Fourth of July —It’s Our Fight For Freedom

Tomorrow, we celebrate another Fourth of July. The fight for freedom in our nation however, did not end at Lexington and Concord nor did it end at Shiloh or Gettysburg.

Slavery, Lynchings, Water Hoses, Attack Dogs, Beatings, Bombings and Murders was the price that Black America had to pay for civil rights and the right to vote.

Now, Republicans in Texas and across our nation, want to once again take us back to the old days of counting the number of bubbles in a bar of soap, the number of beans in a jar and having to pay poll taxes to vote.

Just a few days ago the United States Supreme Court made it even harder to fight voter suppression by Republican state legislators.

A few weeks earlier Texas State House Democrats became the first Democrats, in our nation, to defeat a Republican voter suppression bill by walking out of the legislature and breaking the House quorum. Governor Abbott has now called a special legislative session that will begin on July 8th to once again try and pass the Republican voter suppression bill.

Some Democrats are now saying that it is too much of a burden for State House Democrats to leave the state and not go back to Austin to keep Republicans from passing their voter suppression bill. Some Democrats are also saying why fight because it is inevitable that Republicans will eventually pass their voter suppression bill before the general election in November 2022.

It’s hard for me to understand or accept that kind of defeatist attitude. To win, Democrats have to try. We have to stand united and fight back for as long as it takes. Freedom ain’t free and has always required sacrifice. If all Texas Democrats are no longer willing to sacrifice and fight together for the right to vote, what else really matters?

Leaving Texas does not require the same kind of sacrifice that was made by those who marched in the 1960s or sat at lunch counters or made Freedom Rides for civil rights and voting rights.

Texas Democrats, This Is Now Our Fight for Freedom.

State House Democrats must not go back to Austin on July 8th. They need to leave the state for as long as it takes to defeat the Republican voter suppression bill.

I am confident that Democrats, in Texas and across America, will donate to help State House Democrats and their staff with the finances they need to make this fight for as long as it takes. The Texas Democratic Party needs to start raining money now for this fight. Labor and the DNC must help supplement unemployment benefits for the state employees Governor Abbott has illegally fired.

If Democrats are unwilling to make this fight to defeat voter suppression in Texas, we are unlikely to hold on to our majority in Congress or win back the State House in Texas in 2022. If we don’t continue to fight for Black, Hispanic, young and low-income voters, how can we expect them to stand up and vote for us?

This is now our 1776 and time for our Democratic Declaration of Emancipation. This is our modern fight for freedom.

Let’s make the fight and win. Leave Texas or leave office so that we can break the quorum and break the back of Republicans push for voter suppression here in Texas.

As we celebrate the Fourth, let’s continue the historic fight for freedom.

God Bless Texas and America.

You can help make a difference in Texas right now. Donate today to The Texas Black Democrats PAC. Donate here >>>

Thank you and God Bless Houston. For constructive dialogue, you may contact me directly >>>

Hon. Robinson is the former Chairman, City of Houston Transportation, Technology and Infrastructure Committee; Former Vice Chairman, Houston-Galveston Area Council Transportation Policy Council (H-GAC TPC) and Associate Professor of Public Administration, Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs, Texas Southern University.