The new California monolith was torn down overnight by a group of right-wing young men who livestreamed their vandalism in a grainy video posted on the blockchain streaming site DLive.
In the video, a group of three men are seen pushing the statue over and chanting “America First” and “Christ is King.” The men, one of whom was wearing a “Make America Great Again” headband, called part of the monolith’s construction “gay” then replaced it monolith with a wooden cross. It is a decidedly bleak turn in the ongoing monolith saga that has generally been a delightful distraction for a world wracked by a pandemic.
“Christ is king in this country. We don’t want illegal aliens from Mexico or outer space,” a man in the video says. “So let’s tear this bitch down.”
As the group of three struggle to topple the 200-pound statue, they can be heard chanting as they sway it back and forth. Eventually, the monolith’s base breaks and it falls to the ground.
The group then places a wooden cross near the site of the monolith. They go on to pose and take pictures with the two pieces of plywood, all stepping with one boot on the monolith as if it’s a hunting trophy. After the photo shoot, they tie ropes around the monolith and drag it down the mountain, calling it names and cheering.
“It was a learning experience. Nobody got arrested … It was fine because it was funny,” a man says on the stream after the monolith was taken down.
The California monolith was discovered Wednesday morning atop Pine Mountain in Atascadero by a group of hikers. It is the third silver monolith to be found in the past weeks—the first in Utah’s red rock country and then shortly after, another was found on a hill in the Romanian town of Piatra Neamţ.
In a video posted to a DLive account run by someone with the username CultureWarCrimnal, the group of men claims to have driven for over 5 hours to get to the statue’s site, streaming most of the time. The man who appears in the later video is wearing military fatigues and camo face paint. He’s vaping while saying things like, “I will fuck you to death if you don’t sing.” The group goes on to sing “Battle Hymn of the Republic” and other military-centric songs, all while greeting his viewers with vulgar, racist commentary. Two other members in the back of the car have combat helmets on with night-vision goggles attached.
Throughout the video they mentioning burning crosses and white power.
On the way down Pine Mountain, the group is seemingly pursued by an unidentified party. CultureWarCriminal and others run into the bushes to hide and turn off their camera’s lights. The person with the camera claims someone is setting canines after them—no barking is heard. Shortly after, voices can be heard getting closer to the group. A person yells, “grab the cross and beat them with it.”
CultureWarCriminal and his crew then have an impromptu roundtable discussion in the bushes, contemplating if those pursuing them are a part of the Antifa movement. “Antifa isn’t one to underestimate,” the group concludes. They then devise a plan, seemingly getting excited using military vernacular, to call the police and frame those after them as the monolith destroyers. In the end, the crusaders left empty handed, back to their macho selves, bragging about their escape on the car ride home.
Previous videos posted to CultureWarCriminal’s DLive account show the man talking on Omegle about “the pedophile rape tunnels under Hillary Clinton’s house,” claiming to be a member of the Marines, and commending spitting on Black people. His Twitter further perpetuates his racist narrative and indicates his affinity towards far-right podcast host Nick Fuentes.
Calls to the Atascadero Police Department by Motherboard were not immediately returned.
