person, and keep your wits about you at all times.