Texas A&M Group Raising Money For Statue Of Former Slave Matthew Gaines

COLLEGE STATION, TX — While Confederate statues are falling faster than the first shots fired at Fort Sumpter, one group at Texas A&M is raising money to honor a former slave who became a state senator and helped launch two schools in the Texas A&M system. Matthew Gaines was the former slave who eventually led legislation to use federal funds for the creation of land grant universities, including Texas A&M and Prairie View A&M.

BTHOHate (Beat The Hell Outta Hate) organizers said a similar push to honor Gaines was made in the 1990s, but that charge fell through the cracks. All statues on the Texas A&M campus currently are of white men.

Though white supremacists still plan a march on public streets of the campus on September 11, BTHOHate wants to capitalize this moment to bring awareness of Gaines and that they stand against hate.

The group has taken a clever approach in raising funds. According to a story on KBTX, they're asking for supporters of their cause to pledge money for every step the white supremacists march through campus, thus using each step by the white supremacists as dollars going to help fund the statue.

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They're already off to a good start as they've raised more than $5,700 online through a Go Fund Me account, and their campaign of "Take A Step In The Right Direction" on Rally Up, a crowdfunding site, has already amassed the $1,500 mark.

BTHOHate has also partnered with local outlet Aggieland Outfitters to print and sell t-shirts. Within hours of launching their online store, they sold out their allotted 300 shirts. Now they are printing 600 more shirts.
According to a press release, the organizers plan to donate $1,876 to each cause they support. Why $1,876? It was the year Texas A&M was founded.

When they reach their goal, they'll add new organizations. So far they will send money to help victims in Charlottesville, the Brazos Interfaith Immigration Network and the Brazos Valley African American Museum Scholarship Fund.

The next two organizations on the list will be Texas A&M Hillel, a Jewish campus organization, and the Islamic Community of Bryan-College Station.

BTHOHate staged a counter protest in December when White Nationalist leader Richard Spencer spoke at a rally on campus. So when Spencer and other White Nationalists were scheduled to hold a rally at Rudder Fountain on Sept. 11 at the Texas A&M campus, BTHOHate organizers began planning yet another counter protest, this time forming a human circle around the white supremacists at the fountain.

That rally was cancelled by Texas lawmakers because of safety reasons.

Caption: James Earl statue on the campus of theTexas A&M University on November 24, 2005 in College Station, Texas.

Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images