A MONOLITH that appeared mysteriously in California was torn down this week by a group of young men who, in a video of their vandalism posted online are heard chanting ‘Christ is king’ and ‘America First.’
One man also is heard saying to the camera:
We don’t want illegal aliens from Mexico or outer space.
According to this WBALTV11 they then replaced it with a wooden cross.
The 3-sided, 10-foot-tall, 200-pound monolith was similar to two others discovered recently in the Utah desert and in Romania. Like those structures, the origin of the California edifice is also unknown.
Vice has more on the story, reporting that one of the men, wearing a “Make America Great Again” headband, labeled the monolith “gay”. One of the vandals is heard to say “so let’s tear this bitch down.”
They then tie ropes around the monolith and drag it down the mountain, calling it names and cheering.
The California monolith was discovered on Wednesday morning atop Pine Mountain in Atascadero by a group of hikers. It was 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 CultureWarCriminal, the group of men claims to have driven for over five hours to get to the statue’s site. The man who appears in a 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 mention burning crosses and white power.
CultureWarCriminal and his crew then have an impromptu discussion about having been followed, and wonder whether their imagined pursuers are a part of the Antifa movement.
Previous videos posted to CultureWarCriminal’s DLive account show the man talking 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 account further perpetuates his racist narrative and indicates his affinity towards far-right podcast host Nick Fuentes.
The Atascadero Police Department has launched an investigation into the monolith’s destruction, and Atascadero Mayor Heather Moreno in a statement:
We are upset that these young men felt the need to drive 5 hours to come into our community and vandalize the monolith. [It] was something unique and fun in an otherwise stressful time. The Monolith was something unique and fun in an otherwise stressful time.
In a phone call, a spokesperson for the city emphasised that the statue brought joy to the Californian town. They said they were sad to see it go as it was a fun way to boost the spirits’ of town members during these trying times.
The city said:
At this time, neither the City nor the Atascadero Land Preservation Society have any information on how the structure found its way to the top of the mountain or who placed it there.
Update (07/12/20). A similar monolith has mysteriously appeared in the UK.