 Five Democratic members of Houston City Council were at the No Kings Protest at Houston City Hall. Houston City Council has ten Democrats and six Republicans. Councilmembers present yesterday were At-Large members Letitia Plummer and Sallie Alcorn & District Councilmembers Abbie Kamin, Mario Castillo and Joaquin Martinez. Top left above is Mr. Martinez, bottom left is Ms, Kamin, top right is Ms. Alcorn and bottom right is Mr. Castillo. The pictures are mine other than Mr. Castillo. His is from his Twitter. Ms. Alcorn is on the left in her picture. She included her friends. That’s good. Ms. Kamin’s picture is from a video I made. She is on the right. It’s not a good picture, but I like the kid to the right in the Dead Kennedy’s Nazi Punks F Off shirt. I had that song on vinyl back in the day. Mr. Castillo’s shirt says “Don’t get mad, get elected.” Running for office isn’t practical for most people. I’m wary of elected officials saying what the rank & file should do. If they do, they should detail how they will help people reach the objective. I appreciate Councilmembers who joined the rally. All officeholders take an oath to defend the Constitution. Attacks on democracy and on our rights are a matter for all officeholders. Elected officials see they are subject to being physically pushed around or even arrested by Trump’s people. The terrible violence against the legislators in Minnesota yesterday came from the right. They are no safer than any of us. We all need each other. In addition to the meaningful act of showing up yesterday—It is important to show up and be seen. It gives people hope and resolve in difficult times—here are additional things Councilmembers could do: * They could ask—"With HPD cooperating with ICE, what process is in place to make certain Houstonians will receive due process & not be sent/disappeared to places like the El Salvador torture prison?" (Thanks to Ms. Kamin, who said she’d use funds allocated to her district office to pay for Freedom of Information Act requests for body cam footage of HPD calling ICE on people. Mayor Whitmire stonewalled the offer.) * They could also ask—"If/When the Trump Administration moves forward with threats to civil liberties such as the suspension of habeas corpus, will HPD resources be used to assist Trump?" * They can directly ask Republican Council colleagues when they will advocate with federal Republican officeholders about budget cuts that impact Houston & how much longer they will be silent on the bigotry and cruelty we are seeing from the right? * They can commit to actively campaigning for the 2026 Harris County Democratic slate. * They can commit to showing up in the difficult days ahead no matter where this all goes. Yesterday, police facilitated the protest. Going forward, we may have to decide which side of a police line to stand on. Public comment time at Houston City Council is each Tuesday at 2 PM. Here is how you can speak at Council and here is how to contact your councilmember. The earlier before the session you sign up, the higher up on the speaker's list you'll be. The agenda session to conduct Council business is each Wednesday at 9 AM. The agenda is posted in advance. Council can be watched live on HTV Houston Television and the most recent session is available at any time on the HTV feed on Facebook. Here is the link to past sessions of Council. Here are maps of Council districts so you can see who represents you. I'm on the Egberto Willies Politics Done Right Show every Thursday from 6 AM to 7 AM for the Houston Democracy Project segment. You can hear the show on the radio, stream it on KPFT or watch later Egberto's YouTube channel. Here is a fundraising pitch for the Houston Democracy Project. I'm doing the work and showing up in many different ways. Please help the effort.
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June 2025
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