Through an Instagram reel, Andrew Martinez shared his concerns about a festival announced to be held at a South-Central El Paso venue allegedly holding neo-Nazi ties. This quickly caught attention of many. “It goes beyond just making music. It is practiced. And I think congregating in these spaces here in El Paso presents like a real legitimate danger to the community,” Martinez told KTSM. The event in question is called Autumn Equinox Celebration and it’s organized by Ancient Rites Through Native Pride (A.R.T.N.P), an organization based in Los Angeles. A quick Google search of this organization shows several independent articles saying the group is involved with fascist ideologies. Finding the flier or any sort of information in regard to this event that was announced for Sept. 22 and 23, was a task on its own. A Google search did not reveal what this event is or where it will be held. Through a Facebook search of the festival’s name, the photo of a flier popped up from a person who’d shared it, but not coming directly from the organizers’ page. Martinez explained having the information hidden, but still accessible to those “in the known” allows harmful messages to be spread and is used as a tactic. “We’ve seen that before. We’ve seen far-right ideologies come into the community and they devastated it,” Martinez said alluding to the 2019 Walmart massacre where 23 El Pasoans were killed.
via ktsm: Borderland residents concerned about festival with alleged neo-Nazi ties