The War on Women in waging down in Texas. First we had Jodie Laubenberg talking crappy “science” about rape kits. Then, we had Wendy Davis’s epic filibuster of Senate Bill 5, a bill aimed at preventing a woman’s reproductive rights. Just like in the rest of this country, there are a lot more people who oppose this legislation than support it. Not that the Republicans care.
Then Rick Perry came in and called another special session, which shows us that the will of the people really doesn’t matter to Texas Republicans. With that came another round of people waiting to testify, almost is vain because you can bet those Republicans won’t give a damn, as they didn’t to this woman.
I have so many issues with this I don’t know where to start. Indeed, I could go on for a whole post about how if Texas were a true democracy, SB5 would have failed while it was still a bill in the House.
But I’ll take another, equally pressing issue: First look at a screenshot from that video:
Doesn’t that image resemble this one?
Or this one?
That second picture I showed you is from the Civil Rights movement, where one of the goals was to “fill up the jails” in order to lead to the repeal of Jim Crow laws. In the Jim Crow Era, protestors were treated to large gusts of water, tear gas, clubs, and yes, arrest for peacefully protesting.
The first and last picture were not taken in the Jim Crow era. As a matter of fact, both of them were taken in the Texas Legislature building within the last month. This last picture is of a woman being arrested while everybody in the gallery of the Texas Legislature was cheering for Wendy Davis’s amazing filibuster.
Both of these women were peaceful protesters. The woman in the orange shirt is in her seventies. And yet they were arrested. Why? For using their constitutional rights: freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
The era of police using violence to silence peaceful protests is far from gone. Every week, tens of Moral Monday protestors are arrested in North Carolina. In a way, everywhere in America is Austin, Texas. Everywhere in America is Birmingham , Alabama in early 1963.
When the 1st Amendment is being attacked, whether you are pro-life or pro-choice simply doesn’t matter. The police should not be arresting people for verbally attacking state senators in front of them instead of on the internet. Nor should they be forcibly arresting elderly women for sitting in a senate gallery (video).
Without free speech, there can be no true democracy. The State Police at the Texas Legislature should be standing up to real democracy, not the half and half democracy the Republicans seem to want.
Stop Right-wing Extremism 