East Austin Anti-Gentrification Group Taking Heat From InfoWars' Legion Of Fans [UPDATED]

AUSTIN, TX -- Thanks to nationally syndicated radio host Alex Jones of Infowars fame, the gentrification wars in East Austin just got exponentially more heated, and downright ugly and menacing.

For about a year now, peaceful protesters have gathered outside the Blue Cat Cafe at 95 Navasota St. to decry its very presence, the object of their ire an otherwise unspectacular diner were it not for its business model featuring dozens of cats roaming the place to the delight of feline lovers toward the end of promoting animal adoptions.

What motivates the protesters' ire? The eatery happens to be located on the same site where the Jumpolin piñata store once stood before it was demolished by unsavory property owners last year without warning to the party supplies store's The business had stood for years as an East Austin neighborhood staple until the property was purchased by F&F Properties, whose owners were eager to capitalize on their newly purchased land to stage SXSW events there.

Seemingly impatient to allow the piñata store's owners lease to expire naturally, the new land owners secured a bulldozer to raze the place, unbeknownst to Sergio and Monica Lejarazu who arrived to work on day to find their life's work turned to rubble. It was later learned that the owners had concurrently sought a permit to stage a SXSW party on the very ground where Jumpolin once stood.

The incident garnered international headlines, earning the dubious distinction of being a case of extreme gentrification in a part of the city that's been swept by a tide of commercial development. Once an enclave primarily populated by a lower-income working class, East Austin is now trendy, the landscape of yesteryear now overcome by an upper-class set arriving to Austin from elsewhere in the country.

Since the piñata store's unexpected -- and, to many, horrifying -- demolition, peaceful protesters have faithfully gathered outside the Blue Cat Cafe on the public portion of the roadway but close enough to the business to make their message heard to passersby and Blue Cat Cafe patrons alike. While the cat cafe's owners had nothing to do with its predecessor's demolition, the very fact they chose to locate there given what transpired has aggrieved many East Austin residents worried about their gradually fading neighborhood.

But on Friday, Oct. 21, on the first anniversary of the diner/cat adoption spot's opening, things took an ugly turn. The owners of the cat cafe claim their store was defaced with vulgar graffiti demanding they leave East Austin, with glue used to seal the doors shut.

Pictures of the graffiti were taken of the defacement and shared on social media, with overt implications the culprits originated from among the ranks of protesters. The diner's owners are referred to as "gentrified scum" per the scrawled message.

Blue Cat Cafe owner Rebecca Gray didn't return a call from Patch seeking comment. Reportedly, the business owner has suggested there is surveillance video of the defacement, but as of Tuesday, it's not been released. Meanwhile, a GoFundMe page has been created to help defray repairs costs while blaming protesters for the damage, with one supporter labeling peaceful protesters as "domestic terrorists," blaming members of their ranks for the vandalism while offering no evidence to back their claims.

In a subsequent InfoWars broadcast, she reiterated her belief the protesters damaged her storefront:

Members of Defend Our Hoodz, the group of protesters, puts some measure of blame for the renewed backlash against their protests to the Austin American-Statesman newspaper, which, they say, quoted Blue Cat Cafe owner Gray at length — including publishing her intimations that the protesters were behind the vandalism — without reaching out to them or checking on the veracity of her claims.

“The vandalism and the mental anguish they’ve caused me and the cyber-bullying they do — it’s really out of control,” she told the Statesman, which agreed not to use her name based on her expressed fears of retaliation from protesters she claims have threatened her life. “They show up with megaphones and they yell profanity; they send me emails with pictures of dead cats and pigs.”

For their part, Defend Our Hoodz members have taken issue -- and no small measure of umbrage -- at the categorization published by the Statesman. The article doesn't quote any of its members, instead printing verbiage found on a Facebook-placed invitation to the protest.

"The Statesman’s article--quoting Gray extensively--was irresponsible, and it has resulted in real threats against members of Defend Our Hoodz," officials told Patch in a prepared statement in response to questions. "The attempt to tie Defend Our Hoodz to the vandalism is irrefutable."

As a case in point, Defend Our Hoodz members quote directly from the Statesman's article: "The Statesman article stated: 'The vandals struck as a demonstration outside the cafe is planned for 6:30 p.m. Friday. As of 3:30 p.m., about 30 people who visited the Facebook event page titled 'Picket! Haunt the Blue Cat Cafe' indicated they planned to attend.' "

The Statesman reporter took the added step of mentioning the adoptable cats left trapped inside a building "...after vandals glued the doors shut, trapping mewing cats inside the eatery."

Defend Our Hoodz described the impact of what they called irresponsible journalism by the Statesman: "Our organization has been under attack by supporters of Blue Cat Cafe and supporters of Alex Jones’ InfoWars since the Austin-American Statesman reported on vandalism that occurred at the Cafe on Friday. Defend Our Hoodz did not vandalize the Cafe; there is nothing to support Rebecca Gray’s (owner of Blue Cat Cafe) accusations against our organization."

Since Jones got into the act, devoting airtime to describe the skirmish, attacks on Defend Our Hoodz have grown exponentially, the group told Patch. Suddenly, with the power of his national forum, the Austin-based broadcaster introduced what was largely a local squabble to his followers — who are legion, vocal and strident in their rhetoric — to a national stage.

"Racist Social Justice Warriors Terrorize Owner of Cat Sanctuary," the InfoWars headline reads on its website, which is not exactly known for the tactics of objectivity or factually based reportage. From his home base in Austin, Jones has built a media empire largely peddling conspiracy theories, including promulgating the theory that elderly former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia didn't die of natural causes but was assassinated.

Jones also promotes the idea that the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. by a gunman who shot children dead was fake, the victims of the slaughter actually actors in a carefully choregraphed propaganda ploy to help spur gun control by the government. Adam Lanza fatally shot 20 children between the ages of six and seven years old in the attack, along with six adult staff members.

Now, his network has taken aim at East Austin and its gentrification skirmishes. And all hell has broken loose.

The protests' organizers, Defend Our Hoodz, say they are now receiving death threats conveyed with hateful, racist missives. Those protesting are largely Latino, prompting Jones's followers and other detractors to unleash the full fury of their xenophobia with words and racist cartoon depictions of minorities.

"The onslaught of white supremacist, right-wing attacks was increased by the Statesman’s reporting on our picket that happened to be taking place the same night, hours after the time of the vandalism, creating a false impression that our protests have anything to do with an isolated act of vandalism against this business," Defend Our Hoodz said.

Many of the messages they've received can't be published here, given the use of expletives and racist terminology. Among the tamer messages being received since Jones introduced the controversy to his audience follow.

• David Grunewald offered this: "You mudracers ARE the true despicables & should be exterminated. Cats are more valuable than you worthless spic & [derogatory expletive for African Americans deleted] scum that are nothing but a cancer on society." A prolific messenger, he added in a subsequent message: "You filthy mud-race scum are need to get out of this great country. You degenerate lowlifes are nothing but human garbage. If you don't like white gentrification, go back to the jungles and deserts where you where you came from. Hopefully, Trump's army (whether he wins or not) will rise up and wipe you no-account scum off the face of the earth for good!"
• Zbigniew Zarost intoned with: "When Trump gets elected, all you [expletives deleted] will be charged and put in jail," the person wrote.
• "I can't wait for the race war, you filthy, animal-abusing filthy animals white-hating sons of Satan!" wrote Pat Willingham, his message in all caps to denote shouting.
• "Understand this," one user using what is likely a pseudonym, Marc Trump, began. "These cats are more important/valuable than you illegal rapists could ever be. Go back to your ****hole country."
• Rob Cobb sprinkled his missive with his own brand of theology, accompanying his message with a sombrero-wearing skull: "The scum just don't know it yet, but the power of prayer we are going to do will give the kitty cats a cloak of armor where their enemies spears will break and gives our furry friends a power to destroy them. Amen."[sic, throughout].
• "What do you expect from a wetback?" Neralda Marie Circe succinctly opined.

In addition to death threats against them, at least one person affiliated with their peaceful movement has been doxxed, a term used when a person's personal information (including address) is exposed to the public, according to Defend our Hoodz.

"The Statesman published this article without comment from our organization, and did minimal investigation into Blue Cat Cafe’s claims or make clear that we had nothing to do with it, giving license for anyone seeking to tarnish us with these accusations," Defend Our Hoodz told Patch. "Alex Jones, which the Statesman has referred to as 'The Voice in Donald Trump’s Head,' ran with their tenuous reporting and directed his mob of far-right, racist supporters to unleash on our page. Political activists, as well as people who follow our page, have been endangered, as the InfoWars trolls have been doxxing people who simply liked or commented on our posts."

Meanwhile a GoFundMe page created by Bethany Gray (it's unclear if she's related to Blue Cat Cafe owner Rebecca Gray) blames the protesters -- sans evidence -- of defacing the business while imploring followers for donated repair funds.

"The Blue Cat Cafe has been instrumental in finding homes for hundreds of cats and kittens in Austin and promoting healthy lifestyles for both kitties and people," Bethany Gray wrote. "However, protesters have been attacking the owner, threatening her life and destroying her property."

Created four days ago, the GoFundMe page has raised $12,045 toward a set goal of $12,100. Some donors availed themselves of the comments section to condemn the gentrification protesters with choice comments. One who gave $500 to the campaign expressed wishes for the protesters to die "...a slow, horrible death," assigning guilt for the vandalism despite evidence.

"We have held at least five pickets at the Blue Cat Cafe during the past year and none of our participants have been charged with any sort of crime or violation," Defend Our Hoodz asserted.

The group takes pains to remain on the public sidewalk fronting Blue Cat Cafe at all times while expressing their constitutionally protected right to free speech, the group told Patch.

"We have remained on the public sidewalk at all times, exercising our constitutionally protected 1st-amendment rights and police have been present and observed multiple pickets, all without incident."

On a related front, the reaction by Austin police to the Blue Cat Cafe owners' reports has raised some eyebrows among supporters of Jumpolin and its ordeal that re-energized the anti-gentrification movement in East Austin. On its Facebook page, Defend Our Hoodz noted the presence of six police cars on they day of their Friday protest — after the discovery of the graffiti and property damage — and a dozen police officers safeguarding the Blue Cat Cafe.

To this day -- more than a year after her and her husband's business was demolished -- Monica Lejarazu wonders where the police were when her and her husband's business, Jumpolin, was also defaced with graffiti, burglarized and vandalized some six months before it was ultimately demolished without warning.

Monica Lejarazu tells Patch the her and her husband's business was hit four times and, despite repeated calls to police to report the crimes, an officer never visited with them to investigate or file a report. Police say otherwise, providing Patch with a list of times calls to police came in and documentation verifying police reports were taken.

"We called numerous times to the detective who supposedly was handling the case, yet he never, but never, responded or returned our call," Monica Lejarazu told Patch in a recent interview. She subsequently said she meant that the police detective handling the case said it would be between four to six months before a status on the investigation would be issued, but, according to Monica Lejarazu, the detective never did get back to them. *

She noted the damages and burglaries occurred at Jumpolin some eight months before landlords F&F Ventures destroyed the business with a bulldozer without alerting them to the razing.

With the benefit of hindsight from when the Lejarazus say they complained to police of vandalism, the sight of a dozen or so officers descending to safeguard the Blue Cat Cafe for its own graffiti complaint is now being viewed by some as selective response by law enforcement, depending on who calls them for aid.

Many had already marveled at the police presence at Blue Cat Cafe after the discovery of graffiti there, viewing the mobilization of police resources as not commensurate to the alleged crime. But the perceptions of inequity depending on who calls police have intensified among some — especially in pondering the Lejarazus' own accounts of police inaction after their reports of a near-identical case of vandalism when their business still stood.

For their part, the Lejarazus have since moved on, having settled out of court with their former landlords, F&F Ventures, who decimated their business. By all accounts, they've landed on their feet -- much in demand from museums to create Mexican papier mâché folk art beyond the traditional piñata staples. While tacitly supporting the ongoing protests, she made clear she and her husband are not involved in the continuing anti-gentrification fight.

"I believe they are using [Blue Cat Cafe] as an example in their fight against gentrification," Monica Lejarazu said. While both she and her husband are supportive of the efforts of Defend Our Hoodz, she said they were not active participants in the protests.

The artisans' work is now being featured at MexicArte, where they were commissioned to create a mojiganga representing a larger-than-life likeness of the late Mexican artist Juan Gabriel in commemoration of the upcoming Day of Dead (Dia de los Muertos) holiday.

So the Lejarazus have moved on since their business was diminished to rubble, in many ways rising from the ashes. But the fight in the gentrification wars is heating up yet again, its embers now re-energized with newly found rhetorical firebombs via Jones.

With the battle lines newly drawn, it would appear it's war. Nay: It's InfoWars.

>>> Photos of scene at last Friday's protest courtesy of Defend Our Hoodz, used with permission

* Editor's note: This story was updated to include information related to police investigations related to vandalism and burglaries at the former Jumpolin store. Police provided Patch with records logging the time of each call and action taken by police from June 14-24, 2014.