George P. Bush to Vandals: 'Don't Mess With Texas' or the Alamo

Peaceful protests are enshrined in the Constitution, but vandals must know that they "don't mess with Texas and you don't mess with the Alamo," Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush said Monday.

"In the days following the George Floyd protests, the epicenter of the protests in San Antonio came close to the grounds of the Alamo," Bush, the son of Jeb Bush and grandson of former President George H.W. Bush, told Fox News' "Fox and Friends," explaining that rangers at the historic fort, along with police and the National Guard, secured the site.

But still, the Alamo's cenotaph, a monument that bears the names of the people who fought on the Texas side at the Battle of the Alamo during the Texas Revolution, was defaced with obscene language, said Bush. He added that on Saturday, there was an elevated threat from Antifa and other groups seeking to take down statues and monuments throughout the country.

"With the show of force, we believe that it kept a little bit of the threat at bay," said Bush.

Protecting the Alamo is important, as it is a "shrine of what we are as Texans," said Bush. "It is synonymous with our state and represents the importance of the sacrifice that's required for freedom and liberty."

Meanwhile, there are "more civil ways" to deal with the painful episodes of the past such as slavery or race issues, said Bush, "but tearing down statues, defacing historic monuments isn't the way to do it."

Many monuments would probably be better in a museum or in educational facilities, he continued, but defacing them won't solve the nation's problems in the streets or issues with police brutality, said Bush.

"That's going to take place through meaningful dialogue among community leadership and our police commissions and our places of worship," said Bush. "Regretfully, folks on the extreme on the other side have chosen to deface these important monuments we have worked very hard to preserve and spend a vast amount of taxpayer expense to make sure that they're around so we can explain to future generations of Americans what exactly happened during the battle of the Alamo."

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