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Today's NPR talk show on Texas (or rather, some kook fringe elements in Texas that even Gov Perry won't sing with) trying to secede got my blood boiling. I had to turn off the radio and think about why and here's what I came to:
This secession stuff is angry white racist stuff. It's angry white (mostly) men trying to get rid of all those nasty colored folks. Of which, naturally, the President is the biggest one. But look: Texas has had its entire state school system under court supervision for years because they (the Legislature) refuse to provide adequate funding for poorer school districts. For "poor" you can read "brown" or "Latino" as it pleases you.
Texas has also had the most redistricting plans rejected by courts of any state I can find. The reason the courts keep rejecting these plans is because they're (say it with me) racist. They are plans designed to marginalize and minimize the voting power of non-white people.
If you got rid of Federal oversight, the people running Texas would be free to de-fund poor and Latino-majority school systems. They'd be free to disenfranchise non-white folk. They'd be free to let white people go armed to the border and shoot those nasty brown people who try to cross it. This is what they mean when they say "free" - free from the interlopers in Washington who make them treat non-whites somewhat better.
Lest you think I'm making this up out of whole cloth remember that I lived in Texas for four years. Even though I lived in Austin, which is considerably more liberal than the rest of the state, it was still one of the most overtly racially segregated places I've ever been. There literally was a 'wrong side of the tracks' and I had real estate agents refuse to show us (a white couple) houses on THAT side of the tracks. Back then we could manage to get people like Ann Richards and Jim Hightower elected, which you sure couldn't do today.
I find it depressing and upsetting that the press (let alone NPR) is spending time on this nutball stuff and that nobody seems willing to call it for what it is: racism.
This secession stuff is angry white racist stuff. It's angry white (mostly) men trying to get rid of all those nasty colored folks. Of which, naturally, the President is the biggest one. But look: Texas has had its entire state school system under court supervision for years because they (the Legislature) refuse to provide adequate funding for poorer school districts. For "poor" you can read "brown" or "Latino" as it pleases you.
Texas has also had the most redistricting plans rejected by courts of any state I can find. The reason the courts keep rejecting these plans is because they're (say it with me) racist. They are plans designed to marginalize and minimize the voting power of non-white people.
If you got rid of Federal oversight, the people running Texas would be free to de-fund poor and Latino-majority school systems. They'd be free to disenfranchise non-white folk. They'd be free to let white people go armed to the border and shoot those nasty brown people who try to cross it. This is what they mean when they say "free" - free from the interlopers in Washington who make them treat non-whites somewhat better.
Lest you think I'm making this up out of whole cloth remember that I lived in Texas for four years. Even though I lived in Austin, which is considerably more liberal than the rest of the state, it was still one of the most overtly racially segregated places I've ever been. There literally was a 'wrong side of the tracks' and I had real estate agents refuse to show us (a white couple) houses on THAT side of the tracks. Back then we could manage to get people like Ann Richards and Jim Hightower elected, which you sure couldn't do today.
I find it depressing and upsetting that the press (let alone NPR) is spending time on this nutball stuff and that nobody seems willing to call it for what it is: racism.
