The boat patrol signaled a move from paramilitary preparation to action by an emboldened white power movement prepared to publicly threaten violence. Months before, a caravan of Klan and neo-Nazi gunmen had opened fire on communist demonstrators in Greensboro, North Carolina—an event that signaled the unification of Klansmen with other white power activists. Now the Greensboro gunmen were rising to celebrity status within the solidifying movement, with one participant joining the armed boat patrol in Texas.
