The Texas Emergency Reserve (TER) was a militia group which operated in Texas, and at its peak had close to 2,500 members. In 1981, a U.S. District Court judge ordered the TER to close its military training camp based on a Texas law that forbade private armies in the state.[1]

The Reserve had ties with the Ku Klux Klan, and with one of the Klan's prominent members, Louis Beam.[1][2] The Reserve is most famous for an incident which took place in Seabrook, Texas on March 15, 1981, in which armed members of the organization held a demonstration on a boat in the waters around the city in an attempt to intimidate local Vietnamese fishermen who had been settled there by the government.[2]

In the course of the demonstration, an effigy of a Vietnamese fisherman was hung from the stern of the ship and threatening gestures were made to the onlooking Vietnamese fishermen and their families.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b Gitlin, Marty (2009). The Ku Klux Klan: A Guide to an American Subculture. ABC-CLIO. pp. 41–42. ISBN 978-0313365768.
  2. ^ a b c Chin, Andrew (2002). "The KKK and Vietnamese Fishermen". www.unclaw.com. Retrieved 10 April 2019.


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