Racism in Texas
wdoubt about it. Texas’ new gerrymandered redistricting maps reduce minority voters’ impact to an even greater extent than the Republicans did 10 years ago. Texas’ Republican governor has already approved them.
But you can’t throw that “football” back at me. Because that old dog “don’t hunt” anymore. Yes, Democrats did gerrymander districts in days long gone, but 2 wrongs don’t make a right.
I’m willing to bet most kids in kindergarten know that.
So let’s look at history. Texas hasn’t had a Democratic governor in 26 years. The last time Texas voters backed a Democrat for president, Jimmy Carter was running against Gerald Ford in 1976, according to state statistics.1 That’s more than 40 years ago.
Today, Texas has a Republican governor, lieutenant governor, speaker of the House, attorney general, agricultural commissioner and land commissioner. The legislature is also dominated by Republicans.2
All this, while Texas’ minority population is exploding, thanks to plummeting White birth rates. It’s happening all over America too. Projections of the 2020 U.S. Census3 show White people will be a minority in America by 2045, and a minority in Texas by 2022.4 People of color5 make up 95% of Texas’ current, soaring population growth.
The 15th Amendment6 of the U.S. Constitution ensures “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” So Texas’ new maps may be illegal.
Meanwhile, other extremely important issues affecting minorities all across America, also desperately need attention. For example, a new book, “Mexican American Civil Rights in Texas,”7 documents Texas’ most recent injustices against Mexican Americans. Edited by Robert Brischetto and J. Richard Avena, it has articles by academic experts in the fields of “… immigration, voting, education, labor, housing, employment, and criminal justice.” They show how Texas has punished the state’s Hispanic population for the last 50 years.
I don’t doubt the book’s findings. Facts about racism have been hidden for a long time. Growing up in Texas, I was taught the 1836 Battle of the Alamo8 was fought for freedom. But that’s a “Texas tall tale run amok.”9 Mexico was banning slavery then and Texas was still part of Mexico. Texans fought that battle “in large part” because “American immigrants” moving to Texas from the U.S. wanted their rights to own slaves preserved.
Maybe that’s why those in power in Texas don’t want Critical Race Theory taught in schools. CRT documents the racism that’s infected this nation since its founding, a history many will reject as they fight hard to ensure minority rule over a large, growing, diverse majority in Texas.
Jodie Sinclair is an award-winning writer who holds a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University and resides in Bandera, Texas.
1) https://www.texastribune.org/2017/08/18/hey-texplainer-whatrecent-electi...
2) https://ballotpedia.org/Party_control_of_Texas_state_government 3) https://www.brookings.edu/blog/
3) https://www.brookings.edu/blog/ the-avenue/2018/03/14/the-us-will-become-minority-white-in-2045-censusprojects/
4) https://www.texastribune. org/2019/06/20/texas-hispanic-population-pace-surpass-white-residents/
5) https://www.texastribune. org/2021/08/12/texas-2020-census/
6) https://constitutioncenter.org/ interactive-constitution/amendment/ amendment-xv?gclid=Cj0KCQiAy- 4eNBhCaARIsAFDVtI1Ju6qsNojH_ gU3BdrYTGtbi_ZBdpgEM9N2Zmt- VDfjcZ7VJD-91FeEaAkKdEALw_ wcB
7)https://msupress. org/9781609176792/mexican-american-civil-rights-in-texas/
8) https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/06/10/myth-alamogets-history... 9) https://www.washingtonpost.
9) https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/06/10/myth-alamogets-history...