In Lak’Ech and the Good Samaritan: Texas State Rep. James Talarico and the Redemptive Politics of Radical Neighborliness, by Angela Valenzuela, Ph.D.

In Lak’Ech and the Good Samaritan: Texas State Rep. James Talarico and the Redemptive Politics of Radical Neighborliness 

by 

Angela Valenzuela, Ph.D.

September 17, 2025

With tens of millions of views on TikTok and a steady stream of national coverage, State Rep. James Talarico (D–Round Rock) is being talked about as “the next big thing” in Texas politics. In a July 1, 2025 special edition of Austin InSight/Austin PBS, host Laura Laughead sits down with Talarico for a wide-ranging conversation about what’s happening at the Capitol, how his openly professed Christian faith shapes his politics, and where he’s headed next.

What makes this interview worth watching isn’t just Talarico’s rising profile; it’s the way he frames public service through a moral vocabulary—love of neighbor, dignity, and the common good—while pushing for policies that address material needs here and now. That juxtaposition, rare in our polarized climate, comes through clearly in the full, unabridged conversation now available through PBS.

Talarico also speaks openly about his calling beyond politics. He’s an aspiring preacher studying at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and he treats faith not as a weapon but as a compass. For Texans who are weary of performative culture wars, that posture offers something different—an appeal to shared values, even when his policy positions may not be your own.

I find myself in strong agreement with his view that the separation of church and state protects both. It not only prevents the state from privileging one faith tradition over another, but also safeguards the integrity of the church by ruling out the possibility of political co-optation. It’s no wonder that the Austin Seminary has publicly expressed support for his journey.

As we know and have ourselves heard, Texas politics is often narrated as a clash of ideologies. Talarico reframes it as a contest of imaginations: What kind of neighbor will we be to one another? What do love, safety, and opportunity look like when translated into law and budget—not just rhetoric? Agree or not, he is modeling a style of leadership that could broaden rather than narrow the public conversation, especially among younger voters who may first encounter him on TikTok before meeting him at the ballot box.

Watching this episode also stirred something personal. I realized that Talarico and I share a spiritual inheritance—our grandfathers were both Baptist preachers. My granddad was my pastor throughout my entire youth. My own father—my late grandfather's son-in-law—continues in ministry today as a missionary in Peru. Incidentally, my grandfather was also a minister, for a time, in the Mexican Presbyterian church in my hometown of San Angelo, Texas, which he viewed as theologically similar to that of the Baptist Church.

I am deeply grateful for having grown up in my grandfather’s Mexican Baptist church where we believed deeply in the Golden Rule: to treat others as we ourselves wish to be treated. I've previously mentioned on this blog how this ethic is practically universal in faith traditions across cultures, including the Mayan philosophy of In Lak’Ech, rooted in empathy, reciprocity, and the recognition of our interdependence and the responsibilities we hold toward one another in a community and in society.

The parable of the Good Samaritan is fully about the Golden Rule and In Lak’Ech, speaking to a deeper principle of radical neighborliness. It teaches that compassion requires crossing boundaries of identity, tribe, and nation to see the humanity in the other—and to act on that recognition. These traditions remind us that true faith and true justice are not abstract ideals, but lived commitments to care for those around us, especially the vulnerable and marginalized.

Abundant thanks to Rep. Talarico for modeling a politics rooted in faith, imagination, and radical neighborliness—neighborliness that is not so radical after all, considering it echoes the Golden Rule, In Lak’Ech, and the shared moral teachings at the heart of nearly every faith tradition. His example reminds us that compassion and justice, far from being fringe ideals, are the foundations of the democratic society we aspire to build.

A conversation with Rep. James Talarico: The aspiring preacher making a name in Texas politics

Austin InSight/PBS, July 1, 2025

Fight the School Culture Wars by Embracing Parents [and Supporting Ethnic Studies]

This piece provides good food for thought. I agree with BloombergQuint columnist, Andrea Gabor, that McAuliffe sent the terribly wrong message that "parents shouldn’t be "telling schools what they should teach.'” Such a terrible message to send in a democracy. We all pay the taxes that fund our schools. We all have a voice. I also agree that parents, school districts, and school boards shouldn't take the bait by people who enter these spaces with the intention of polarizing and weaponizing discourse.

As mentioned herein,  school-family partnerships and partnerships with community-based organizations, in general, can provide excellent vehicles through which to address parents' concerns.

Regrettably, Gabor fails to mention that parents, educators, and community are indeed speaking up throughout the country and they are advocating for Ethnic Studies curricula so as to be more culturally inclusive of children's lived experiences, cultures, and identities. Why is it so hard even for liberals to vocalize this, much less lend their support?

Ethnic Studies is a positive agenda that liberals themselves need to understand so that they can more effectively "talk back" to what really is a contrived agenda that seeks to limit the teaching of the truths of history. 

If we can't name racism, classism, sexism, ableism, or homophobia or their intersectionalities, we'll not only shut down honest conversations and explorations in what it means to be human, we'll be forever condemned to our toxic, polarizing thoughts and emotions. And what a massive disability for our youth, all of whom must be prepared to navigate a multiracial democracy in an increasingly complex, highly diverse, and yes—polarized, world.

-Angela Valenzuela

Fight the School Culture Wars by Embracing Parents 

Andrea Gabor 06:30 PM IST, 13 Nov 2021 01:10 AM IST, 13 Nov 2021

(Bloomberg Opinion) -- When Republican Glenn Youngkin won the gubernatorial election last week in Virginia, the first statewide GOP victory there in more than a decade, it was widely seen as vindication of a political strategy to weaponize the school-board culture wars. In truth, the school-board warriors around the U.S. weren’t as successful as some high-profile Democratic defeats suggest. Even in red states like Missouri and Wisconsin, many candidates who advocated bans on mask mandates and the supposed teaching of what culture warriors tendentiously call “critical race theory” were defeated.

But there’s no denying that Virginia parents were angry at Democrats. That was partly because a former Democratic governor had rebuffed their demands to reopen schools during the pandemic, even as children from neighboring Maryland, and even New York City, returned to classrooms with little ill effect.

Most galling of all, though, was the incendiary and misguided statement by the eventual losing Democratic candidate, Terry McAuliffe,  that parents shouldn’t be “telling schools what they should teach.”

To suggest that parents have no place in school decision-making is to deny the fundamental role of public schools as places for the teaching and practice of democratic values. Schools should want more parental involvement, not less, a matter of equal concern on both sides of the cultural divide. For example, in New Orleans, the nation’s first all-charter-school city, where charter organizations ba

To suggest that parents have no place in school decision-making is to deny the fundamental role of public schools as places for the teaching and practice of democratic values. Schools should want more parental involvement, not less, a matter of equal concern on both sides of the cultural divide. For example, in New Orleans, the nation’s first all-charter-school city, where charter organizations backed by Democrats and Republicans sought to marginalize parent and community engagement in schools, the backlash has been fierce.

Read more at: https://www.bloombergquint.com/gadfly/culture-war-in-the-schools-fight-back-by-embracing-parents
Copyright © BloombergQuint

Rep. Matt Krause's Campaign for Attorney General Scrutinizes Texas School Districts for Texts on Race and Sexuality

Compliments of the Voice of the Mainland blog, here is specific detail on the specific request by Ft. Worth Rep. Matt Krause who is running for attorney general for texts purchased by school districts, including award winners, that address issues of race and sexuality [also read: Analysis: Matt Krause’s campaign for attorney general comes with a reading list]. This amounts to a new level of scrutiny of Texas public schools that falls on the heels of anti-CRT bill, Senate Bill 3, that promises to earn him a measure of notoriety. 

Accordingly, read my earlier post titled: "Texas House committee to investigate school districts’ books on race and sexuality." You can't make this stuff up.

Glad to see the the Austin Independent School District not going through with this primarily since there's already a link to the requested information [read: "Austin ISD dismisses Texas lawmaker's probe into books on race, sex"]. 

Requests like these that are designed to bolster the political aims of lawmakers are not only a cost to taxpayers, but involve an inordinate amount of time—and for what purpose other than to polarize society even more? The Rs have reached the limits of their political leadership if this is all they have, pestering superintendents and local school boards for narrow, political ends.

-Angela Valenzuela

***

Editor: Texas State Representative Matt Krause is asking several Texas schools to conduct an assessment of books in their library and see if any of these books are in their library system, how many copies and the amount of dollars expended by the school district to purchase those books. The public has no knowledge what Rep Krause intends to do with the outcome of his investigation. Maybe noting. Maybe burn the books. Maybe deduct the amount spend on the books from the school district's budget. We do not know. Anyway, book burning seems to be making it's way into Texas education, maybe not as an act, but as a threat.

The text of his message is below. The full letter can be linked to here.

1. Please identify how many copies of each book in the attached Addendum your

District possesses and at what campus locations including school library and

classroom collections. Please identify the amount of funds spent by your District to 

acquire the books identified in request No. 1 above.

3. Please identify any other books or content in your District, specifying the campus

location and funds spent on acquisition, that address or contain the following topics:

human sexuality, sexually transmitted diseases, or human immunodeficiency virus

(HIV) or acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), sexually explicit images,

graphic presentations of sexual behavior that is in violation of the law, or contain

material that might make students feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of

psychological distress because of their race or sex or convey that a student, by virtue

of their race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or

unconsciously.

Your prompt attention to this request is appreciated, and I request a written response via 

email by November 12, 2021. If you have any questions, please contact me or the 

Committee’s General Counsel, Darren Keyes.