Decisions from last week that begins the 88th (2023)Texas Legislative Session related to quorum-breaking and whether to ban Democrats from holding committee chairs. As you can see here, the decision that held up was one of costly punishments to house members that break quorum, an issue that rose to the top in House primary races.

So, we'll not see a replay this session of House members taking off to DC to protest legislative action. It's probably a moot point anyway since the biggest item is the budget. Read, for example, this January 9th piece Texas Tribune article titled, "Texas lawmakers will have $188.2 billion available for the next budget after record-breaking revenue growth." I appreciate Every Texan's leadership on the matter, re-casting this as The People's Budget that all of our organizations need to weigh in on. After all, we all pay taxes such that we all have a stake in where the dollars flow and what they fund.

This, in combination with opposing monies for school vouchers since even if there's money now, it's not sustainable in the future as there is no sustainable source for vouchers. Plus, vouchers are anti-democratic and a diversion from the state's commitment to adequately funding public education.

When you hear language about "increasing the basic allotment," that's the good stuff related to increasing teacher salaries and resources to school districts, generally. 

Relatedly, watch out for deceptive wording as we can read right now about in SB 176 that calls for the "Texas Parental Empowerment Program," that's smoke and mirrors for vouchers—meaning, school privatization—and the segregation that school vouchers reinforce.

-Angela Valenzuela

TEXAS LEGISLATURE 2023

Effort to ban Democratic chairs fails in Texas House, but rule passes to penalize future quorum-breakers

House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, snuffed out a months long push Wednesday to end the chamber’s longtime tradition of having committee chairs from both parties.

BY PATRICK SVITEK JAN. 11, 2023

State Rep. Tony Tinderholt, R-Arlington, speaks at a Texas Freedom Caucus press conference at the Capitol on Aug. 30, 2021. 

Credit: Michael Gonzalez/The Texas Tribune

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Texas House leadership on Wednesday shut down a long-building push to ban Democratic committee chairs, deploying procedural legislative maneuvers to defeat multiple proposals on the issue.

The chamber also approved new punishments for members who break quorum, as most House Democrats did two years ago in protest of GOP-backed voting restrictions. Those members left for Washington, D.C., for weeks to stop the House from being able to do business in an effort to prevent passage of the bill. Under the new rules, quorum-breakers can now be subject to daily fines and even expulsion from the chamber.

The chamber passed the overall rules package by a vote of 123-19, with Democrats making up most of the opposition.

Going into the rules debate, most attention was on the subject of committee chairs, who have the power to advance legislation or block it from being taken up by the full House. For months, a small but vocal minority of House Republicans have been calling for the end of the chamber’s longtime tradition of having committee chairs from both parties. But Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, and his allies moved successfully Wednesday to prevent the matter from even getting to a vote on the floor.

They did it by passing a “housekeeping resolution” earlier in the day that included a new section codifying a constitutional ban on using House resources for political purposes. That resolution passed overwhelmingly with little debate or fanfare. Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, then cited the new provision to call points of order — procedural challenges — on two amendments proposed by Rep. Bryan Slaton, R-Royse City, to restrict Democratic committee chairs. Phelan ruled in favor of Geren both times.

“The amendment would require the speaker to use public resources, including staff time and government facilities, on behalf of one political instrumentality,” Phelan said the first time. “This obviously would require the speaker to violate the Housekeeping Resolution.”

It was a relatively anticlimactic end to the fight over Democratic committee chairs, which were a major issue in House primaries earlier this year, a rallying cry for conservative activists and a recurring theme in speeches as the legislative session kicked off Tuesday. After the House reelected Phelan by a nearly unanimous vote, he cautioned freshmen to “please do not confuse this body with the one in Washington, D.C.”

"After watching Congress attempt to function last week, I cannot imagine why some want Texas to be like D.C,” Phelan said.

Committee appointments are expected to be made in the next couple of weeks. Phelan has said he will appoint roughly the same proportion of Democratic chairs as last session, but it remains to be seen whether they’ll be appointed to lead any powerful or coveted committees.

At least a couple dozen people sat in the House gallery Wednesday wearing red shirts reading “Ban Democratic Chairs.” More had been set to visit the Capitol on Thursday, when they had initially expected the rules debate to happen.

Slaton proposed two amendments that dealt with the partisanship of committee chairs. His first amendment would have required all committee chairs to come from the majority party, and his second amendment would have mandated that the chair of 15 of the more prominent committees do so. Six other House Republicans signed on to the first amendment: Reps. Tony Tinderholt, Nate Schatzline, Richard Hayes, Steve Toth, Brian Harrison and Mark Dorazio.

After Phelan ruled Geren’s points of order successful, Tinderholt sought to gather the 10 signatures required to challenge the speaker’s decision. But Tinderholt said on Twitter that he found only five colleagues willing to sign up: Slaton, Dorazio, Schatzline, Hayes and Harrison.

Phelan’s rulings drew an angry response from Texas GOP Chair Matt Rinaldi, a loud advocate for eliminating Democratic committee chairs. It is one of the party’s eight legislative priorities.

“The Republican Speaker is taking the procedural position that restricting chairs to the majority party as every other state and congress does is using state resources for ‘political purposes’ and illegal,” Rinaldi tweeted. “This baseless and absurd ruling was made solely to protect Democrat power.”

After the rules passed, Slaton tweeted that Phelan "used bogus excuses to protect Democrats and prevent a vote on these issues. Slaton added that Texas GOP "voters deserve better."

Punishing quorum-breakers

Before the back-and-forth over Democratic committee chairs, the House passed a rules amendment to punish members who go “absent without leave for the purpose of impeding the action of the House.” The vote was 87-59, almost entirely along party lines. One of the Democrats who stayed behind during the 2021 quorum break, Rep. Abel Herrero of Robstown, voted for the amendment.

Most of the House Democratic Caucus broke quorum for 37 days during the summer of 2021, fleeing to Washington, D.C., in an effort to stop Republicans’ priority elections bill. They were unsuccessful, and their protest sparked conversation inside the GOP about what could be done to prevent a repeat during future sessions.

The new punishments for quorum-breaking include a $500 fine for each day a member is gone. Those members are also responsible for their share of the cost of dispatching the sergeant-at-arms to bring back members to restore quorum. And the House can consider expelling them after an investigation and report on their actions by the Administration Committee.

The amendment attracted opposition from Democrats who questioned its vagueness and potential conflict with free-speech rights. Rep. Harold Dutton, D-Houston, asked the author of the rules, Rep. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, about the definition of “impeding” and how it would apply practically.

“I think that if 70 people left together and published it and sent out notices, I think that pretty much meets ‘impeding,’” Hunter said, seeming to allude to the 2021 quorum break.

Rep. Jolanda Jones, D-Houston, asked if the amendment would “override” members’ constitutional right to protest.

“You have the right to protest,” Hunter said. “But we have the right to conduct policy procedure in the House.”

Ultimately, 16 of the 19 no votes on the rules package came from Democrats. The three Republican no votes were Slaton, Tinderholt and Schatzline.

The debate over the rules lasted for hours, with the rabble-rousing Slaton offering a host of other amendments touching on conservative social issues that some Republicans are expected to target this session. For example, he proposed an amendment that would have halted legislative business until the chamber voted on legislation banning “erotic performances and drag shows in the presence of minors.” He also put forward an amendment that said committee chairs “may not enforce a speech code that restricts the use of biologically correct pronouns.”

All the amendments were unsuccessful.

Knowing Mexican American Civil Rights Movement history that, unfortunately, our textbooks do not include, remains vastly important if we are to fully understand the plight of Mexican Americans advocating for an equitable and just education and the broader implications of this struggle for us today.

Texas history—and the history of the Southwest, in general, where large numbers of students protested in the form of school walkouts, rallies, and community organizing led to much-needed policy changes the provide a model—among others like coalitional, judicial, and electoral politics together with legislative actions—for collective struggles today.

It's worth noting that Mexican American progress is inextricably linked to Latina and Latino progress, as a whole, as well as with that of all other groups of color. As a society, we ALL benefit from appeals to civil rights and are NEVER hurt by it. We only benefit when we live up to our highest ideals as a country.

Looking forward to seeing this play that features, in particular, the legendary Dr. Jose Angel Gutierrez' leadership, at the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center in San Antonio soon. Go to this page for more information. Hurry up though since tickets are going fast.

-Angela Valenzuela

Fronteras: ‘Crystal City 1969’ play honors the real-life story of student 'heroes and sheroes' who fought for Latino civil rights

By Norma Martinez, 

Marian Navarro

In 1969, a Mexican American high school student in Crystal City wanted 

to join her school’s cheerleading squad.

She was automatically disqualified from applying. Only one Mexican 

American cheerleader was allowed and the squad had already met its 

yearly quota.

The incident became the catalyst that led to a historic school walkout. 

But it was more than about a cheerleader who didn’t get a spot on the 

team.

It was also about physical punishment students endured for speaking 

Spanish, and about how Mexican Americans were often discouraged 

from pursuing a college education.

The walkout was about discrimination and racism.

Dallas-based Cara Mía Theatre adapted the events of the walkout and 

turned it into the play, “Crystal City 1969.”

Playwrights David Lozano and Raul Treviño conducted interviews with former 

students, teachers, and law enforcement officials who lived through the 

walkout.

Lozano, executive artistic director of Cara Mía Theatre, said the movement 

was eye-opening for students.

“They were just discovering this reality and putting the pieces together 

because the world (and) what is essentially a quasi-Jim Crow culture (that) 

had become normalized,” he said. “But as young people, they were 

beginning to wake up to these differences and how they were treated.”

The Crystal City walkout was inspired by similar walkouts in Los Angeles, 

San Antonio, and the Rio Grande Valley.

Treviño, whose own uncle was a student leader of the walkout, said 

the play aims to ensure this event does not become a forgotten piece 

of history.

“It is a universal story. It's a timeless story. It’s David and Goliath,” he said. 

“You go back thousands of years and it's when young people are able to 

make a difference for their communities.”

The play is set to make its San Antonio debut at the Guadalupe Cultural 

Arts Center Jan. 19-22.

See showtimes and information here. Some shows may already 

be sold out.

Michelle Goldberg: DeSantis Begins Hostile Takeover of Progressive Public College by Diane Ravitch

Friends and Colleagues:

Check out this very important read by Diane Ravitch about DeSantis' hostile takeover of the New College of Florida by packing right wingers like Christopher Rufo to its board. This amounts to a clear assault on academic freedom and democracy.

 Check out what the legendary March for our Lives leader, Emma Gonzalez, has to say about it. Talk about killing a great university....

In Texas, we have our own fish to fry with this very same extremism evident in HB 1006 by Rep. Tepper in the context of the 88th (2023) Texas Legislative Session. 

This "anti-diversity, equity and inclusion"—or simply, "anti-DEI" bill— is deeply concerning for the same reasons outlined here by Diane Ravitch.

Not unlike Senate Bill 3 in K-12 schools—i.e., Texas anti-CRT legislation—what's happening to the New College of Florida is anathema not just to dissent, but to the very right to it in a democracy. This amounts to a tyranny of the majority on minorities and all others who talk, think, write, and present differently.

Democracy must not die in silence. Our communities must vigorously oppose such measures. I am learning that the New College of Florida students are opposing this. Best wishes to them in their struggle against extremism.

-Angela Valenzuela

#SayNoToFascism

#HB1006

Diane Ravitch's blog Michelle Goldberg: DeSantis Begins Hostile Takeover of Progressive Public College dianeravitch Jan 10  Michelle Goldberg, a columnist for the New York Times, writes here about Governor Ron DeSantis’s bold move to crush a progressive public college in Florida by naming right wingers to its board. DeSantis boasts that Florida is the state where “woke” goes to die, so of course he must take control of this “woke” college and destroy it. He’s showing his fascistic instincts. Whatever he can’t control, whatever dissents from his hardline views must die.  She writes: New College of Florida has a reputation for being the most progressive public college in the state. X González — a survivor of the Parkland school shooting who, as Emma González, became a prominent gun control activist — recently wrote of their alma mater, “In the queer space of New College, changing your pronouns, name or presentation is a nonevent.” In The Princeton Review’s ranking of the best public colleges and universities for “making an impact” — measured by things like student engagement, community service and sustainability efforts — New College comes in third. Naturally, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida wants to demolish it, at least as it currently exists. On Friday, he announced six new appointments to New College’s 13-member board of trustees, including Chris Rufo, who orchestrated the right’s attack on critical race theory, and Matthew Spalding, a professor and dean at Hillsdale College, a conservative Christian school in Michigan with close ties to Donald Trump. (A seventh member will soon be appointed by Florida’s Board of Governors, which is full of DeSantis allies.) The new majority’s plan, Rufo told me just after his appointment was announced, is to transform New College into a public version of Hillsdale. “We want to provide an alternative for conservative families in the state of Florida to say there is a public university that reflects your values,” he said. The fight over the future of New College is about more than just the fate of this small school in Sarasota. For DeSantis, it’s part of a broader quest to crush any hint of progressivism in public education, a quest he’d likely take national if he ever became president. For Rufo, a reconstructed New College would serve as a model for conservatives to copy all over the country. “If we can take this high-risk, high-reward gambit and turn it into a victory, we’re going to see conservative state legislators starting to reconquer public institutions all over the United States,” he said. Should he prevail, it will set the stage for an even broader assault on the academic freedom of every instructor whose worldview is at odds with the Republican Party. Rufo often talks about the “long march through the institutions,” a phrase coined by the German socialist Rudi Dutschke in 1967 but frequently attributed to the Italian communist Antonio Gramsci. Thwarted in their hope of imminent revolution, the new left of Dutschke’s generation sought instead to bore into political and cultural institutions, working within the system to change the basic assumptions of Western society. Rufo’s trying, he said, to “steal the strategies and the principles of the Gramscian left, and then to organize a kind of counterrevolutionary response to the long march through the institutions.” This grandiose project has several parts. Rufo has been unparalleled in fanning public education culture wars, whipping up anger first against critical race theory and then against teaching on L.G.B.T.Q. issues. This year, he is turning his attention to diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and, with his colleagues at the Manhattan Institute, will soon unveil model legislation to abolish such programs at state schools. In New College, he sees a chance to create a new type of educational institution to replace those he’s trying to destroy. When we spoke, he compared his plans to Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter. Later this month, Rufo said, he’ll travel to New College with a “landing team” of board members, lawyers, consultants and political allies. “We’re going to be conducting a top-down restructuring,” he said, with plans to “design a new core curriculum from scratch” and “encode it in a new academic master plan.” Given that Hillsdale, the template for this reimagined New College, worked closely with the Trump administration to create a “patriotic education” curriculum, this master plan will likely be heavy on American triumphalism. Rufo hopes to move fast, saying that the school’s academic departments “are going to look very different in the next 120 days.” The values of the people who are already at New College are of little concern to Rufo, who, like several other new trustees, doesn’t live in Florida. Speaking of current New College students who chose it precisely for its progressive culture, Rufo said: “We’re happy to work with them to make New College a great place to continue their education. Or we’d be happy to work with them to help them find something that suits them better.” Of course, as both leftist revolutionaries and colonialists have learned over the years, replacing one culture with another can be harder than anticipated. New College students may not go quietly. Steve Shipman, a professor of physical chemistry and president of the faculty union, points out that tenured professors are covered by a collective bargaining agreement, which makes it hard to fire them unless there’s cause. People like Rufo “are making statements to make impact,” Shipman said. “And I really don’t know how viable some of those statements are on the ground.” We’ll soon find out. “We anticipate that this is going to be a process that involves conflict,” said Rufo.

Call for Papers: National Association for Chicana/Chicano Studies: Tejas Foco Conference March 23-25 UTRGV Brownsville

Call for Papers!!!

 

 

 

National Association for Chicana/Chicano Studies: Tejas Foco Conference

 

March 23-25, 2023

University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley

Brownsville, Texas

 

Conference Theme:

“Confronting/Resisting the Colonizer Within: A History of Violence, Discrimination/Oppression and Shame”

 

 

The NACCS-Tejas Foco Conference invites scholarly/creative submissions which address internalized colonialism/oppression/racism/colorism, as well as within our Chicanx/Latinx communities. We call for a confrontation/resistance to colonialist indoctrination, such as the legacy of racism, colorism and discrimination which are maintained by settler colonialism within our own Chicanx/Latinx communities. In order to truly decolonize our communities, we must face the enemy within and embrace our indigeneity. We must begin with deconstructing the historical structures such as the Spanish caste system which continues to marginalize/subjugate BIPOC. We encourage submissions that address the following topics, and welcome proposals that address the Tejanx experience in general.

 

History and legacy of the caste system in Latinx culture

Racism/Colorism within Latinx culture  

Anti-indigeneity, Anti-blackness, Anti-immigrant narratives within the Latinx community

Colonialism, Settler colonialism, Land/water/sacred sites, land theft/dispossession, Environmental racism/justice 

Internalized colonialism/racism, intergenerational trauma, abuse/violence within the Latinx community

Reclaiming/retracing our indigeneity and African roots, Nepantla

Identity/body politics, politics of labels, politics of language indoctrination

Indigenous erasure, detribalization, imperialist policies of blood quantums

Indigenous children and boarding schools/missions

Politics of Mestizaje, myth of the Raza Cosmica, “mejorar la raza” narratives 

Mestiza consciousness, double-consciousness, subjection/agency

“Vendidos”/sell-outs, complicity of BIPOC with white male heteropatriarchal narratives of supremacy

Catholicism and colonialism, criminalization of indigenous religions and spirituality

Religion and identity/gender roles/oppression, forced Christianization/indoctrination

History of resistance, Mexican Revolution, Adelitas

LGBTQ+ and colonialism/heteropatriarchal structures/settler colonialism

Lack of Indigenous and Black representation in Latinx media and Hollywood

Indigenous rights, Immigrant rights, Afro Latinos/Indigenous rights

Racial Justice, criminal justice and social control, criminalization of BIPOC, immigration policies & rhetoric

Latinx elites and anti-indigeneity/blackness, white Latinx, white Mexicans/Whitexicans, Fresa culture, MAGA Latinx

European beauty standards and their effects on BIPOC

Transformative pedagogies, decolonial pedagogies, anti-racist education  

Empowerment and activism, teaching/empowering the youth

Intersectionality/matrix of domination, gender roles and racism/colorism, colonialism and misogyny

 

 

Deadline for CFP: January 15, 2023

Please submit proposals for panels, roundtables, and/or individual presentations to the Tejas Foco Conference Organizers: Rosalva.resendiz@utrgv.edu or Miryam.espinosadulanto@utrgv.edu.  

In your email, please include the following: 

Name & Affiliation (Independent Scholar, College/University, Agency/Organization)

Individual submission – include a 200-300 word abstract, along with key terms

Panel proposal (3 to 4 participants) – include a brief description of the panel, list the Presenters, along with the Title of their paper and a 200-word abstract for each presenter  

Roundtable proposal (3 to 4 participants) – provide a 400-500 word proposal, include a Chair for the roundtable, and the Names and Affiliations of the each of the participants

 

2023 MLK Celebration Rally and March—January 16, 2023—Austin, Texas

 Hi Friends:

Put this on your calendar! Austin's January 16 MLK Celebration.

-Angela Valenzuela

2023 MLK Celebration Rally and March

Date: Monday January 16, 2023

Time: 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM

Black Studies and the DDCE are proud to partner with the Austin Area Heritage Council to kick off the 2023 MLK Celebration Rally and March. The annual event celebrates Dr. Martin Luther King’s legacy while uplifting diversity and multiculturalism in our city.

 

We’ll meet at the MLK Statue on the East Mall (23rd Street and Speedway) at 9 a.m. for a brief program. From the statue, we’ll march as a group to the State Capitol and hear from our local and state elected officials, and then we’ll proceed to Huston-Tillotson University for the annual MLK Community Celebration & Music Festival.

 

We hope you can join us!

 

For more information, please visit mlkcelebration.com.

 

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