Houston Democracy Project At Big Houston No Kings-Next Action Is When You Organize It

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The No Kings rally yesterday, 10/18, in Downtown Houston drew an estimated 20,000 people. There were also a number of well-attended protests in communities across the Houston-region. I was one of the speakers yesterday at Houston City Hall.

(Above is me speaking & a picture of the crowd I took right before I spoke.)

​Thanks to the all-volunteer organizers for the successful protest and for allowing me to speak. 

Here is what I said: 

My name is Neil Aquino. I’m the founder of the Houston Democracy Project. 

This event today was organized by people just like you and I. Rank & file volunteers who stepped up. The resources to stage this protest are for the most part directly from our local community. 

The next action is when you organize it. The First Amendment is your permit. The only credential you need is your presence. 

This protest is Downtown. But it’s at not the center. Across the Houston-region today, there are No Kings demonstrations in La Porte, Navasota, Katy, Richmond, Clear Lake, Conroe, Cypress, Pasadena, Pearland, The Woodlands, Coldspring & Bryan/College Station. 

No community is on the periphery. No person is on the periphery. We are all in this fight.  

We are at Houston City Hall. There is a mayor, a city controller and 16 council members. The Mayor is John Whitmire. The Controller is Chris Hollins. The Mayor Pro Tem is Martha Castex-Tatum. There are 10 Democrats and 6 Republicans on Council. 

Local government and local officials matter. Just last week, people in Conroe, in deeply conservative Montgomery County, went to city hall and successfully opposed an ordinance proposed by the police chief that would have restricted protest. 

Every elected official takes an oath to the Constitution. They must meet that oath. When ICE rounds up people without cause, elected officials must remember the oath they took. Call, e-mail and speak to Houston City Council. You can speak at Council most Tuesdays at 2 PM. Learn the details of the process and demand local accountability.  

Our opponents seek to criminalize political opposition and restrict free speech. They didn’t scare us off today. We are confronting authoritarians and white supremacists. It will not be inherently safe. The thing is of course, that a future under authoritarian, white supremacist government that can’t be removed, will also not be safe and it will be terrible. 

We have rights. We have First Amendment rights, and as we’ve been told over and over all our lives, we have Second Amendment rights. We have the right to show up, to speak up and to self-defense. 

We are the ones who will show up when habeas corpus is suspended, when Greg Abbott does not permit Harris County to have free and fair elections in 2026, when low flying helicopters terrorize Houston communities as we’ve seen in Chicago. 

The next action is when you organize it. The First Amendment is your permit. The only credential you need is your presence. No community is on the periphery. No person is on the periphery. We are all in this fight.  

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 on Egberto's YouTube channel.​​​​​

Please CONTRIBUTE To The Houston Democracy Project