 The Houston Democracy Project is traveling this week. Please excuse the irregular blog posting schedule.
It's depressing to write about the people in the picture accompanying this post because they are miserable people. There are so many problems to address and so many hopeful and good things we could be talking about--But instead we must confront ceaseless attacks on democracy. You see in the picture the new slogan these folks are using. "Hold Harris County, Hold Texas" Hold Harris County away from what? Harris County voters who time and time again elect Democrats? Hold Texas away from who? Texas voters who may in future elections choose Democrats? Hold Harris County and Texas on behalf who who and what? A Republican Party committed to insurrection, white supremacy and authoritarianism. That is the who and what. There is no public safety without democracy. These relentless attacks on multiracial democracy in Harris County should be taken at face value. We are being told out loud of a siege mentality where the mission is to "hold" Harris County & Texas. They'll do anything they feel they need to do to "hold" Harris County and Texas. We must be ready to meet the challenge.
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Must Be More To Politics Than Hoping For Free Elections & Waiting For Officials To Step Up7/28/2023 (The Houston Democracy Project is traveling due to unforeseen family concerns. Please excuse the irregular posting schedule this week.)
Increasingly progressivism feels limited to insisting on free and fair elections & asking elected Democrats to be actively supportive of the party in all election cycles, as Republicans move everyday towards white supremacy and authoritarianism. We've got to get back to where we can expect more. Not only for progressives, but for anyone who hope to use public policy to make life better. The Houston Democracy Project is in many ways just looking for Democrats of any ideological stripe running for Houston city office who are not asking us to compromise with authoritarians and white supremacists. This regretfully is a more difficult task than it might appear. (It would be great if there were some Republicans who would distance themselves from anti-democratic words and deeds. But that seems unlikely any time soon.) Multi-racial democracy is a good in and of itself. Beyond this obvious truth, a reason to work hard for multi-racial democracy is to protect ourselves from the people who oppose multi-racial democracy. They are a nasty crew. It's not a solid wager to believe officials who've been able to manage the mainstream political system well enough to get elected, will take the political, career and physical risks needed to oppose a white supremacist and authoritarian movement. The fight for our freedom will be led by rank and file folks who want to live in a free society. The mass democracy movement ahead will consist of whoever shows up to take up the fight. Please consider your part in the battles ahead and consider the leverage you have as a citizen to compel our elected officials to be part of the fight. The Houston Democracy Project will be an active part of the this fight between now and Election Day. Please support the effort. The Houston Democracy Project tries to keep it local. But anti-democratic actions and trends across the nation and statewide in Texas are relevant to the well-being and future of democracy in Houston and Harris County.
The State of Alabama is defying the Supreme Court's order to draw a new Black-opportunity Congressional district. It's right out of the Massive Resistance playbook of the Jim Crow Era. The new school curriculum in Florida endeavors to teach kids the benefits of slavery. Governor Abbott is refusing to comply with the Justice Department's order to remove the razor wire and buoys that is maiming and killing migrants crossing the Rio Grande River. People who believe in multiracial democracy or who have no reasonable prospect of full personhood or full rights outside of multiracial democracy, have a right to free elections at the ballot box & personal safety from the right. These are issues that must be discussed in Houston city politics in 2023. Houston floods often, but it is not quite yet an island. In Houston we've lost our elected school board in what just 60 years ago a Jim Crow city. And in Harris County, 21 Republican election-overturn lawsuits regarding the 2022 elections are moving to the far-right Texas Supreme Court. Despite these attacks on local democracy, it has been difficult to get candidates for Houston city office to make democracy as an important issue in 2023. Ask candidates for Houston city office to speak up and to be prepared to act to defend our most basic freedoms. The Houston Democracy Project is working every day to protect and expand democracy in Houston. Please support the work.  The City of Houston has issued 43 tickets so far to the Food Not Bombs folks who share food with the homeless in Downtown Houston. The city says Food Not Bombs is violating a city food sharing ordnance.
Sure. Above you see a picture of the Food Not Bombs team on Sunday, 7/23. Donate to Houston Food Not Bombs. The priorities here are bizarre. The city talks over and over and over about lacking police resources. Crime is in important issue and it should be a big topic in Houston city elections. How does hassling Food Not bombs over and over combat crime? If the city wants to focus on threats to public safety, the Republican Party would be a good place to start. The Republican Party is filled with people who want to overturn elections, defund federal law enforcement, support insurrection, support tossing migrants including babies into the Rio Grande River, threaten school librarians, downplay the evils of slavery and on and on. If we want to protect the public from some of the most dangerous people in town, these folks are fully out in the open. If it was Black Lives Matter or some avowed socialist group taking vocal controversial viewpoints, you can wager the Houston Police Department would be watching them very closely. Abbie Kamin is the Chairwoman of the City Council Public Safety Committee. Call her at 832-393-3004 and ask that police resources be used to make Houston safer instead of issuing endless tickets to Food Not Bombs. The Houston Democracy Project is working to make protection and expansion of democracy a top issue in Houston city politics in 2023. Please support the effort. City Hall Vigil on 7/23 Over Abbott's Cruel Border Policies-Rank & File Houstonians Lead Way7/22/2023 There will be a vigil at Houston City Hall tomorrow, Sunday, 7/23, at 7:30 PM regarding the cruel treatment of migrants by the State of Texas at the border. Candles and water will be provided. The organizers of the vigil are people associated with the Houston Rebel Alliance which has been an advocate on immigration related issues in Houston & also the John Cornyn Houston Office Protest. It's an event fully run by rank & file Houstonians. The Houston Democracy Project strongly believes that we will resist the authoritarian challenge by rank & file Texans and Houstonians stepping up and fighting back. Thank you to the folks organizing tomorrow's vigil. Please check out the Houston Democracy Project & please consider supporting the effort. Our freedom is up to each of us.  People who believe in multiracial democracy or who have no reasonable prospect of full personhood or full rights outside of multiracial democracy, have a right to free elections at the ballot box & personal safety from the right.
These are issues that must be discussed in Houston city politics in 2023. A big part of the Houston Democracy Project is changing the culture of Houston city elections. Changing how rank and file Houston voters approach the issues and approach candidates. The model of many candidates for Houston city office of bipartisanship no matter how extreme the Republican Party gets, often not identifying as Democrats and not helping countywide Democrats at election time & refusing to question police union support of officials trying to overturn our elections, is not a model that will keep us safe. There is no public safety without democracy. It may be that there is no accommodation with the right in current circumstances. Definitions of public safety should be expanded to include protection from the State of Texas and the political right. The interests of the political class are often remote from average voters. A bipartisanship with extremists may help the well-connected few at the expense of the many. A purpose of 2023 Houston politics might well be to organize Houstonians to protect themselves. The State of Texas has taken away our Houston school board in what just 60 years ago a Jim Crow city, has taken away the rights of cities to pass their own laws and pushes mothers and babies into razor wire and into the Rio Grande River. The Houston Democracy Project will be considering different ways of thinking about Houston city elections in 2023. Please feel free to leave a comment or e-mail the project at [email protected]. And please share word of the Houston Democracy Project and support the effort with your donation. The willingness of the State of Texas to ignore federal rules at the border is connected to the state ignoring the request of the Mayor of Austin to not send the DPS officers to patrol Austin.
The State of Texas is a threat to law and order & to multi-racial democracy. These things are relevant to Houston city elections in 2023. The state is after our multi-racial vision of freedom in Houston & Harris County. The Houston Democracy Project has been making the point that there seems to be nothing that will get our Houston municipal Democratic candidates to discuss threats to democracy on the campaign trail. Houston municipal candidates have been silent on the loss of our elected school board in what just 60 years ago was a Jim Crow city. There have been reports this week of the severe and vengeful agenda of Republican frontrunner Donald Trump if he wins( By whatever means.) a second term in 2024. Houston is not an island. Houston is greatly impacted by the anti-democratic and anti-multiracial democracy trends in Texas and the nation. The model of some candidates for Houston city office of bipartisanship no matter how extreme the Republican Party gets, often not identifying as Democrats and not helping countywide Democrats & refusing to question police union support of officials trying to overturn our elections, is a model that will not keep us safe. There is no public safety without democracy. Here are things you can ask City of Houston candidates in 2023: Will you make democracy a top issue in your campaign? Will you discuss the issue on your campaign literature and website? Will you speak up on the loss of our elected school board and continuing efforts to reverse Democratic wins in Harris County in 2022? What are you doing to increase turnout and involvement in Houston City elections? Can I count on you to help elect Democrats in Harris County in 2024? Will you use campaign funds and your influence to help develop and train non-white organizers in Houston? Progressive organizers? Will you use your resources to strengthen pro-democracy forces in Houston? Will you insist police unions and any group you seek the endorsement of will always support free and fair elections in Texas? If you are a Democrat, will you openly identify as a Democrat on campaign materials and in public appearances? Another thing you can do is share word of the Houston Democracy Project and support the work. Our freedom is up to us. The August 12 endorsement meeting of the Houston LGBTQ+ Political Caucus is an important deal in Houston municipal politics.
The endorsement of the Caucus is very helpful in a low turnout race where just a few votes can make the difference between getting into a runoff or not. The Caucus mails out an endorsement card many voters take into the polling place. I'm a Houston LGBTQ Political Caucus member who'll be voting in the endorsement meeting. I'm happy to hear from any candidate about how they will make protection and expansion of democracy an issue in 2023 & how they'll be an active part of the 2024 campaign in Harris County. Where do you have a vote or a voice? The Houston Democracy Project is very much about the power and leverage of rank & file Houstonians. It's not about candidates. It's about each of us living in a free society or at the least moving us towards the free society we imagine for ourselves and the people in our lives. Each of us has power in a low turnout race where just a few votes can make the difference between getting into a runoff or not. ThInk about where you have leverage with candidates: Your vote. Your ability to make a donation or to volunteer for a candidate. Your ability to go to a meeting where the candidate is speaking and asking them if they'll stand up to people trying to take our basic rights. Any membership you have in club or organization that endorses candidates. Use that membership to press elected officials and candidates. Your willingness to challenge people with some measure of local power or who may acquire some measure of local political power. You freedom is more important than an awkward moment or a stressful brief interaction. Whatever influence you know you have in whatever fashion. Locally we've lost our elected school board in what was just 60 years ago a Jim Crow city & Harris County Republicans are in the Texas court system trying to undo 21 Democratic elections victories from 2022. Statewide we have a Texas government that pushes migrants into the Rio Grande River and denies them water in this crazy heat. Nationally we have the real prospect of a second Donald Trump term. It's not a big ask to ask our local candidates to address these facts. Here are some things you can ask: Will you make democracy a top issue in your campaign? Will you discuss the issue on your campaign literature and website? Will you speak up on the loss of our elected school board and continuing efforts to reverse Democratic wins in Harris County in 2022? What are you doing to increase turnout and involvement in Houston City elections? Can I count on you to help elect Democrats in Harris County in 2024? Will you use campaign funds and your influence to help develop and train non-white organizers in Houston? Progressive organizers? Will you use your resources to strengthen pro-democracy forces in Houston? Will you insist police unions and any group you seek the endorsement of will always support free and fair elections in Texas? If you are a Democrat, will you openly identify as a Democrat on campaign materials and in public appearances? Another thing you can do is share word of the Houston Democracy Project and support the effort. We can't wait for elected officials in Houston to take up for us. They won't do so unless we demand that they do. Candidates For Houston Municipal Office So Far Unwilling To Discuss Democracy--They Should7/18/2023 The Houston Democracy Project went to the Meyerland Democrats candidate forum last night.
Maybe 20 candidates for Mayor, Council & Controller spoke. No candidate mentioned the word "democracy" in any context. Nor was there mention of the state HISD takeover in what 60 years ago was Jim Crow city outside of At-Large 2 candidate Holly Vilaseca who mentioned it in the context of her having served on the HISD Board. There was no mention of democracy despite our far right wing state government and the fact the leading Republican candidate for President is Donald Trump. No mention of democracy despite the 21 Harris County Republican election re-do lawsuits moving towards the extremist Texas Supreme Court. The same omissions of these important subjects were also the case at the Houston LGBTQ Political Caucus meeting this past Saturday. The Houston Democracy Project attended that forum as well. None of this is a reflection of the groups holding the forums. They both gave every opportunity for candidates to discuss anything they wished. Our freedom is our fight. We must insist that our candidates and elected officials be part of that fight. What does it take to get elected officials and candidates in Houston to acknowledge the fact that our most basic freedoms are under attack? The Houston Democracy Project is everyday part of this fight. Please support the effort. Greg Abbott-appointed HISD Superintendent F. Mike Miles has been holding so-called Community Meetings.
Here is a schedule of the meetings. In addition to the Abbott-appointed Superintendent, there is also an Abbott-appointed Board of Managers. Sometimes some of them attend the meetings. Other times they don't attend. None of them are elected. They come and go as they please with no accountability to voters. The Managers come and go as they please other that they can be removed from the Board at any point by the far-right Republicans who have seized HISD. They have no autonomy. Well...they have the autonomy it seems to limit public access to HISD meetings when that is what they want. Houston voters have lost an elected school board in what just 60 years ago was a Jim Crow City. These meetings offer a great chance for elected Houston officials and candidates for office in Houston to ask the Superintendent and any Managers who show up, questions about when democracy will return to Houston. All they need to do is show up and ask questions and speak for our right to an elected school board. The culture of Houston City elections is in very good part about low turnout, special-interest funding and chasing law enforcement union endorsements. It is not about public involvement unless we insist that it be so. It is not a politics that keeps us safe. There is no public safety without democracy. Demand that our candidates and officials show up for democracy. Here is the schedule of the upcoming HISD meetings for our local candidates and officials to attend. Forward it to the candidate of your choice! And please support the Houston Democracy Project as an important part of putting democracy on the agenda in 2023 Houston city politics. |
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