Voting is the only way to strike back.
Local elections:
Look around your neighborhood. Is your neighborhood safe?
Do you live in a blighted community?
Do you live where there are crack houses?
Is it gang infested?
Are your parks safe at night? Or are they gang, drug and prostitute infested?
Can you walk the neighborhood at night with a secure feeling?
Look at your schools.
Is it a good school?
Do you know what goes on in the school your children attend?
Is it safe for your children to walk to and from school?
Are their gangs in school?
How is the disciplinary record in your school?
Do you attend school functions?
Is your school part of the school to prison pipeline?
As a resident of Fort Worth, teacher and administrator in the FWISD I know that we have many challenges to overcome. The challenges we have have simple solutions. In the case of education parental involvement is the answer.
Yes, politicians will tell you improvements have been made. It is not about improvements, but about what has still to be done. A simple comparison between neighborhoods in Fort Worth will demonstrate the disparity in the allocation of tax dollars.
I do believe that local politicians should measure their own performance before they recommend a specific candidate to the public. It is no great victory to be elected in a district designed for a minority. Kudos to Mary Louise Garcia who ran county wide and won. The first Mexican American in over 100 years to be elected to a non-judicial county position in over 100 years. We need more politicians to show the same meddle.
Trumpism in Fort Worth.
There are many Trump supporters in Fort Worth. Constitutionally, they are entitled to worship whomever they please. But when an elected official exhibits Trump behavior and makes derogatory remarks against a racial group, there is a problem. Reportedly, Mayor Betsy Price made some derogatory remarks about African Americans. Just because Trump makes those comments does not mean that local elected politicians can do the same thing. In Fort Worth, there may be Trump supporters but they are not enough to elect anybody. As someone who has lived through the racists era, the comments by Mayor Price have the smell of racism.
Mayor Price has also decreed that Fort Worth would not be a sanctuary city. ICE has started rounding undocumented people. Supposedly, only those with major felony convictions were supposed to be deported. Today, we find out that that is not the case. Most of those rounded up today had misdemeanor convictions. For petty offenses, you can do community service ad payback. We must keep in mind that undocumented people have friends and relatives that are American citizens. We must stand in solidarity against breaking up families.
There are city elections going on right now. As you may have noticed Mayor Price has handpicked those that she wants in the city council. We cannot send “yes” people to the city council. Mayor Price has already shown how she feels about us minorities. Time to send Mayor Price a message, “We want democracy in Fort Worth”. It tine for us to stand up and be counted. We cannot let someone else make decisions for us. We can make our own decisions.
Vote. It is time for us minorities to show our collective power. It is in the VOTE.
To Drain the Swamp in Washington – You pull the plug in Fort Worth.
You may ask yourself how that is possible. Well. You start off with your local member of Congress. I mention Pete Session up around North Dallas and Plano. He has irreconcilable differences with his constituents. Who gets fired, the constituents or Sessions? You can look at your individual congressional districts and see if your member of congress has been in Washington too long. You cannot look at party label. We have gone from an era of ideology to an era of wanton racism. To answer the question, if you un-elect Trump supporters, you take away his support.
There is the issue of the Russian Connection. Apparently, there was contact between the Trump Campaign and Russian agents. The extent of the contacts remains to be solved by the FBI and Congress. The Republicans are scurrying as fast as they can to cover the tracks of their leader. Unless Trump himself addresses the issue and exonerates himself with facts we could be headed to the Richard Nixon II.
Repealing Obamacare. We know the problems. It is easier to fix the problem than experiment with a new one. Unfortunately, Americans are paying a high price for this uncertainty and internecine warfare within the Republican Party. Failure of the Republicans to repeal Obamacare the first time does not mean that it is safe. The hatred against it is too great.
Trump draws his power in Washington from his political base. He has a relatively large base in the Metroplex, especially in Tarrant County. Naturally, politicians are afraid to oppose him lest they be voted out by the base. Politicians are afraid of Trump supporters, his base of power. . This is a red state and Republicans that want to get reelected fear the Trump base. But. The number of non-Trump supporters is much bigger than Trump supporters. You have to turn out and vote against Trump supporting politicians regardless of party.
If you want to put Trump supporters in their place. Vote. If you want revenge for all Trump has said about Mexicans, Muslims, women and everybody else, vote. There is no other way. Just as I found out in the Army. Rank has more than privileges, it has power. Everyone understand power. The power is in the vote and you can put any politician in their place with your vote. This is no time to whine. There would be nothing better in our democracy than to have a change in power in congress. It would be healthy. It can be done but only you can do it. Vote.
Felix Alvarado
Editor