Student threatened with suspension sues University of Texas for 'unlawful retaliation': ON THE IMPORTANCE OF FACULTY VOICE AND GOVERNANCE

Friends:

This is an evolving story at UT. One notes the importance of faculty voice and governance for due process and democracy as this student's lawsuit cites a UT Faculty Council committee report that supports Ammer Qaddumi's case. I agree with the American Civil Liberties Union's statement that free speech rights should be "generously protected." To this, I would include university faculty, as well, together with the academic freedom we need to teach truthfully in the college classroom. I am proud of our faculty and our faculty leadership for expressing their voices.

I am also proud of the great work by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) members at UT who contributed to the Faculty Council committee report, as well. Our chapter may be among the largest in our state.

To be clear, the Texas Conference of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and the Texas Faculty Association (TFA), along with their partners in other Southern states, have been leading the fight against interference in academic freedom, advocating for the protection of shared governance, due process, and tenure.

Our AAUP state leader, Dr. Brian Evans, together with other fantastic AAUP leaders at UT and statewide are currently organizing to have a voice in the upcoming 2025 Texas Legislative Session, as well.

Another important, related point that should also be abundantly clear is that when faculty fight for free speech and academic freedom at the legislature and beyond, these are student issues that both students and advocates need to vigorously support, as well. Similarly, when students and advocates fight for K-12 issues in the Texas State Legislature, these are higher education issues. 

After all, the attack on academic freedom in 2023 was presaged by the attack on Critical Race Theory in 2021. Expressed differently, many of us knew in 2021 that this issue would re-appear in higher education in the following 2023 legislative session—and it did in the form of SB 16 (related to higher education curriculum), SB 17 (attack on DEI), and SB 18 (attack on tenure). of the three, the latter two bills become law.

This speaks to a tendency in policy for folks to say, "I do K-12" or "I do higher ed." I maintain that these logics make us vulnerable that extremists are happy to exploit. Not that all have to know or do everything, but rather it's important to have a little epistemic humility and to know that there is a larger policy arena out there to which we must also be mindful. 

Here is where networks and partnerships matter. For example, I'm thrilled that Texas AFT and AAUP recently voted on March 30, 2024 in favor of this partnership: Affiliation Agreement Between Texas AFT and the Texas AAUP Conference. After all, censorship is an issue that affects the entire educational pipeline. I would also argue that we need to give our K-12 teachers much more academic freedom over their classrooms than they do now. The teachers we work with at Academia Cuauhtli—who are dual language/bilingually certified teachers—always tell us that what they like about our school is their freedom to impart their craft and to develop curriculum that is specific to the communities they teach.

You may join AAUP at this link. Here are several reasons to consider joining. No worries. Membership is kept confidential. You can also learn about how to start your own chapter at your own college or university, public or private, here.

Follow Texas AAUP on X @TexasAaup and @aaup_utAustin.

AAUP makes a difference. A big one.

-Angela Valenzuela

Student threatened with suspension sues University of Texas for 'unlawful retaliation'

by Lily Kepner | Aug. 30, 2024 | Austin American-Statesman

Pro-Palestine protesters hold a rally after The University of Texas at Austin’s commencement ceremony at Royal-Memorial Stadium on Saturday, May 11, 2024 in Austin. About 100 protesters, which included current and graduating students and faculty and staff, gathered to call for the University of Texas at Austin to divest from weapon manufacturers that supply arms to Israel. -Aaron E. Martinez/American-Statesman

A student threatened with suspension is suing the University of Texas, UT President Jay Hartzell and former Provost Sharon Wood, claiming they violated his First Amendment rights when he was arrested at a pro-Palestinian protest on April 24.

The suit, filed Tuesday, alleges that UT "unlawfully attempted to prevent that speech" and is now trying to suspend the student and bar him from campus for three semesters pending a hearing Friday. In an additional motion filed Wednesday, the student seeks a temporary restraining order against the disciplinary hearing, which a federal judge denied Thursday afternoon.

"It's pretty evident that the university's actions targeting that demonstration were really just unambiguously unlawful," Brian McGivern, the lawyer representing the case from Austin Community Law Center, told the American-Statesman in an interview. "My hope is that the lawsuit will also deter them from blindly, unapologetically breaking the law."

More:Can Texas public universities remove protesters from campus? First Amendment experts explain

McGivern said the discipline threatened against the student is "unlawful retaliation."

Ammer Qaddumi, the plaintiff in the lawsuit, is a member of the Palestine Solidarity Committee, the group that organized the April 24 protest and was the first person arrested by police after a dispersal order.

"The police sought out a mediator from among the crowd to communicate directives to, and Mr. Qaddumi volunteered to fill that role. At their request, Mr. Qaddumi shared with the other demonstrators the officers’ directives to disperse," the lawsuit states.

More:$5,200 for Pok-e-Jo's barbecue: A look at UT's expenses for pro-Palestinian protests

It describes Qaddumi addressing the crowd when they regathered on Speedway to listen to officers and communicating to officers about the challenges with dispersal when "at that moment, at approximately 12:49 p.m., he was arrested by UT Police Department officers on the accusation of criminal trespass."

Video evidence posted by the news service Al Jazeera, as well as reporter accounts, show Qaddumi helping police before a UT police officer arrested him. Fifty-six other people were arrested that day, though all criminal trespassing charges were quickly dropped "due to insufficient evidence."

Because of Senate Bill 18, a 2019 Texas law, all university public spaces are established as traditional public forums, affording them the highest scrutiny in free speech law, McGivern said.

This conduct would not meet the standard required to allow censorship, McGivern argues, even for a university.

"The University is a state entity, and it's one of the bedrock principles of our democracy that the state cannot casually censor speech ... except in very specific situations," McGivern said. "There's no good faith argument that they can make that what they are doing is lawful, except by relying on statements of facts that are pure fiction."

More:Analysis: UT increases limits on free speech after pro-Palestinian protests, Abbott order

On April 23, the university preemptively canceled the registered student group's plans to protest due to officials' belief the demonstrators planned to break rules and disrupt the campus. Wood, whom Hartzell announced Tuesday would return to the engineering faculty starting Sept. 1 after stepping down as provost, emailed the Dean's Council early the next morning to say UT "is working to ensure this type of disruption doesn't happen." Hartzell has said he asked outside law enforcement to meet protesters, fearing the protest would break rules and disrupt campus.

The president and provost were named and sued for damages in their personal capacity due to both parties showing their involvement in prior restraint with the protest, McGivern said.

More:UT offers deferred suspension to some pro-Palestinian student protesters, one suspension

University spokesperson Mike Rosen said the university is aware of the lawsuit and will respond in court filings, but he pointed to Hartzell's comment in April that UT followed its rules and protocols and that it protects free speech that follows those rules.

"Today, our University held firm, enforcing our rules while protecting the Constitutional right to free speech. Peaceful protests within our rules are acceptable. Breaking our rules and policies and disrupting others’ ability to learn are not allowed," Hartzell wrote then. "The group that led this protest stated it was going to violate Institutional Rules. Our rules matter, and they will be enforced. Our University will not be occupied."

The lawsuit states the Palestine Solidarity Committee was not intending to break university rules, accusing the university of conflating their intentions with national groups.

Protests largely organized by chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine, which the Palestine Solidarity Committee is a part of, spread across universities nationwide last spring after more than 100 protesters in an encampment were arrested at Columbia University on April 18 when demanding their institution divest from weapons manufactures contributing to Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza.

The UT protest was held in solidarity with others across the nation but was planned to be a gathering on the South Lawn with workshops, teach-ins and pizza, organizers said on social media. At a protest April 29 not organized by the Palestine Solidarity Committee, protesters did briefly set up a surprise encampment and police arrested 79 people.

More:Seventy-nine pro-Palestinian protesters arrested after setting up encampment at UT Austin

The lawsuit heavily cites a UT Faculty Council committee report that says the university broke its rules in silencing protesters' free speech preemptively, something UT denies.

The Statesman's reporting has showed the university changed its free speech rules this summer to state off-campus police can in some instances enforce university rules, something that was not present explicitly at the time of the arrests, though police have assisted the UT police before. It also changed the rules to cite drumming as amplified sound. The April protests didn't use amplified sound but they did involve drums.

More:UT faculty panel accuses school of violating its own rules during pro-Palestinian protests

The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas previously raised concerns about the disciplinary process, encouraging the university in a letter to Hartzell to treat students in a content-neutral way and to protect their free speech rights generously. At least one other student protester also faces suspension, the Statesman previously reported.

The university has said disciplinary proceedings are separate from the law, though it publicly criticized County Attorney Delia Garza for dropping criminal trespassing charges because they did not meet the highest standard of evidence that protesters broke the law.

U.S. District Judge David Ezra on Thursday denied the temporary restraining order motion sought by Qaddumi, saying "no injury currently exists," as the hearing Friday will determine whether or not Qaddumi is suspended, and the university is following due process through having a hearing, according to his order.

In his lawsuit, Qaddumi seeks compensatory and punitive damages from defendants and a permanent injunction against disciplinary proceedings.

"This (is part of) a larger phenomenon that we see today with certain leaders, very publicly, very unapologetically, breaking the law in ways that they know are illegal ... and then trying to gaslight the public or lie to the public to justify it," McGivern said. "What people should know is that they deserve better leadership."

In Texas, You Must Secure Your Vote as 1.1 Million Voters Purged by Gov. Abbott Since 2021: HERE IS HOW

 Friends,

Yes, a staggering 1.1 million voters have been purged by Gov. Abbott. Here is how to check to see if your voter status in Texas is active. I just did. It only takes a minute.

Go to this link: https://teamrv-mvp.sos.texas.gov/MVP/mvp.do that will take you to this page--->

You can also go in person to your County seat. Here is a link to Texas Counties and County Seats so that you can know where in your county to go.

This story from yesterday's Daily Mail is unnerving. Check out this exchange between a married couple and the Travis County clerk with whom they personally dealt:

''She said, "If you haven't voted in a couple years, they're just taking people off,' Ann recalled. 

'I was like, "Why would they do that?"

She said, "To make room for other voters."' 

'My personal opinion is that shouldn't matter. 

'Once you're registered to vote, you shouldn't just take people off because they're not voting enough for you. Some people only vote in presidential elections.'

Excuse me?!!! How the heck is "making room for others" an acceptable answer? If anything, it smacks of voter suppression. This is not and should never be an answer. Plus, why should not voting in a couple of years make you ineligible to vote in the first place? This is outrageous!

Here is the story by Maryann Martinez so that you can read it in full: Texas voters stunned to learn they've been purged from electoral roll as part of Greg Abbott's crackdown. Check out the reasons.

Some reasons make sense, while others, as in the Daily Mail story, are unclear. Geez, the story itself suggests that not voting in prior elections can be a reason behind your vote getting purged. It shouldn't be this way, but a clear lesson to everyone is that you need to continuously vote to not lose your right to it.

As we know from how the state is mistreating an 87-year-old election worker who is only performing her civic duty, nothing should surprise us.

Regarding convicted felons, as noted in the Texas State Law Library (TSLL), they are eligible to vote after completing all the terms of their sentence. This includes any time served in prison, probation, parole, and community supervision. But even this is complicated so it's best to take time figuring this out as suggested on the TSLL website.

If you need a mail-in ballot, here are instructions on how to apply. 

Also, mark these dates on your calendars------>

Your vote is precious such that even if you think you have no worries, I would urge everyone to double-check so that there are no surprises on election day.

Su voto es su voz! Your vote is your voice!

-Angela Valenzuela

"Outlawing Shakespeare: The Battle for the Tucson Mind"

Great seeing this short documentary on the struggle for Mexican American Studies in the Tucson Unified School District. It presages all of what we are today seeing in the national arena with attacks on curriculum, book bans, and even librarians. 

As author Steve Phillips terms it, we are witnessing both a "browning America," and a fear of it. 

It is this fear that undergirds the attacks we are witnessing against our communities' voting rights. Dolores Huerta is explicit about this in this film. Others, too, but she is the most direct.

This short documentary is a good refresher on the argument against Mexican American Studies, and students', community members' and teachers' responses to it.

-Angela Valenzuela

Book bans are so horrific. This is censorship. It's unbecoming of a free society. I feel for this Llano County librarian. I really hope the Llano County community realizes this travesty and supports her even more strongly in the event that they already do. No one should be subjected to this wrongdoing.

We must honor our librarians as their work is sacred.

-Angela Valenzuela

Librarian's wrongful termination lawsuit against Llano County can move forward, judge rules

by Bayliss Wagner, Austin American-Statesman | Aug. 29, 2024

A librarian who was fired amid a pressure campaign to remove books from Llano County public libraries can sue for wrongful termination and employment discrimination, a federal judge has ruled.

Suzette Baker, who was head librarian at a county library in Kingsland, filed the lawsuit in March and accused Llano County of firing her in 2022 because she refused to remove books that a group of activists deemed inappropriate for children, some of which focused on race and LGBTQ+ experiences. The county eventually removed 17 books, ranging from the children’s book “I Broke My Butt!” to the nonfiction book “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent.”

Baker also accused county officials of suppressing her First Amendment rights by barring her and other librarians from attending public Library Advisory Board meetings during their personal and vacation time.

Baker, a 57-year-old veteran and mother of five adult children, now works as a cashier at a hardware store in Kingsland.

U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman on Tuesday evening denied Llano County's motion to dismiss the lawsuit, allowing the case to advance toward a potential trial in Austin. The litigation could prove costly for Llano County, a rural Texas community in the Hill Country about 80 miles northwest of Austin, as it simultaneously defends itself against another federal lawsuit over the book removals.

The defendants in the case – the county, the Commissioners Court, the county's library director and several community activists who were appointed to the Library Advisory Board during the push for book removals − categorically rejected Baker's claims for legal relief in their June 4 motion to dismiss.

As per Llano County Library Director Amber Milum's writeups, Baker was given a verbal warning and later fired for several instances of "insubordination" and "disruptive" behavior, including calling in sick to attend a library board meeting and falsely stating Milum had sent her. Baker also erected a library marquee that read, "We put the 'Lit' in Literature," a double entendre referring to book burning, according to court filings.

"You are allowing personal biases, opinions and preferences to unduly influence your actions and judgment," Milum wrote in a March 9, 2022 memo noting she had terminated Baker’s employment.

The defendants largely declined to comment on Tuesday's order in response to individual requests sent by the American-Statesman, saying the county could not comment on ongoing litigation.

"We respect the legal process and look forward to finalizing this litigation," Llano County Judge Ron Cunningham wrote to the Statesman on Wednesday.

Commissioner Jerry Don Moss emphasized that the Commissioners Court did not vote for Baker’s termination or order Milum to fire her in a phone call with the Statesman Wednesday.

Baker's case, and the situation in Llano, have drawn national attention as restrictions on books read by children in schools and public libraries generate fierce debate around the country. In June, the Author's Guild in New York City gave Baker the "Champion of Writers" award for her "brave defense of her community's right to read."

For Baker, the judge's order signals that she and her lawyer are "going in the right direction."

"I know what I did was right," Baker said.

Denver-based attorney Iris Halpern, who is representing Baker, told the Statesman she hopes this initial order "sends a message" to libraries and government bodies that are considering placing restrictions on content. Halpern represented another Colorado librarian in a successful wrongful termination suit.

"Libraries are playing politics with First Amendment and constitutional and civil rights, and it's time that that stops happening," said Halpern, a partner at Rathod Mohamedbhai, in a phone interview.

"Librarians like Suzette Baker and other librarians across the country are heroes for protecting our rights and standing up to censorship and discrimination," she added.

The defendants' attorneys – Joanna Lippman Salinas and David Solomon of Austin-based firm Fletcher, Farley, Shipman & Salinas – did not respond to a request for comment.

In November 2021, community member Bonnie Wallace sent a spreadsheet with about 60 books to Milum and requested that librarians remove "all books that depict any type of sexual activity or questionable nudity." The list was based on one compiled the month prior by Texas Rep. Matt Krause, R-Fort Worth.

Milum directed Baker to remove the books from circulation in Kingsland, but Baker refused, believing taking them out of the library would constitute a First Amendment violation, according to the complaint. At the time, she wrote in an email to Milum that the library system should counter parents’ concerns with “information on how to effectively see what their children are doing and on how to choose those books.”

In a phone interview Tuesday with the Statesman, Baker noted that the library has a process for patrons to file formal challenges to books, but said that process was never used for the removals in 2021 and 2022.

In total, 17 books were removed. Some were children's books, such as "Larry the Farting Leprechaun." Some were related to puberty, like "It's Perfectly Normal." Others were award-winning adult nonfiction books, including "They Called Themselves the KKK: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group” and “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents." The library serves community members of all ages and books are labeled to indicate their recommended age range.

The county noted in its court filing that public employers have authority to limit speech and speech activities, such as attending public meetings, when that speech contradicts policies or impairs performance.

"Plaintiff's speech was intimately connected with her professional duties and thus is not protected employee speech," Salinas argued in the motion to dismiss.

The defendants note in their motion that neither the Commissioners Court nor the Library Board voted to authorize or order Milum, who oversees all three county libraries, to terminate Baker.

"The Commissioners Court had nothing to do with the termination," Moss, a defendant in the lawsuit, told the Statesman in a phone call Wednesday.

But Baker argues in the lawsuit that the defendants all "planned, authorized, and supported her termination,” including by repeatedly pressuring Milum to have books removed. She also contends that the county terminated her employment to discriminate against minority groups through book bans and suppressed her First Amendment rights as well as those of other residents.

Baker is seeking back pay, attorney's fees and an injunction ordering the county to cease behavior that discriminates against minorities and suppresses residents' First Amendment rights.

Texas officers raid house of 87-year-old woman who complained about poor ballot access

Friends,

I'm still in shock from learning about this act of official oppression against an 87-year-old elder, Lidia Martinez, who belongs to LULAC, the civil rights organization to which I have been a longtime member—and where I currently serve as its Education Committee chair. It is disgusting and horrifying to learn that her house was raided by police officers under the auspices of Attorney General Ken Paxton's "Election Integrity Unit." This is double-speak. So Orwellian. Up is down and down is up as in George Orwell's, 1984.

It turns out that all she was doing was her civic duty of inquiring about seniors with whom she had spoken about them not getting mail-in ballots.

This is a larger story of official oppression and voter intimidation that involves numerous individuals, including Cecilia Castellano, a democratic party candidate that you can learn about in an August 24 story in the Texas Tribune.

For those that have access to computers, to get your mail-in ballot, you do have to qualify, but you can get it if you need it. Read and follow these instructions on how to apply for a ballot by mail out of Jane Nelson's Secretary of State office.

I'm glad that State Director Gabriel Rosales and LULAC are calling on the Department of Justice for an investigation into voter intimidation. Also, see my earlier post that provides more information.

Elections matter, my friends. We need leadership with actual integrity rather than offices that use it as a prop.

-Angela Valenzuela

Texas officers raid house of 87-year-old woman who complained about poor ballot access

by Brad Reed | August 26, 2024 | Raw Story

An 87-year-old Texas woman who complained about local seniors not being sent mail-in ballots had her house raided by officers for the state's election integrity unit.

The New York Times reported that Lidia Martinez, a retired educator who lives in San Antonio, was shocked last week when officers came to her house at 6 a.m. and informed her that they were searching her residence because she had filed a complaint about residents in her area getting their mail-in ballots.

Martinez says she's spent decades volunteering with the League of United Latin American Citizens to help seniors in the Latino community register themselves to vote.

"“I go to a lot of senior events; I explain to them what they have to do,” she told the Times. “I’ve been involved in politics all of my life.”

The officers at her house asked to see the voter registration cards that she had collected. After informing them that she didn't have them at her house, they proceeded to search the property and left with her laptop, her phone and some documents.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton defended the raid as part of an election integrity investigation.

However, leaders with LULAC are demanding answers to what they say is a baseless raid on Martinez and other members of their organization.

In fact, notes the Times, LULAC is asking the United States Department of Justice to intervene and conduct a civil rights probe into the Texas government's actions.

Friends,

On the topic of feminism and Beyoncé's personal evolution, read this brilliant piece by Janet Mock in defense of her feminism when she received the MTv Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award in 2014 where the word, "feminist" appeared unapologetically in the background.  Mock refers to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 2012 Ted Talk titled, "We should all be feminists," as something that perhaps Beyoncé viewed in her own exploration of it when exploring whether she was a "feminist," a term that for some, is inconsistent with "girly" representations of gender that could structure Beyoncé out of being one.

This brought to mind the words of Chicana feminist poet and friend, Vangie Vigil, who said that during the feminist movement of the early 1970s, she was criticized for wearing makeup. She responded critically to that view by insisting on her Indigenous ancestry as legitimating her choice to apply "war paint" as protection with the act of putting on makeup being a ceremonial act to prepare for yet another day of battle. That has forever stayed with me as I think of my own morning rituals and the importance of "me time" and my own daily and lifelong preparation for the day, together with my ongoing pursuit of the sacred harmony.

The best quote for me from Mock's essay that grapples with Beyoncé's own brand of feminism is the following:

"Among my duties as a feminist will be to protect our freedom to self-identify.  Our duty is not to police feminists, our duty is to use feminism as a tool to check systems that uphold racism and slut shaming and sex worker erasure and anti-trans woman bias and general policing of other people’s choices."

I'll interject here that It was fascinating in Kamala Harris' speech last week, that she never mentioned that when elected on November 5—I do anticipate that she'll win—that she'd be the first female U.S. president. Perhaps this is beyond obvious and is something that everybody knows. 

At least to me, what's cool is that it doesn't feel like the "elephant in the room" that must be expressed quietly in the kitchen or a private living area even if in some American homes, this is a source of strife. Most positively, I see this as a long-awaited and hard-fought cultural shift made possible by decades of activism, feminist knowledge production, and the persistent efforts of those who have challenged the patriarchal status quo. 

Did y'all see the movie, "Barbie," by the way? I highly recommend it. I'm hoping that the word, "patriarchy," is now etched into the American psyche as a major problem of society with notions of femininity and masculinity that impede progress and freedom. Treat yourselves to America Ferrera's iconic Barbie speech that sums up the central points of the movie.

What is also possible is that Kamala Harris has deliberately opted to not make this a campaign focus and in so doing, reshaping feminism in politics. Who cares about her clothes and wardrobe style beyond acknowledging that she is a very attractive woman and candidate for office atop being a lovely human being who speaks of, and manifests, joy? Geez, how refreshing!

As Mock and Adichie note, it's what we do to challenge systems of oppression that matter most, beginning with letting people be who they are. So yes, as Tim Walz says, "Mind your own damn business," but let's also continue to work toward a more just and caring world that respects and honors our differences, beginning in and with our own families and community. 

As we are all increasingly interconnected within the vast web of humanity on this planet called "Earth," we need each other now more than ever. And Mother Earth wants for this healing to be so, as well. A fresh reconciliation that brings redemptive ways of knowing and being in the world is good for the planet. 

And yes, we should all be feminists. Period.

-Angela Valenzuela

My Feminist Awakening: Beyonce’s Political Declaration by Janet Mock

I have a reluctant relationship to labels, especially when I feel forced to clothe myself in them to signify my identity. James Baldwin created this beautiful line about identity that I included in my book which speaks closely to how I feel about labels: “Identity would seem to be the garment with which one covers the nakedness of the self, in which case, it is best that the garment be loose, a little like the robes of the desert, through which one’s nakedness can always be felt, and, sometimes, discerned.”

Trepidation is a solid word to describe my feelings surrounding terms like activist, spokesperson and feminist. I remember bell hooks, one of the most widely read black feminist thinkers, reading an interview I gave to Bitch magazine, in which I boldly state that I don’t personally identify as a feminist. Immediately, she called me for a longer explanation.

Was that a misquote? she asked. No, I said. Why aren’t you a feminist? she pushed. I told her that I felt I wanted to push past labels. Labels were given to me without my consent ever since birth. She asked me why I embraced trans to qualify my womanhood. I told her I believe it’s a political statement for me to declare that nothing is wrong with being a woman who is trans, and I chose trans because it was mine. She then pushed, “To say you’re a feminist is a political statement. So why not feminist?” Simply, I said, I never felt like feminist was mine as I felt that black and trans and writer and woman belonged to me, and as a black trans woman writer I never felt like I was centered by feminism. I never felt it was created for or by me.

“Well, I say it’s for you. It’s yours so claim it!” bell said before ending the call.

That conversation served as a catalyst for my own excavation as to why I was reluctant to embrace the term. And as every pop culture-soaked headline has claimed recently I am not alone in my reluctance. Many women of my generation are on similar journeys with the term feminist, from Lady Gaga to Shailene Woodley and Taylor Swift (who actually has since experienced her own feminist awakening, thanks to pal Lena Dunham). And even my own teen idol Beyonce Knowles had qualms about the label when British Vogue asked her if she was a feminist in spring 2013.

“I don’t know,” Beyonce said. “That word can be very extreme. But I guess I am a modern-day feminist. I do believe in equality. I do believe in equality and that we have a ways to go and it’s something that’s pushed aside and something that we have been conditioned to accept. But I’m happily married. I love my husband.”

Often, I wonder if it was the sound-biting of that interview (specifically her use of “very extreme” and the myth that marriage is something feminists rally against) that led Beyonce to research the term feminist, and I wonder if her research led her to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie‘s TED Talk, “We Should All Be Feminists” and if Adichie’s reciting of the dictionary’s definition of feminist (a person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes) enabled the singer to say, yes, I can be a happily-married, bootylicious mama who believes in equality, yearns to be successful and sexy and calls herself a feminist — and this is flawless and I am going to sample Adichie’s words in my new song.

Since her self-titled album was released in December, I have seen the totality of that album as Beyonce’s feminist awakening, in which she boldly defines herself for herself — and for us all — a task which Audre Lorde reminds us is vital.

Last Sunday, I watched the MTV Video Music Awards solely because Beyonce was performing and would receive the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award (MTVs version of a lifetime achievement award). I was one of the fans live-tweeting, re-centering Beyonce with the hashtag #BeyMAs. But what I did not expect was for Beyonce to center herself, literally, as a feminist during her 16-minute performance. In a culture in which young women seem more and more apprehensive about the image, meaning and importance of feminism, Beyonce provided a mainstream audience and millennials everywhere with a clear definition of feminist, provided by Adichie whose words flashed behind an assembly line of women before FEMINIST overtook the background as Beyonce took her foreground.

To say I was emboldened by this image would be an understatement. It became the crescendo in my own feminist soundtrack, sparked by my conversation with bell months earlier. As a fan who grew up in front of the television with pop stars, VJs, and sitcom characters serving as my playmates, Beyonce was my No. 1 friend-in-my-head. On that VMAs Sunday, I watched Beyonce journey from Destiny’s Child to solo star, from Single Lady to wife and mother, from Independent Woman to feminist cultural icon. I cherished my relationship with Beyonce so much that I dedicated Chapter 14 of Redefining Realness to relay what Destiny’s Child and Beyonce meant to my coming-of-age and search for identity as a teenager.

Pop culture may be dismissed as lowbrow, but to me it is the culture that matters most. Popular culture helped raise me.

Beyonce Knowles and bell hooks and Barbara Smith and Audre Lorde carried me towards claiming feminist as my own, as one garment in which I drape my body to navigate this world. Feminist speaks to me because those women and their work have always spoken to me, and these are women who choose to wear this label and claim it as theirs.

But bell and Barbara and Audre have feminist cred, their work and commitment to feminism stands on solid ground, but Beyonce’s feminist awakening and stance has been widely questioned. Partly, it’s because she appears to be at the beginning of her journey. Partly it’s because her intentions are framed as a marketing ploy. Largely, it’s because her work is not viewed as “serious” work. Pop culture is never framed as a matter that matters. She’s often dismissed because her work exists outside the bounds of academia, outside the gravitas of letters, and solidly based in entertainment, media and music. I am in my 30s and was emboldened by Beyonce’s feminist stance on that stage, and can’t help but believe that that image will be equally as powerful to young people who witness that moment, whose first engagement with feminism will be that moment. Maybe, just maybe, Beyonce will serve as the bridge between pop culture and feminists like bell and Barbara and Audre, maybe some young woman bobbing her head to “Blow” or “Partition” or “Flawless” will do so while reading Ain’t I A Woman? or Homegirls or Sister Outsider.

So I applaud Beyonce and her feminist stance, a declaration of her own independence as a leotard-wearing, butt cheek-baring, Blue Ivy-toting, equal pay-advocating, Independent Woman-saluting, imperfect flawless feminist. And I thank her and our feminist foremothers for fortifying my own declaration as a feminist. Among my duties as a feminist will be to protect our freedom to self-identify. I believe we waste much of our efforts policing one another — one of the many workings of patriarchy is to busy us with policing each other’s choices rather than protecting them. Our duty is not to police feminists, our duty is to use feminism as a tool to check systems that uphold racism and slut shaming and sex worker erasure and anti-trans woman bias and general policing of other people’s choices.

Because of Beyonce, because of Audre, because of bell, because of Barbara and their feminist stances I no longer feel as if feminism is not for me. I will wear my feminism proudly as a crop top-wearing, curly hair-teasing, pop culture-obsessed, sex worker-embracing, LGBTQ-championing black feminist woman writer.

ps: I am not here for folks saying that a feminist owning her sexuality and adorning her body in clothes she chooses, makes her less of a feminist. The clip below is from AM Tonight, but I point you to Beyonce’s own defense: “[Being empowered] is exactly why I can [wear those outfits]!

LULAC condemns Paxton’s election fraud raids as “intimidation." This is unacceptable in a democracy

Glad to see these horrific developments getting the attention it deserves. According to this related article in today's Austin American-Statesman article titled, "'We didn't break any laws': LULAC seeks federal probe into Ken Paxton's voter fraud chase" we learn that Governor Greg Abbott acknowledged the removal of over a staggering 1 million names from Texas voter rolls since 2021, with more than 6,500 deemed as "potential noncitizens," about 1,930 of whom had a voting history.

 Lidia Martinez, an 87-year-old retired teacher from San Antonio, said nine officers from the attorney general's office showed up at her door at 6 a.m. on August 20, seeking information about her voter registration activities. During the raid, Martinez was forced to surrender her laptop, appointment book, cellphone, and voter registration materials. She expressed uncertainty about when or if her belongings would be returned. 

I agree with LULAC State Director Gabriel Rosales who names this as outright voter oppression. I'm glad that LULAC is speaking out and seeking redress from the U.S. Department of Justice. In a democracy, we should strive not only to encourage voting but also to support those who volunteer to get others to vote. Intimidation tactics against them are unacceptable.

This goes to the point that if your vote didn't matter, folks like Paxton wouldn't care so much about it. 

Su voto es su voz! Your voice is your vote!

-Angela Valenzuela



LULAC condemns Paxton’s election fraud raids as “intimidation”

The group said that searches the attorney general’s office carried out this week targeted at least six Latinos, including a Democrat running for the Texas House.

By Kayla Guo
Aug. 23, 20247 PM Central | Texas Tribune



Volunteers helped register voters in 2020. Allegations related to different voting actions in 2022 led to an investigation, according to the Texas Attorney General. Credit: Amna Ijaz/The Texas Tribune

The League of United Latin American Citizens plans to request a federal investigation into raids Attorney General Ken Paxton conducted this week as part of what he called an “ongoing election integrity investigation.”

Gabriel Rosales, Texas LULAC’s state director, said in a statement that Paxton carried out the raids 11 weeks before the 2024 elections “to suppress the Latino vote through intimidation and any means necessary to tilt the electoral process in favor of his political allies.”

Agents raided the home of Cecilia Castellano — the Democrat running to succeed state Rep. Tracy King, D-Uvalde — and confiscated her phone as part of the search, according to Rosales. Republicans see that seat, which Gov. Greg Abbott carried by nearly 6 percentage points, as their best potential state House flip in November.

Law enforcement also searched the homes of at least five other Latino individuals, all of whom were working on Castellano’s campaign and three of whom are members of Texas LULAC, Rosales added. LULAC is a non-partisan, volunteer-based Hispanic civil rights organization headquartered in Washington.

The group is in the dark about the details of any accusations, Rosales said, “but there's none that we’ve been privy to that merits an investigation like this that wastes taxpayers’ money.”

“It is disgraceful and outrageous that the state of Texas, and its highest-ranking law enforcement officer is once again using the power of his office to instill fear in the hearts of community members who volunteer their time to promote civic engagement,” Rosales said in a statement.

Paxton announced on Wednesday that his office executed “multiple” search warrants in Frio, Atascosa and Bexar counties the day prior as part of an investigation into allegations of “election fraud and vote harvesting that occurred during the 2022 elections.” A two-year investigation, Paxton said, provided “sufficient evidence” to obtain the search warrants.

“Secure elections are the cornerstone of our republic,” Paxton said in a statement. “We are completely committed to protecting the security of the ballot box and the integrity of every legal vote. This means ensuring accountability for anyone committing election crimes.”

Paxton’s office did not reply to a request for additional information. His announcement did not detail the targets of the raids, the number of raids, or the reason specific homes were searched.

“It’s still very vague,” Rosales said in an interview. “That’s what’s really unnerving about the whole situation.”

According to one person whose home was raided, Rosales said, law enforcement suggested that he was accused of possessing “illegal voter information” — a claim that he denied and called politically motivated, saying voter information is publicly available.

“There’s no there, there,” Rosales said. “They’re using every tool in the toolbox to intimidate our people from coming out to the polls.”

Rosales said he was working with the group’s national leaders and attorneys to draft a formal complaint with the U.S. Justice Department requesting a federal investigation into Paxton’s raids.

The attorney general’s office was asked to investigate the allegations of election fraud and vote harvesting during the 2022 elections by 81st Judicial District Attorney Audrey Louis, a Republican whose district includes Frio and Atascosa counties.