The Texas Observer March/April 2022

Hi folks, you probably aren’t familiar with my name, but for the last six months I’ve been serving as the Texas Observ er’s interim editor in chief. While our organization undergoes strategic changes, it has been an honor to work for the state’s flagship progressive publication. Though I’m new to Texas, I believe the Observer’s voice is more critical than ever. I’m proud to present to you this issue. In these pages, you’ll find the deep-dive, investigative reporting you have come to expect from us: A heartrending story from contributor Olivia Gentile about a grandmother fighting the family of her daughter’s killer for custody—a testament to Texas’ broken parental laws, which play into the hands of domestic abusers. Associate Editor Christopher Collins examines the GOP’s decades-long assault on public education. And Senior…

In 2014, under the pall of fraud allegations, then–state Senator Ken Paxton hauled in just under 45 percent of the GOP primary vote as he secured first place against a pair of establishment-aligned opponents in his bid for Texas attorney general. The third-place finisher endorsed the runner-up in the runoff, citing concerns about Paxton’s emerging ethical challenges. “The attorney general must have integrity, honesty, and high moral character,” Barry Smitherman said in his endorsement of state Representative Dan Branch. But in a year of antiestablishment tea party fervor among the party’s base, Paxton’s pledge to continue then–Attorney General Greg Abbott’s legacy of using the office as a perch to sue then-President Barack Obama was enough to win. In the 2014 runoff, Paxton—buoyed by a $1 million loan from a new right-wing…

Adecade ago, in March 2012, a group of writers, artists, educators, and activists banded together to combat the deplorable actions of Arizona’s state legislature. The state’s lawmakers had recently passed a bill making the teaching of “Ethnic Studies” illegal, along with banning courses that “promote resentment toward a race or class of people” and “are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group.” The bill also created a list of banned books. Of the more than 80 that were eventually added to the list, many of the authors were Black and Latinx. The Arizona law was so restrictive that it made news here in Texas, where we created the Librotraficante Movement in order to highlight the attack on books, educators, and education by conservative politicians. Librotraficante means “book smuggler,”…

27 The number of times Governor Greg Abbott said “Trump” in a January speech that lasted six minutes at a Montgomery County rally for the former president, according to the Houston Chronicle. Abbott was fending off two far-right primary challengers. 67% The portion of Republican primary voters who chose Abbott in March. He now heads for a November showdown against Democrat Beto O’Rourke, in which Abbott is heavily favored. 49 O’Rourke’s age and the ordinal number he’d occupy in the history of Texas governors. Unrelatedly, 49 is also the percent of the vote that incumbent state House member Stephanie Klick, R-Fort Worth, drew in the March primary. Klick, who is anti-abortion, will face off in a May runoff against David Lowe, a man who is even more anti-abortion. ONE HALF…

Nina Perales has been a civil rights attorney in Texas for 26 years, during which she has litigated two landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases against the state’s efforts to disenfranchise Latino voters through redistricting. She currently oversees several voting-rights lawsuits across the nation, challenging voter suppression as vice president of litigation at the ​ Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), a nonprofit founded in San Antonio in 1968. MALDEF recently filed two challenges against the state’s new gerrymandered electoral maps, which were redrawn last year, and against Senate Bill 1—the omnibus anti-voting law that caused headaches during early voting in February. In the suits, MALDEF is alleging discrimination against constitutionally protected classes, including Latinos and disabled voters. Perales, who moved to Texas from the East Coast in the…

EL PASO The Desoto Hotel, an allegedly haunted building constructed in El Paso in 1905, has gone up in flames. Weekly ghost tours were held, and the place has been featured on TV shows concerning paranormal events, KISS FM reports. Facebook commenters said the fire’s flames looked like a skull; some went so far as to say they resembled serial killer Richard Ramirez, who had previously stayed at the hotel. No one was hurt in the fire; a cause has not yet been determined. LUBBOCK The owner of a locally renowned car wants the public to pay for it to be repaired, KLBK reports. The black Lincoln Town Car is adorned with a decal reading “Cocaine and Hookers” and for that simple reason has become something of a Lubbock institution. A…