Know Rights As Protestor-We Must Protect Our Own Rights

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Here are Houston Democracy Project Blog Notes & Observations for November 1st. Election Day is in 4 days on November 5th. Early Voting ends today.

With Republicans making clear they will not accept election results, threats of mass deportations that many believe will involve American citizens and openly-stated plans to attack the constitution, we may  required to protest.

Here are rights of protestors from ACLU Texas.       

Here are protest rights for Texans along with a number of other resources from the Texas State Law Library.  

Here is the First Amendment of the Constitution--  

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; of the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

I've taken part in a lot of protests. I'm part of a group that protests at Senator Cornyn's Houston office each week. We've been out each Tuesday for 403 weeks. The police would have broken it up years ago except for the First Amendment. They tried at a few points to hassle us. Most protest does not require any type of permit. The First Amendment is your permit. We are certainly more peaceful and less threatening than John Cornyn who supports the authoritarian Trump. 

Last March, I attended a presentation of the Special Response Group (SRG) of the Houston Police Department. It was part of a know your local police type monthly meeting series. SRG are the officers that monitor and respond to protests.

The upshot of the talk in my view was that the SRG folks see protestors as a hassle, don't really care what you are protesting unless it's seen as anti-police, view protection of property at the least as important--quite possibly more so--as the safety of protestors & are mindful of the First Amendment to some degree.        

​The SRG website says this-- 

"The SRG is involved with all protests, demonstrations, rallies, and mass gatherings. They are equipped and prepared to handle any type of situation. The goal of the SRG is to be prepared for any situation and influence a peaceful ending."

Above is a slide from SRG from presentation. Protestors are people to call the police about, to coordinate with your security about, to not get into a fight with, to make certain you share all the information you have with police. They are by definition outsiders, troublemakers, reasons to call security.   
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Our rights and our futures are on the line. It's important to understand in advance that the police won't be our allies. They'll respect our rights to a degree. Every officer is an individual with his or own views. They are not inherently good or bad people. They'll follow orders. They'll in the end serve whoever they feel has the most power.  

It's important to recall that police unions often support authoritarians and election deniers. They make the conscious choice to do this. They could choose otherwise. 

Also noteworthy was the apathy of local Democrats over the unnecessary mass arrests at Houston's George Floyd protests & the willingness to look the other way nationally at abuses directed at pro-Palestinian protestors.

When you think it is someone other than you, it's you next. Our rights and freedom are up to each of us to protect.
     
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The Houston Democracy Project works daily to inspire, organize and strengthen pro-democracy coalitions in Houston and Harris County.

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