UT's restructuring makes Texas less inclusive and more divided, by Alicia Perez-Hodge

 Friends:

I urge you to read this opinion on the dissolution of Mexican American and Latino Studies (MALS) at UT written by a highly respected member of the Latino community in Austin, Alicia Perez-Hodge. Our community is clearly concerned about these developments.

-Angela Valenzuela

UT's restructuring makes Texas less inclusive and more divided

By Alicia Perez-Hodge,Guest columnistFeb 24, 2026 | Austin American-Statesman 

A student walks through the University of Texas campus in 2023. A recent announcement to effectively end Mexican American Studies and related fields of study at UT came without meaningful discussion with those most affected, Alicia Perez-Hodge writes.Aaron Martinez/Austin American-Statesman

In South Texas public schools, I learned about Robert E. Lee and George Washington and the histories of the United States and Texas. Yet not a single lesson addressed Mexican American history — our Indigenous and African roots or the men and women who shaped this country. It was as if only Anglos made history.

It was only when I took an ethnic studies course in college that I discovered Mexican Americans have a history — one deeply intertwined with that of other communities. Later, when a career move took me to New England, that education proved invaluable. That knowledge shaped my professional life and prepared me to work with diverse communities.

I share this experience because the University of Texas now risks denying today’s students the same opportunity. UT President Jim Davis recently announced a proposal that will effectively end Mexican American Studies and related fields of study at the university. The proposal consolidates the Department of Mexican American and Latina/o Studies (MALS), the Department of African and African Diaspora Studies, the Department of American Studies, and the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies into a single department called the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis.

In practical terms, the restructuring will result in funding cuts for staffing and research as well as the elimination of programs, threatening decades of academic achievement that made UT a leading center for the study of Mexican Americans and Latino communities. Davis has framed the restructuring as necessary to maintain public trust and fulfill the university’s mission.

For Latino and African American communities, the consolidation has the opposite effect. It neither builds trust nor fulfills the university’s responsibility to serve a state where communities of color are the majority. Among those most affected are MALS and its affiliates, including the Latino Research Institute (LRI) and the Center for Mexican American Studies (CMAS).

RELATED: The University of Texas is clipping the wings of students of color

CMAS, established more than 50 years ago in response to student and community advocacy, plays a crucial role in advancing research and public understanding of Mexican American and Latino histories, cultures and contributions. MALS, founded 15 years ago, has a national reputation as a high-caliber academic department that brings distinction to the university. These programs are not redundant or fragmented. They are the result of decades of scholarship, community engagement and institutional development.

Equally troubling is the lack of meaningful consultation with those most affected by this proposal. Davis has disregarded public input from major stakeholder communities. Two months ago, the Latino Coalition for Excellence in Higher Education — a consortium that includes the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), Hispanic Advocates and Business Leaders of Austin (HABLA), the Latino Texas Policy Center and the Texas Association of Mexican American Chambers of Commerce — formally requested dialogue. The Texas Exes Hispanic Alumni Network also sent a letter in November.

Both groups expressed a willingness to collaborate with university leadership to ensure the continued vitality of Latino Studies. To date, these communications have been ignored, signaling a troubling lack of engagement with communities that have long supported and invested in UT.

This consolidation appears politically motivated, aligning with state and national efforts to restrict diversity, equity and inclusion. Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and President Donald Trump have all advocated eliminating what they label “divisive” academic programs. These efforts disproportionately target the study of Mexican Americans, Latinos and other minority communities.

Consolidating or diluting departments centered on communities of color — while leaving other academic fields intact — sends a message about whose histories are valued. More than 11 million Texans identify as Latino, representing about 40% of the state’s population and 53% of students in Texas public schools. To marginalize the academic study of these communities amounts to institutional racism. "Education without representation" is wrong and must be challenged. 

Davis’ announcement raises serious questions about process, transparency and accountability. Who conducted the review cited in his memo? What evidence supports claims of “fragmentation” and “inconsistency”? Why have affected faculty, students, alumni and community organizations been excluded from meaningful participation?

The proposed consolidation threatens not only specific departments, but the university’s commitment to academic excellence and public service. Community organizations, alumni and advocates urge university leadership to halt the consolidation, engage with stakeholders and uphold the integrity of programs that reflect and serve the people of Texas. Only through open dialogue and accountability can the university maintain public trust and fulfill its mission to all Texans.

Alicia Perez-Hodge is a long time community advocate, co-founder of HABLA and district VII director of LULAC in Austin.

"The Need for Ethnic Studies Policy in Texas," by Angela Valenzuela, Ph.D. and Emilio Zamora, Ph.D. May 21, 2025

The Need for Ethnic Studies Policy in Texas

by

Angela Valenzuela, Ph.D. and Emilio Zamora, Ph.D. 

May 21, 2025

In the midst of the so-called culture wars, we must ask: Is Ethnic Studies House Bill 178, authored by Representative Christina Morales, a radical departure from the conventional interpretation of history? Or is it, more accurately, a democratizing call—a "We the People" project aimed at healing and rebuilding a fragmented nation?

We argue it is the latter. If this were truly a radical departure, it might resemble calls for secession—an idea still whispered in some corners of the Texas Anglo community. It might also involve rejecting assimilation or the English language, despite the fact that, throughout our civil rights history, Black and Brown communities—alongside our allies—have never taken such a stance. Instead, we have consistently fought to expand the American narrative, not abandon it.

Despite being filed for three consecutive sessions by Rep. Morales and passing out of the House Committee on Public Education, the Ethnic Studies bill—HB 178—failed to reach the House floor this session. It is, for now, “dead.”

From the moment it was filed, HB 178 faced an uphill battle in today’s hostile political climate. At its core, the resistance to this bill appears rooted in a deeper discomfort: the challenge it poses to a dominant narrative that seeks to silence, erase, or distort the histories and lived realities of marginalized communities.

In an era marked by book bans, curriculum censorship, and the systematic dismantling of DEI efforts, defending Ethnic Studies is more than a policy stance—it’s an act of resistance against forces that falsely equate truth-telling with division.

So many people who advocate for Ethnic Studies are themselves either teachers or students who want to promote critical thinking and affirm the value of diverse cultural perspectives, even when doing so invites backlash.

Morales’ House Bill 178 is reasonable, forward-looking policy. It does not make Ethnic Studies a requirement for high school graduation. Rather, it establishes a pathway to a high school diploma that for a given student, can include the taking of Ethnic Studies courses like Mexican American Studies, Native American Studies, African American Studies, and Asian American Studies.

As Mexican American Studies scholars, we find it striking that high school enrollment in Mexican American Studies courses has grown from just 40 students in Houston in 2015 to an impressive 11,941 students statewide in 2024. This is an extraordinary growth rate, indicative of massive and sustained interest, organizing, and curriculum development in Mexican American Studies across Texas.

University of Texas San Antonio professor and researcher Dr. Lilliana Saldaña attributes this meteoric rise not only to student interest but also to the steady growth in teacher preparation. In 2015, only four educators joined the Mexican American Studies Academy that she and her colleagues established to train teachers in the field. In contrast, over the past two years alone, the academy has welcomed more than 80 teachers annually—a testament to the growing demand for Ethnic Studies and the infrastructure needed to sustain it.

Failing to pass sound Ethnic Studies policy disrupts the natural progression of integrating decades of historical scholarship into our classrooms. House Bill 178 seeks to address the longstanding logjam that has prevented the inclusion of vital historical findings, particularly those produced since the 1970s. Put simply, our current curriculum lags significantly behind the breadth of knowledge that scholars have already brought to light. It’s time to break through that impasse and ensure our educational standards reflect the richness and complexity of our shared history.

Studies consistently demonstrate that well-structured Ethnic Studies programs enhance students’ academic success. A review by Christine Sleeter, conducted for the National Education Association, underscores that Ethnic Studies courses boost student engagement, encourage critical thinking, and elevate graduation rates.

Further research from the NEA confirms that students enrolled in Ethnic Studies cultivate a greater sense of self-efficacy and achieve higher academic performance. These outcomes highlight the transformative power of acquiring windows into both one another's experiences and one's own.

Advocates for Ethnic Studies are not just fighting for curriculum—they’re defending the right of students to see themselves reflected in the classroom and to engage honestly with the complex realities of the as yet unfinished great American story.

***

The authors, Angela Valenzuela and Emilio Zamora, are married and are longtime advocates for Ethnic Studies in Texas and are formally affiliated with the Mexican American Studies program at the University of Texas at Austin.

Texas bills invite political interference in the teaching of U.S. history | Opinion by Dr. Lauren Gutterman | Austin Am-Statesman

Friends:

Please note that Senate Bill 37/HB 4499 and SB 2714/HB 2548—highlighted in this excellent op-ed by Dr. Lauren Gutterman—pose serious threats to both K-12 and higher education in Texas. It’s deeply troubling to see some of our state leaders advancing policies that could severely undermine, even disfigure, public education in our state.

I appreciate Dr. Gutterman for rightly identifying the legislature itself as the driving ideological force behind these efforts. If you oppose these harmful bills, I strongly encourage you to contact your representatives and make your voice heard. If you're unsure who represents you, you can find out here: https://wrm.capitol.texas.gov/home

If you're in Austin—or can get to Austin—in the next week or so, consider visiting your representative at the Texas Capitol. With the legislative session winding down, it's a crucial time to share your thoughts.

-Angela Valenzuela

#youwillnoteraseus #youwillnotsilenceus

Texas bills invite political interference in the teaching of U.S. history | Opinion

Lauren Gutterman

Austin American-Statesman | April 14, 2025

As a historian and faculty member at the University of Texas, I love teaching students about the complexity of the American past and helping them make connections between what seems like ancient history and their own daily lives. Several pending bills in the Legislature would make those aspects of my instruction harder, by hindering or outright prohibiting the teaching of honest and comprehensive U.S. history in public colleges and universities in our state.

According to Texas Education Code §51.302, every student graduating from a college or university receiving state funding must complete six semester hours of American history, which may include up to three semester hours of credit in Texas history. Courses partially fulfilling this requirement — which I regularly teach — would be directly affected by Senate Bill 37/HB 4499 and SB 2714/HB 2548, should either or both of these bills become law.

SB 37, one of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s top 40 legislative priorities, would require the politically-appointed governing board of each public institution of higher education to review general education courses to ensure that they do not “distort significant historical events” or include a curriculum that “teaches identity politics,” “requires or attempts to require students to adopt an ideology,” or “is based on a theory that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, or privilege is inherent in the institutions of the United States.”

These restrictions invite political interference in the teaching of U.S. history through both their vagueness and their specificity. SB 37 does not explain what it means to “distort” the teaching of history, and it does not attempt to define what constitutes an “ideology,” thus allowing administrators wide latitude to censor teaching on aspects of American history they find objectionable.

At the same time, these prohibitions explicitly seek to constrain teaching on issues of inequality in the U.S. My own research focuses on women’s and LGBTQ history. By merely presenting students with evidence of trans and gender non-conforming people’s existence in the past I could easily be accused of indoctrinating students with “gender ideology.”

SB 2714 goes even further in constraining teaching in core curriculum courses by banning discussions of “whiteness,” “systemic racism,” “intersectionality,” “gender identity,” “social justice” and “decolonization” among many other concepts. This language pertains to teaching regarding “contemporary American society,” and the bill purports to exempt instruction on race and racism in the past.

But I encourage students to see the legacies of historical events, policies and people today. For example, after discussing the development of the suburbs, housing segregation and the meaning of the American dream in the post-World War II period, I ask students to research the history of their homes and communities and interpret it for themselves. Many students see this project as a highlight of the course.

SB 37 and SB 2714 and their companion bills threaten the teaching of U.S. history in Texas public colleges and universities in accordance with the Texas Education Code. If signed into law, these bills would undermine the liberty to learn and to think that has long been at the core of American institutions of higher education.

As Thomas Jefferson wrote regarding the University of Virginia, which he founded in 1819: “This institution will be based on the illimitable freedom of the human mind. For here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error, so long as reason is left free to combat it.”

In considering SB 37 and SB 2714, I hope our state lawmakers will stay true to Jefferson’s vision of higher learning and choose not to impose limits on the minds of Texas students who are more than capable of drawing their own conclusions about the American past.

Lauren Gutterman is an associate professor of American Studies at the University of Texas.

"SB 37 doesn't fix problems at Texas universities. It undermines faculty, students," by Dr. Polly Strong—OpEd

Friends:

Do give this op-ed on Senate Bill 37, authored by Dr. Pauline Strong, a close read. I am very concerned that Texans aren't aware of this horrible bill, SB 37 that essentially controls the higher education curriculum premised on the false premise of "woke indoctrination." Geez, how offensive can they be!

We are in a drought state and we have a water crisis, a housing crisis, and growing income inequality. Our leaders should focus on these things rather than wasting time and taxpayer dollars on finding ways to silence professors who might actually critique them. This is not heading in the right direction.

The bill will at some point soon make its way to the House Higher Education Committee where we hope it dies. It is constitutionally not sound.

Do not be fooled that this is not about "fixing" higher education. For starters, it ain't broke! If anything, it's about curtailing faculty governance and turning us into a corporation. We are not a business, and it is unethical for us to be run by a non-elective body—as SB 37 proposes—that has control over curriculum and hiring.

Talk about killing higher education!

This is terrible policy.

-Angela Valenzuela

SB 37 doesn't fix problems at Texas universities. It undermines faculty, students | Opinion
by Pauline Strong
Austin American-Statesman | March 24, 2025

Texas public higher education has been in the crosshairs of right-wing politicians since February 2022. That month, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick threatened “looney Marxist professors” with the end of tenure after the University of Texas faculty council issued a statement affirming its faculty’s right to academic freedom. Patrick’s threats led to the 2023 passage of Senate Bill 17, which banned diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts at universities, and SB 18, which weakened the protections of faculty tenure.

Several Republican-sponsored bills this session go after higher education even further. But in my view, Patrick’s priority bill, SB 37, should be most vehemently opposed by Texans who care about the quality of higher education in this state.

In crafting SB 37, Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, has abandoned the culture war language of “wokeness” and “CRT,” or critical race theory. Instead, the bill promises to provide more oversight of universities and promote excellence in higher education.

At first glance, that may sound rather innocuous. But the bill has harmful implications for our public colleges and universities. It will lead to inefficiencies, undermine democratic processes and deny educational liberty and student choice, among other negative effects.

SB 37 would create an Office of Excellence in Higher Education to oversee compliance in our public colleges and universities. But the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and the Board of Regents already provide such oversight. Adding another layer of bureaucracy will lead to unnecessary government spending and duplicate an infrastructure that already exists.

SB 37 would also require that half of the members of faculty senates and councils be elected. Appointed faculty are more likely to align with the views of the administration, which would reduce the range of perspectives that would be offered in deliberation. The bill would also expand senate membership to constituencies outside the university and limit faculty membership to tenured faculty.

Faculty senates in Texas already serve in an advisory capacity to the president, but under this configuration, only the most elite members of the university workforce — those with tenure — would even be eligible for service. As tenured faculty make up only a minority of the faculty workforce, this severely undermines any semblance of democratic deliberation.

SB 37 would also eliminate minors and certificate programs that politicians determine are under-enrolled. But certificates and minors cost the university virtually nothing to offer. Offering fewer will effectively eliminate students’ ability to seek the credentials they believe are best for them, regardless of the popularity of those studies.

Additionally, SB 37 would place the core curriculum at each institution under the review of an appointed committee. This committee would ensure that “courses do not endorse specific public policies, ideologies or legislation” — a vague provision that in practice could easily lead to state censorship of education.

Like any bureaucratic system, universities could be more efficient in delivering the services the state has asked them to provide. A real inefficiency that should be addressed, for instance, is the increase in highly-paid upper administrative positions at universities that have increasingly taken the work of governance out of the hands of faculty.

But this bill doesn’t fix any real problems in our public colleges and universities. Instead, SB 37 implies that faculty are not experts in the fields in which they’ve spent decades working. It suggests bureaucrats are better at managing organizations than those who labor in them every day. And it contends that students don’t deserve the educational liberty to choose the courses of study that they deem best.

I’m sure if he reached out, Sen. Creighton would find faculty to be willing partners in making our universities the best in the world. Instead, he has proposed a course of action that will greatly hamper our pursuit of excellence. SB 37 is not only bad for Texas colleges and universities, it’s bad for Texas.

Pauline Strong is a professor at the University of Texas and president of the AAUP (American Association of University Professors) chapter at UT Austin.

"Reflections on historical Latino burdens: Acknowledge inequity of socioeconomic damage," by Emilio Zamora, Ph.D.

I am very pleased that Emilio Zamora's May 30, 2022 blog post titled, "Reflections on Uvalde" got published in today's Sunday edition of the Austin American-Statesman. Below are the comments that he made to his Facebook page this evening:

Today, at the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center, we honored the memory of the nineteen children, the two teachers and the husband of one of the teachers who lost their lives in the horrible tragedy that visited Uvalde, Texas on May 24. We prayed for their families as well as for the rest of us who have been deeply affected by the unforgivable violence and other instances of trauma-causing experiences in our individual lives. We gave special meaning to trauma by acknowledging that the majority of Mexican/Latino people from Texas have faced a history of traumatic discrimination, inequality and indignity associated with low educational attainment levels, high infant mortality rates, low wages, health disparities, high dropout rates, and such. The children and youth attending the event joined us at the podium as I read the names of the departed and reminded them of our love for them.

Testimonies by local and state leaders expressed their deeply felt emotions and hopes for our future as a people and as a nation, and the Kalpulli Teocalli Teoyotl, a Danza Mexica group from Austin, led us in prayerful, ancestral ceremony. After the ceremony, two talking circles, or círculos de dar la palabra, provided opportunities to speak about healing and political action.

So proud of you, Emilio. I especially like your concept of "cultural foreigners" that turns on its head the idea that we, as Latinas/os, are foreigners despite politics that invariably treat us as perpetual immigrants, rather than as descendants of peoples original to this continent that the danza itself exemplifies.

We may be the only group in U.S. society that has a living discourse on which generation we are, e.g., "I'm second-generation, third-generation," and so on—as perpetual strangers in our own land, on our own continent.

Your concept of "cultural foreigners" points the finger in the opposite direction to the ongoing experience of settler colonialism that has involved an ongoing project of cultural erasure—and in this and so many other cases—genocidal projects.

We also got news coverage by different news media, including KXAN Thanks to National LULAC for livestreaming this morning's press conference and danza Mexica ceremony from the National LULAC website:

https://www.facebook.com/lulac.national.dc/videos/567045945031833

Thanks to Maria Unda, our Project Director at Academia Cuauhtli for livestreaming this news conference, as well.

https://www.facebook.com/AcademiaCuauhtli/videos/882435693158496

Abundant thanks to all of our generous sponsors as follows:

Kalpulli Teocalli Teoyotl; ESB-MACC; La Raza Roundtable; Center for Mexican American Studies (UT); Joe’s Bakery, the Indigenous Cultures Institute; La Voz; Latino Arts, Culture and Education; Hispanic Advocates Business Leaders of Austin; Austin Area Association of Bilingual Educators; La Peña, Las Comadres; League of United Latin American Citizens, District VII; Texas LULAC; National LULAC. 

Friends, we all made this come together in less than a week. We cannot thank everybody enough for their generosity, love, caring, and cooperation. It is on this foundation that relationships are rekindled and a movement against gun violence coalesces with absolute clarity that gun policy today IS education policy. Let's get out of our public policy silos to engage this horrific epidemic of gun violence that is a threat to our democracy, let alone our public schools and classrooms.

Many good things are already coming of this, including a mobilization of the vote. In the meantime, let's all learn a little history and consider how the Second Amendment itself has a telling racist past as covered in this NPR piece titled, "Historian Uncovers the Racist Roots of the 2nd Amendment." It refers to historian Carol Anderson's (2021) book titled, "The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America" where she documents  Americans' treatment of gun ownership and how these are inflected by race with roots that date back to the founding of our country.

Stay tuned. More to come in the days and weeks to come. 

Once more, a heartfelt thanks to everybody for what truly was a shared experience of collective solidarity and healing with and for the people of Uvalde, and for the danza that was our sacred, deeply-felt "healing-in-motion" that buoyed our spirits today.

Peace/paz,

-Angela Valenzuela

#UvaldeStrong #AcademiaCuauhtli #EmilioZamora #Uvalde

Photograph by Rene Renteria, Austin, Texas.

If you are a subscriber, you can link to this op-ed in the Austin American-Statesman here. 

Texas government is broken. We deserve one that works. Sign Congressman Joaquin Castro Petition

Friends,

This past week without power for more than 48 hours in single-digit, and otherwise, very low temperatures—ice and snow on the roads—was intense, to express this mildly. At least our home has insulation and a gas-run fireplace that we kicked into action. Our stove burners, too.  Later, I learned of how risky that might be. With 30 people in Texas alone—and counting—who lost their lives, many others—far too many—were not so fortunate. 

On top of our state putting us at risk through its utter negligence, us Texans simply aren't prepared for weather like this. We barely have coats, some of us. It was therefore absolutely incumbent on our governor and state leaders to prepare us all last week with what was to lay ahead. Lives would have been saved with more planning, without a doubt. Every life is precious.

I was therefore very pleased to read this must-read Austin American-Statesman's blistering opinion-editorial written by Executive Editor, John Bridges, for which he also received national attention this morning on CNN.

Expressed with the righteous anger and indignation felt by so many of us, this should totally be a wake-up call to the importance of voting and elections and the impacts they have on our lives and well-being—or lack thereof, as in the Texas case. So neglectful our leadership, and with enormous consequence and harm to our families and communities. And all with our taxpayer dollars.

We serve many parents associated with our Saturday school here in Austin, Texas, named Academia Cuauhtli. Working with our students and coordinators, it has been a real team effort. And a sacrifice, too, considering just how much work the winter storm seemed to create.  We literally had to get warm in order to warm up back to each other quickly in an unanticipated manner.

I feel so blessed and so humble to be a part of this beautiful, caring community. My next post will be a fundraiser we are having for our families in hopes that you will make a donation. No amount is too small. 

Thanks to Education Policy and Planning doctoral student, Maria Unda and Texas State University undergraduate, Monica Villafuerte, for the flyer and website resources updates for our families. We all deeply appreciate your initiative. Thanks to Dr. Chris Milk for helping us to strategize our response. Martha P. Cotera and Dr. Emilio Zamora, too. 

Thanks, as well, to our coordinators, Itzel G. Garcia and Alejandro Quiahuitl Martinez for reaching out to all of the family members to determine their needs and well-being. 

Thanks to Dr. Emma Mancha-Sumners for forwarding website resources and problem-solving as a Sanchez-Metz parent with the PTA to see how we can work with the principal to help get resources to them.  Thanks to our ESB-MACC familia, namely, Lori Navarrete, Olivia Tamzarian, and Executive Director Michelle Rojas for your unflagging support, helping us to secure a space that will allow us to get resources to our families. It's all in process at this very moment. Will post our fundraiser soon.

As citizens and residents, I recommend that we all accord greater consideration than we currently might, to what good government can and should do, as opposed to those who pursue elective office with no real intent or desire to actually govern. So anti-social and against society, against the people. Not for the people. So sad and so pathetic. This posture before and toward "the people," is so brazenly exclusive, arrogant, and injurious.

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez comes to Texas and raises $3 million while Ted Cruz takes the quickest exit out. And not just any exit, as we know...

We all need to tune in and get up-to-speed, myself included, on energy policy and politics in our state and nation. We all pick our fights, but this arena of policy and politics is a special case and clearly merits our attention even as this human-made disaster gets full exposure to the light of day.  In this vein, also read this truly illuminating piece titled, "Shoring up the grid: What El Paso can teach the rest of Texas."

Special thanks to John Bridges and the Austin American-Statesman. 

We appreciate everything and anything you can to hold our officials accountable and to keep democratic governance alive.

Are y'all feeling just a little bit upset about this whole scenario, my friends?

Yeah, me, too. 

Here's what you can do. 

Sign this petition put forward by Congressman Joaquin Castro: 

Sign this petition to tell Governor Greg Abbott, ERCOT and the Public Utility Commission of Texas that we won’t just roll over and let them make us pay to clean up their mess.

We as a polity must hold all these folks accountable.

-Angela Valenzuela

#snowstorm #SnowStorm2021 

Texas government is broken. We deserve one that works.

John Bridges, Executive Editor 

Austin American-Statesman Feb. 19, 2021

“The government you elect is the government you deserve,” Thomas Jefferson famously said. Tom must've never made it to Texas.

Texans deserve better government.

For too long, Texans have elected people more interested in dismantling government than actually running one. As we painfully learned this week, small government sounds good right up until the power goes out and the faucet runs dry.

Texans deserve a government that puts the people, the governed, first.

For too long, our elected leaders have put their own political interests first, their cronies second and business interests third. 

Texans deserve a government that actually does the hard work to build and safeguard the critical systems on which we all depend.

For too long, our politicians have been more interested in wedge issues to win party primaries increasingly dominated by extremists.

How much time did our Legislature spend debating transgender bathrooms? How many new ways can we find to restrict access to abortion and promote out-of-control gun culture? How many times can we sue the federal government for political sport? ("I go into the office, I sue the federal government and I go home," Greg Abbott boasted when he was attorney general, starting a tradition his successor has been proud to continue, even when it means trying to disenfranchise millions of voters.)  

Our government has dismantled the social safety net and outsourced what's left.

Our regulatory agencies work to protect the businesses they regulate, not the people they serve.

Our state officials repeatedly undermine local governments. The last Legislature restricted local taxing authority, much of which is spent on public safety. Now the governor wants to forbid cities from controlling their own police budgets. 

This all might have seemed liked good political theater until we take stock of what it has wrought.

This week, Texas could not keep the lights on. Texas could not keep the water flowing. Texas could not keep the roads open. 

And our leaders struggled to tell us why. They gave us no warning that power failure could be coming. When it did, they disappeared for the critical first day and have since offered precious little explanation or guidance.

In Texas, the buck doesn't stop here — it just gets on a plane to Mexico.

Rather than face up to the fact that they've been warned about Texas power grid vulnerabilities for a decade, numerous Texas officials sought to shift blame to other agencies or to frozen wind turbines, because renewable energy is somehow a liberal conceit. Gov. Abbott spent more time talking about the Green New Deal than the old raw deal he and others have dealt this state.

Abbott's predecessor, Rick Perry, said Texans would rather endure a few days of blackouts than have the feds (the department he recently and ironically ran as U.S. energy secretary) involved in our energy grid. Speak for yourself, Rick, not for the Texans shivering in their own homes, burning candles for warmth and harvesting snow to flush toilets.

If Texas wants its own power grid and to run it the Texas way, its government must tirelessly regulate, inspect and enforce to ensure that Texans have life-sustaining electricity in the brutal heat of summer and killer cold of winter. Our leaders must be open, forthright and transparent with us about the system's failures and the costs to fix it.

To use an already-overused cliché, the failures we've seen in Texas this week are a feature, not a bug, of the style of government and the character of people that we have elected.

Before the storm, Texas failed in its response to the coronavirus. When local officials tried to establish or enforce capacity limits and mask wearing, state officials stepped in to object because, like windmills, masks must be liberal. Given months to plan for the vaccine rollout, both state and local governments failed to develop and communicate a workable plan. More than 41,000 Texans are dead.

Texans don't ask much of our government. But is it too much to ask that government not try to kill us?

Texans deserve better. Let's remember these frozen, powerless, waterless nights on Election Day.

Bridges is executive editor of the Austin American-Statesman. 

"Are you angry, too? Let’s take our democracy back," by Kandace Vallejo

So glad to see Kandace Vallejo, one of our graduates from the Cultural Studies in Education program at UT and a dynamic leader and powerful voice who is founder and executive director of Youth Rise Texas.  The focus of this organization is on helping youth that have been directly harmed by criminalization and deportation.  

As you can see from my earlier post this morning, I am with Kandace.  Our democracy is definitely at risk and we need to take it back!

-Angela Valenzuela

#FamiliesBelongTogether, #familiestornapart, #incarceration #deportation #organizing #Jolt2020 @TXCivilRights @60Minutes @TexasObserver

@democracynow #TxEd @SuVotoEsSuVoz #LatinoVote #LatinxVote @AusHispanicVote @HispanicCaucus @SuVotoEsSuVoz

Commentary: Are you angry, too? Let’s take our democracy back

By Kandace Vallejo

Posted Jul 26, 2019 at 12:51 PMUpdated Jul 26, 2019 at 4:44 PM

   

I’m angry. In Spanish we call this anger “digna rabia,” which means dignified rage, and I invite you to share it with me.  My anger is rooted in love for the hundreds of families that are being ripped apart under the guise of “internal enforcement,” and the 25,000 families at risk of homelessness if the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development finalizes a rule yanking housing assistance from “mixed status” families in which at least one family member may not be a citizen. My heart goes out to the thousands of kids across the nation going to bed tonight without their parents, the hundreds more that ICE could add this week, and those attempting sleep tonight in cages just hours from my house.

I was one of those kids. My grandmother broke the news to me after school in front of the TV. I was 12, and was well cared for after my mother’s deportation. I know now that I’m one of the lucky ones. I’m 35 now and planning my wedding, but there’s still a little girl with frizzy curls and mismatched socks in me, and she needed her mother as much then as she does now. And so do the millions of kids like me across the U.S. who have endured family separation for decades because of a draconian criminal justice policy that started with incarceration, and now includes deportation for civil offenses, for-profit refugees imprisonment facilities and caging toddlers fleeing violence.

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It is this atrocious violence that drives me to practice what I call deep democracy. Deep democracy is messy. It’s built on love, action and a willingness to figure it out together. It’s how we don’t just say “Never again,” and “Not in our name;” it’s how we live it on the day to day. The freedom struggles of our brothers and sisters of the African disapora have shown us that deep democracy can transform lives, cities and yes — entire nations.

And though the long road to freedom for all people is still yet a promise, I can promise you that it will go unfulfilled if we don’t pave it ourselves. It is our national opportunity to unreservedly agree to another iteration of freedom struggle. No more sitting on the sidelines and wringing our hands and washing our words and emotions so they are palatable. We’ve got to go all in. So my invitation to you is to sit in this difficulty with me, to channel these feelings, and to take our democracy back.

As we round into the last 18 months of this president’s term, let’s make it meaningful. Let’s use this dark and frightening moment in our country to salvage what we can, and find ways to participate deeply.

Go beyond your vote, beyond your post. Get your hands dirty and kick up a storm. Empty your wallet if you’re able. Make eloquently rage-y phone calls to your elected officials and demand protections for Dreamers brought to this country as children. Demand an end to the kiddie cages, and a reinvestment in our refugee resettlement infrastructure instead. If you do nothing else, demand that we defund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and undo the criminalization of migration to help us end this dark national nightmare, and show up to the polls and primaries and make your demands there too.

In doing so, know that you’re helping me keep my family safely together. Let it come from anger if you like, and let that anger guide you and your family to find ways — big and small — to live with me and mine in a deep democracy every day. Just don’t forget to do it from a place a love. Because as Dr. Cornel West reminds us, justice is what love looks like in public.

Vallejo is the founder and executive director at Youth Rise Texas, an organization of young people who have been harmed by criminalization and deportation.