The People's Forum: BLMHTX says #WeGotUs
Issue #2: The President's border wall in Laredo, Texas, 1.3 million renters at risk in Houston, and the 50th anniversary of Carl Hamptons death, may he rest in power.
Good evening y’all. Read up below for a mid-week update on what’s happening around you.
Community Updates
TPLF has a new social chat on Signal, which means you don't have to be a member to stay in the loop with us! Reach out on Instagram to be added by your phone number.
Book Club continues to meet on Thursdays at 6 p.m. We're continuing to discuss Angela Davis's Freedom is a Constant Struggle, chapters 8-10. Zoom link is on our Linktree.
FUBU Link-Up: This Sunday, August 9th, is our first FUBU link up at 2 p.m! We welcome all gender identities and expressions, sexual orientations, and forms of beautiful Blackness. It’s a chance to get to know each other and build community! We want to hear about your experiences wherever you are. Updates can be found on our Instagram.
Get involved with Malaya TX! As the name indicates, MALAYA (Filipino for “free”) seeks to broaden the U.S.-based support for the cause of freedom and democracy in the Philippines. This past week, Malaya held a direct action caravan and rally to junk Duterte's terror law. Join Malaya Movement Texas by filling out this membership interest form.
News Around the South
On Sunday night, August 2nd, Austin PD riot cops advanced on Garrett Foster's memorial site, allegedly because the vigil was spilling over into the street. They were moving alongside Proud Boys, and cleared the site. The Texas Tribune published striking photos of APD's brutality from Sunday and the preceding weeks. This is all in the wake of Foster's murder by an active U.S. Army sergeant. The sergeant, who had previously posted on Twitter about his willingness to "show [protestors] why we say 'don't mess with Texas,'" was released under Texas's stand-your-ground laws, because he claimed to have feared for his safety [Texas Tribune]. Solidarity with our comrades in Austin! Rest in Power Garrett Foster.
The president's border wall continues to encroach on Laredo township in south Texas. Construction is scheduled for Jan 2021, but the city and neighboring Zapata county are suing the feds to prevent the project from continuing. Local engineers, and even some local gas and farm landowners, dispute the safety of the plan. Laredo has refused to allow DHS to survey the land for construction. They cite environmental concerns, the threat of flooding (in the case of a proposed levee border wall in between Laredo, Texas, and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico), and interference with the city's development project at the waterfront. The wall would jeopardize the local economy, which is angling toward small business revenue at the waterfront. Local residents aren't confident that Biden will actually cancel the project, since Obama didn't in 2009 when a similar plan was hatched for their town [Texas Observer].
On a technicality, the Texas Workforce Commission chose to end CARES Act funding early. The monthly $600 via Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation, which nearly a third of Americans need in order to survive month to month during the outbreak [Forbes], was cut early. The TWC ended the benefit on July 25th even though CARES extends it through the end of the month, because the month ends on a Friday [KWTX]. Seriously, that's the reason. "A full benefit week begins on Sunday, and ends on Saturday," a spokesperson said. This technicality, part of Texas law, cost Texans a week of needed benefits.
Houston's 1.3 million renters are at risk in the coming months, as tens or hundreds of thousands will face evictions. Even without the added stress of Covid, a quarter of Houstonian households had to spend over half of their monthly incomes on rent [Dallas Business Journal]. Mayor Turner has refused organizers' requests to protect renters with an eviction stay, pointing instead to the distant possibility of federal rent relief [KHOU]. His spokesperson is encouraging landlords to "voluntarily develop their own grace periods for rent" [Houston Chronicle]. You can keep up with Houston evictions via this map, pictured below, which shows spikes in Greenspoint and Southwest Houston.
July 26th marked the 50th anniversary of the police murder of Carl Hampton, the founder of the People's Party II, Houston's unofficial affiliate of the Black Panther Party. Hampton was shot by HPD officers on a rooftop following weeks of harrassment of the black panthers by the HPD. Police claimed that he shot first. Hampton serves as a symbol, not just of how fundamental state terrorism by the police is in America, but of the brave resistance and strength of Houstonians [Free Press Houston]. Rest in power, Carl Hampton.
On July 31st, 6 HPD narcotics officers were indicted for their crimes in the murderous Pecan Park raid last year, which was a no-knock home invasion [Houston Chronicle]. A grand jury issued 17 felony charges, including felony murder, to the ex-officers. They killed Dennis Wayne Tuttle and Rhogena Ann Nicholas on January 28, 2019. These indictments come after a damning audit, which HPD Chief Art Acevedo dragged his feet to release [Houston Chronicle]. The officers falsified investigative information, lied on reports, and lied about nonexistent confidential sources in order to obtain warrants. Additionally, 160 drug convictions made by the main officer implicated have been dismissed due to his pattern of fabricating evidence. Although this is a small victory, it should be remembered that the rest of the narcotics division, many of whom are just as reprehensible in their practices, have yet to face justice. There are still likely thousands of Houstonians who have had their lives ruined and due to falsified evidence by the narcotics division. Justice is impossible with the two-faced Art Acevedo and the even more reprehensible police chief Joe Gamaldi.
Donate! Donate! Donate!
#WeGotUs. BLMHTX is fundraising as part of the HTX Mutual Aid Coalition. Donations will be distributed to vulnerable communities in the city and surrounding areas. You can give via PayPal or Cashapp ($projectcurate). Include #WeGotUs in your description.
TPLF's Providers are nearly halfway to the fundraising goal for the Community Healthcare Box project! We need to keep pushing. This week, let's share the GoFundMe with our parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. (Tip: When asking for donations from relatives, it helps to suggest a specific amount.)
The Rio Grande Valley Mutual Aid relief fund is providing financial assistance in the wake of Hurrican Hanna. The Rio Grande Valley is a continuously under-served and neglected Texan region. Give here, and follow RGV Mutual Aid on Instagram!
Revolutionary Recs
Malvina Reynolds was a Unitarian Universalist songwriter and activist whose folk protest songs went global. The 2000 compilation album Ear to the Groundincludes the song "It Isn't Nice," where Reynolds sings, "Now our new ways aren't nice when we deal with men of ice, but if that is Freedom's price, we dont' mind."
Jim Hubbard's documentary film United In Anger: A History of ACT UP shows how the grassroots movement to end the AIDS crisis is a corollary to conversations today around militancy, pleasure activism, and affinity groups for direct action. You can watch it on Kanopy, which is free for some university students. If you need a login, reach out to TPLF
Americans Who Tell the Truth is a project by artist Robert Shetterly. Check out AWTT's "Portrait Gallery," where he's painted hundreds of Americans, elders and young people, who've engaged in struggle at different crossroads. You can click through the portraits to read short biographies. Shown above, left to right, are Bayard Rustin, James Baldwin and Grace Lee Boggs.