Texas man explodes with rage at Confederate monument protestors: Jesus 'f*cking hates you!'

On Saturday, tensions flared in Orange, Texas over the Confederate Memorial of the Wind, a structure erected on private land by the Sons of Confederate Veterans near Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. Jeremy and Tracey Parzen, who have been protesting the memorial and took out a billboard urging its removal, were out demonstrating when a man got out of his pickup truck, got in their faces and started shouting.

"Why don't y'all get out of here?" he shouted, in footage captured by the Parzens and uploaded to YouTube in a now-viral video on Sunday morning. "What gives y'all the right to be fucking protesting America?"

"This is free speech," said Tracie. "We can stand on this corner."

"Free speech … Do y'all even have a permit to be out here?"

"We don't need a permit," said Tracie.

"Yeah you do."

"No, we don't."

"We don't actually," chimed in Jeremy.

"I'm recording you," said Tracie. "I'm just letting you know."

"I don't care if your recording me or not but y'all need to leave this place," said the man.

"No," said Tracie. "We don't have to leave."

"It's people like ya'll that are destroying America's history, cuz you're damn dumbass Democrats," shouted the man.

"Why are you so angry, sir?" said Tracie.

"Because of stupid idiots like y'all."

"Well why does this make you so angry? We're just—"

"This don't make me angry," he shouted, gesturing at the monument. "I take pride in that!" 

"—We're just two people," said Tracie. "I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about two people standing on a corner."

"Because it's dumbass Democrats," he said, raising his voice. "Look what y'all are doing to our country. Y'all are a bunch of damn idiots. You try and destroy our heritage, you're tearing down monuments because of y'all's beliefs. Y'all don't give a damn about nobody's beliefs but you damn own dumb asses. Y'all are fucking idiots, and you don't deserve to be in this God damn country. You don't like it? Take your ass on."

"You feel better?" asked Tracie.

"No I don't," barked the man. "I'd feel better if you God damned Democrats would go to hell. That's what I would feel better."

"Well that's not gonna happen," said Tracie.

At this point, the man started screaming. "Y'all are pieces of shit and you're out here — this is America's heritage! And you don't have a right to try and destroy it! And that's all you stupid sonofabitches try and do. You're worthless, you're shit — you don't like us? Get the fuck across the border! Fuck y'all!"

"Have a good day," Jeremy called out as the man turned and began to walk off down the road.

"Jesus loves you," said Tracie.

"Yeah, you're damn right he does," the man shouted back. "But he fucking hates you!"

Watch below:

Confederate memorials are a topic of heated argument in America because they were built to glorify men who fought our own country for the preservation of slavery — and because those who advocate for them have done little to honor the African-American heroes who fought for freedom in the Civil War. The fact that this one was built by a street named for one of America's foremost black civil rights leaders makes it all the more toxic.

Appeals to preserving "heritage" and "history" are a common argument of Confederate monument supporters — but this is a specious argument as monuments are about glorifying history, not recording it. Even Robert E. Lee himself didn't think erecting statues dedicated to his cause was helpful, and most of the monuments went up during the imposition of Jim Crow and the Civil Rights era, many dedicated by white supremacists as explicit symbols of white dominance over the South.

This is the vision of America that that roadside heckler got out of his truck to defend. It is one our nation has struggled to move on from for decades.