I'm really impressed with our Mexican American Legislative Caucus (MALC) members that have gracefully and righteously weathered the hateful and violent vitriol that Rep. Matt Rinaldi spewed out with his threatening words. If you have any doubts about this, check out the MALC press conference video and listen to them speak, one by one. They share not just what happened, but also how disgusted they were with Rinaldi as, in effect, characterizing all Mexicans as illegal and engaged in illegal activity when all we, as protesters were doing, was exercising our First Amendment right to protest.
So yes, several MALC members reacted strongly, but never to the actual point of violence or fisticuffs. What do you expect when Rinaldi is one of the reasons why the legislative session lacked civility and decorum? A reporter even asked if this means whether the system is "broken." Legislators unflinchingly, if generously, responded that Rinaldi is the one that's "broken" and that most members get along even if they don't always agree.
A better question may be how they exercise such incredible restraint in environments like the legislature where deep-seated racism, sexism, and homophobia permeate with such license and entitlement. It sure isn't easy...
I heard a great NPR interview of Minnesota Senator Al Franken this afternoon where he shared his version of the "Serenity Prayer":
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot legislate, the courage to legislate the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference, and the patience to explain that difference to my donors. ... It is exactly true.
Such great wisdom and humor. He has written a book and it's titled, "Al Franken: Giant of the Senate" (Twelve Books). Sounds like a fun read. It's already a New York Times best seller.
My friends, this is a moment to step back and recommit, with intention, to light and faith, rather than to fretting, fear, or fear-mongering. This is a proud moment for the MALC, our community, and democracy. Sí se puede! Yes we can!
Do listen to the MALC press conference video to gain a better sense of what I mean.
We all owe ourselves an applause, a break from the extended, unrelenting beat of harmful, racist rhetoric and behavior, as well as a hard-earned right to a lot of self care.😊
Paz y bendiciones, peace and blessings everyone.
P'alante! Onward!
Angela Valenzuela
c/s
Heated immigration debate led to Texas lawmakers' scuffle
View photos
Texas
House Rep. Poncho Nevarez of district 74 speaks about the altercation
that he was involved on the house floor during the last day of session
at the state Capitol in Austin Monday, May 29, 2017. A raucous end to a
divisive Texas legislative session erupted Monday when a large protest
over a “sanctuary cities” crackdown provoked a heated scuffle between
lawmakers on the House floor. (Ricardo Brazziell/Austin
American-Statesman via AP
AUSTIN,
Texas (AP) — A Hispanic Texas lawmaker who a Republican colleague
threatened to shoot "in self-defense" after the Democrat pushed him said
Tuesday that the altercation was a boiling point in a session where
minority members were powerless to stop conservative legislation they
say is discriminatory.Tensions
erupted on the floor of the Texas House of Representatives on Monday
when Republican state Rep. Matt Rinaldi told Democrats he called U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents about demonstrators in the
gallery holding signs that read "I am illegal and here to stay."
Hundreds
of immigrant-rights activists — many of whom were Hispanic — had jammed
the state Capitol on the final day before the Texas Legislature
adjourned until 2019. Some came from as far as Arizona to protest a
"sanctuary city" crackdown that will allow police starting September to
ask people during routine stops whether they're in the U.S. legally.
Democratic
state Rep. Poncho Nevarez did not deny pushing Rinaldi, who wrote on
Facebook that he told Nevarez after being threatened that "I would shoot
him in self-defense." Nevarez said he was "sick of" the attitudes
toward Hispanics in the Legislature and was taking a stand.
"Another
legislator sidled up to me yesterday and said, 'Those aren't Americans
up there.'" said Nevarez, referring to the protesters in the gallery.
"I think there are some people in some moments that bring out racism. They want to believe that they're not racist because when they deal with me I'm one of the 'good' ones. But I'm just one of the folks up there," he said of the protesters.
A phone message left at Rinaldi's office was not returned Tuesday but GOP colleagues rebuked accusations of racism. Rinaldi wrote on Facebook that he was under the protection of state troopers.
"I think yesterday was the symptom of what's been a difficult, challenging and emotional session. No one has totally clean hands but what happened on the floor with the physical attack on Matt was beyond the pale," Republican state Rep. Jeff Leach said.
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who signed the "sanctuary ban" known as SB4 this month, has stayed quiet over the skirmish and a spokesman did not return messages Tuesday. Nevarez said he wanted Abbott to come out and publicly say that Rinaldi calling immigration authorities was wrong.
A Democrat hasn't won a statewide office since 1994 — the nation's longest such political losing streak — frustrating a party that has seen the state's Hispanic population boom but hasn't had its electoral fortunes change. About 43 percent of Texas residents are white, while whites make up the majority of legislators.
The tensions flared at the end of the divisive session in Texas in which race was invoked in debates over immigration, voting rights, border security and policing. Among the bills sent to Abbott's desk are changes to a voter ID law that a federal judge has ruled was intentionally discriminatory. Another was the "Sandra Bland Act," named for a black woman who died in a Texas jail in 2015 following a confrontational traffic stop with a white state trooper. Bland's family were disappointed after police accountability measures were removed.
Democrat state Rep. Helen Giddings, who was first elected in 1992 and heads Texas' black legislative caucus, blamed politics, not race, for the tone of the session.
"In my years in the Texas House I have never seen the kind of disrespect, intolerance, incivility that we are seeing in the Texas Legislature," Giddings said. "Intolerable, became acceptable. Behavior we had never thought of as acceptable became acceptable."___
Follow Paul J. Weber on Twitter: www.twitter.com/pauljweber
"I think there are some people in some moments that bring out racism. They want to believe that they're not racist because when they deal with me I'm one of the 'good' ones. But I'm just one of the folks up there," he said of the protesters.
A phone message left at Rinaldi's office was not returned Tuesday but GOP colleagues rebuked accusations of racism. Rinaldi wrote on Facebook that he was under the protection of state troopers.
"I think yesterday was the symptom of what's been a difficult, challenging and emotional session. No one has totally clean hands but what happened on the floor with the physical attack on Matt was beyond the pale," Republican state Rep. Jeff Leach said.
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who signed the "sanctuary ban" known as SB4 this month, has stayed quiet over the skirmish and a spokesman did not return messages Tuesday. Nevarez said he wanted Abbott to come out and publicly say that Rinaldi calling immigration authorities was wrong.
A Democrat hasn't won a statewide office since 1994 — the nation's longest such political losing streak — frustrating a party that has seen the state's Hispanic population boom but hasn't had its electoral fortunes change. About 43 percent of Texas residents are white, while whites make up the majority of legislators.
The tensions flared at the end of the divisive session in Texas in which race was invoked in debates over immigration, voting rights, border security and policing. Among the bills sent to Abbott's desk are changes to a voter ID law that a federal judge has ruled was intentionally discriminatory. Another was the "Sandra Bland Act," named for a black woman who died in a Texas jail in 2015 following a confrontational traffic stop with a white state trooper. Bland's family were disappointed after police accountability measures were removed.
Democrat state Rep. Helen Giddings, who was first elected in 1992 and heads Texas' black legislative caucus, blamed politics, not race, for the tone of the session.
"In my years in the Texas House I have never seen the kind of disrespect, intolerance, incivility that we are seeing in the Texas Legislature," Giddings said. "Intolerable, became acceptable. Behavior we had never thought of as acceptable became acceptable."___
Follow Paul J. Weber on Twitter: www.twitter.com/pauljweber
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