We Are The Main Act In Difficult Days Ahead

Please CONTRIBUTE

​Below is what I said this past weekend speaking at a Southern Brazoria County Democrats community-building event in Angleton & at the monthly Democrats of La Porte meeting. This is all part of my work on the Houston Democracy Project. I'd be happy to speak at your club or organization meeting. 

My name is Neil Aquino. I founded the Houston Democracy Project & I’m a co-organizer of the John Cornyn Houston Office Protest. I'm on the radio each Thursday morning from 6 to 7 on the Egberto Willies' Politics Done Right show on KPFT.

(Above--The Old La Porte City Hall where Democrats of La Porte meet each month.) 

It’s a real kindness for a strong group of rank and file Democrats & pro-democracy people to ask me to speak. Thank you. I’m someone just like you. I’m an active rank and file Democrat who votes, who believes people should be able to afford daily life and that people should be free.

I’m going to talk today, working hard to not mention the name of any elected official or candidate for office. We are the main act. We see it clearly—The institutions and elected officials cannot adequately protect democracy or themselves. How can they fully protect us?

* The way to be correct about what the right intends is to envision the worst. We must continue to say it out loud for everyone to hear & to remind ourselves even in moments when it is difficult to hear:
They know A.I. is coming for people’s jobs and view people who won’t be able to find work as excess population.

They believe in climate change-No matter what they tell you- and feel people in a disaster zone should not choose to live in such a place. It is their fault.

They only want white people-and just certain white people at that-in the United States. The minute they got back into office, they started to expel Cubans who have often been supportive of Republicans. They just want white people here.

They don’t care if you live or die.

ICE is a secret police with a goal of taking our rights.

* Realizing this, we must be open with ourselves and one another that this all is a tremendous mental health crisis. Anyone, including U.S. citizens, can be disappeared, and sent to the Alligator terror camp or the El Salvador torture prison.

Let’s treat each other with grace. Let’s ask each other how we are & make certain we extend grace and rest to ourselves.

* The Houston Democracy Project focuses on local issues—The City of Houston, all Harris County and the metro region. Almost every issue has a local angle. We should find that angle and act on it every time. We must find our way to one another. The person next door or down the street may be afraid to put up a sign or go to a rally. Find them. Speak to them. Encourage them.

* June 14th No Kings protests were well-attended in Katy, League City in Galveston County, Jersey Village, Kingwood, Sugar Land, Conroe, and Huntsville as well downtown Houston. These successful protests were rank-and-file organized.

We need to talk about and be confident in the work we are doing.

The work and risks of maintaining the failing systems that sustain elected officials and their networks, is taken up in good part by the rank and file. We often don’t get much support. And at this point our activism often involves physical risk.

* I mentioned I’m part of protest each week at Senator Cornyn’s Houston Office. It is each Tuesday, 11:30-1, 5300 Memorial Dr. Next week will be our 440th week, which is 8 years and 24 weeks. We are there so that people can see others like themselves willing to stand openly and confidently for democracy, no matter the aggression of the right.

Most reactions are strongly positive. However, things we’ve had thrown at us are eggs, a softball, batteries, lit cigarettes, lit cigars and potatoes. A car once swerved towards one of our team crossing the street & once someone came over with a gun in a holster.

People will sometimes ask if attending a protest or being visible in our support of freedom is safe. I tell them we are opposing an authoritarian, white supremacist foe and it will never be fully safe. Again, we must be honest with ourselves and others about the challenge ahead.

We must have frank discussions in our homes and with the people in our lives about what self-defense looks like as we. As we’ve been told over and over and over all our lives, we have a right to self-defense.

* What else can we do?

* We must define responsibility in a way that holds elected officials accountable and identify the local officials who have responsibility. Every elected official takes an oath to the Constitution. Local elected officials must protect democracy and the rule of law.

Local and municipal politics matter. Authoritarianism will require a local infrastructure of compliant officials. Some local officials may surprise us with bravery. Let’s get them on the record for where they stand on protecting our freedom.

* Political campaigns are an extractive industry. Like a strip mine. They take volunteer time and donations and often don’t leave much in return. In Harris County this is very much the case because there are so many races. We all have the U.S. Senate and other statewide primaries ahead. We don’t always feel that our statewide Democratic candidates care very much about connecting with us. These candidates come and go & our problems remain. Don’t give your support without asking how candidates how they will show up for us.
Here are some things we can ask:

Campaign for the winner of the primary no matter who it is.

Commit to being on the right side of the police line if/when Trump suspends civil liberties.

Demand due process for anyone picked up by ICE with the assistance of county-funded law enforcement agencies & monitor what happens to people picked up in the county for human rights violations.
Commit to aggressively campaign for the 2028 Democratic ticket if elected.

*When an opportunity comes to act in solidarity with someone in your community—Take it. We did this in Harris County earlier this year. There was a local activist named Sarah Terrell arrested and dragged out of a Houston Independent School Board meeting for no fair reason at all. This is the district that has been taken over by the state. I asked people to contact Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare calling for charges to be dropped The charges were dropped. I got a call from the DA’s office saying they’d seen the e-mails. Harris County is a big place and rank & file action got attention. We have power. Don’t forget it. We have power. Let’s have the backs of people who stand up for us, even if they are strangers or from a community you are not part of.

*When an opportunity comes to act in solidarity with others across the country--Take it. This is why so many took part in the February 28th economic blackout. It did have some financial impact. Even more important than that, we saw we can work together across racial, class and geographical barriers. All our actions are a test run for the weeks and months ahead. How about a general strike next?

*The next protest is when you organize it. The First Amendment is your permit. The next block walk or meet the candidate event is when you organize it.

*We must each ask ourselves what we want to accomplish—Winning elections, building community, holding elected officials accountable, protest. What works for you?

The electeds and the political class on our side of the aisle, will soon enough turn to us even more so to protect them from the systems they helped create, prospered from and did not fight from the get go when it was clear they were off the rails.
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We’ll take up that fight. But we must do it with our power and our connection in mind. Even if we make substantial gains in 2026 and 2028 elections—and there is no guarantee of free elections anymore—the underlying conflict remains. I’ve not not heard anyone I vote for tell me what will avoid years of ongoing conflict with the right. Business as usual took us here. It won’t get us out. Let’s look to ourselves.

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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Please CONTRIBUTE