Texas Senate passed uh the maps. Uh nine of the 11 Democrats Senate Democrats walked out uh and this is the video of them walking out single file line as they voted. As I said uh two uh hung back. One of those folks who walked out is uh Texas State Senator Boris Miles. He’s one of two African-Americans in the state senate there uh in Texas.
And um he joins us right now. But before I do, I want to play this here because uh uh this was in one of the hearings and he really cut to the chase about what’s going on in Texas.
Uh and and he said this directly uh to these white conservatives in their face. Listen, and let me say this. packing black folks into one district and reducing their ability to have representation from two to one and then hiding behind the premises, we are keeping Barbara Jordan seat attack intact.
And if you’re doing this doing us a favor, this is disrespectful. It’s very much disingenuous and point blank low down. think that minority communities can take. If you think that minority communities must take and what we can get is discriminatory, you do not have to call someone a racist slur to be a racist.
Mr.
Chairman and members, sitting back participating in an August process, in an inherently discriminatory process, disenfranchising black and brown people is racist in all parts. For those of us watching this from out out of state, just know as Texas goes, the country’s going to go. Texas may be the first to be redid redistric or redistricked, but your state is next. Now is Senator Boris M. Glad to have my fat brother here.
How you doing, Doc? What’s going on, brother Martin? you know, uh, first of all, you called it like you need to call it. They they it is racist what they’re doing. These are racist gerrymandered maps.
They specifically are targeting, uh, black folks, targeting, uh, Latino and and here’s what I I played that interview with Will Kaine and and here what is so amazing with these idiots, he wants to talk about, oh, how the state has changed and they don’t and how they don’t agree with your politics. And as I said, wait a minute. Harris County blue, Dallas County blue, Bear County blue, Travis County blue. And where are the seats they targeting? Harris County, Dallas County, Travis County, Bear County.
So those counties where those congressional districts are, they are not aligned politically with Donald Trump. But the Republicans want to force those districts to actually be Republican. And not to mention, brother Martin, not to mention the population of Texas has grown in the minorities, African-American and Hispanic. So if that be the case, shouldn’t we have more representation and not less representation? Well, you had you had Greg Abbott who goes on the Fox to say, “Oh no, we’re creating five Hispanic districts.
” Uh, Brother Martin, I think all of your listeners understand what the hell is going on here in Texas. Okay? It is not I don’t call it redistricting. I’ve coined it rigged districtricing.
It’s rigged districtricting to keep Donald Trump and his administration in office being carried out by the Texas governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general.
That is rigged districting and is racist to the to the ultimate factor. Explain to the audience because I I read one story that said if all 11 of you had walked out, they could not have passed the bill. Why? Why? Explain.
Did Why did two stay back? Explain that. You know, you you we had to have two there to call the questions and ask the questions. You know, two of our senior members had decided, you know, and we don’t judge. We don’t we don’t harm them.
We don’t, you know, harass them. I respect their decisions, but we did have to have two of our Democratic members sit there to call the question. Explain that. What does that mean to the regular person? Somebody from the Democratic party had to be there.
But if all of 11 of y’all had walked out, they could not have passed the bill. That is correct. But all 11 of us was not going to walk out. If all 11 of us walked out, we probably could have stopped and had a a quorum break. But all 11 of us was choose chose not to walk out.
And those two that did not walk out, we have to respect their their position. Now, my now my understanding that one of those two was the same one who broke the quorum last time. So I can’t speak to that. I wasn’t around on the last for quum, brother Martin. Okay.
So I mean, so this is the question that the public asked. Man, if if Democrats listen, you know you’re going to lose. I mean, like, you literally know you’re going to lose. So if you have an opportunity to stop from losing, why not stop from losing? Again, brother Martin, I respect the two who made the decision and I can’t speak to the last walk out because I was not part of that.
All I can do is show leadership and what I have done and walking out and not taking the vote. And even in the committee hearing, I didn’t take the vote. Um, I had one of the house reps on last week and he said, “Eventually we’re going to have to go back and fight this out.” And I I’m looking at him going, “You’re going to lose.” I mean, we know what happened the previous time.
And my argument to him was, “Hey, if you have to sit out for four months, why not?” because we know because we we already laid out what’s going to happen if they pass this map. The filing deadline is in December. The Supreme Court is not going to rule that fast. So, they’re going to lock these maps in for the 2026 midterm elections.
So, Republicans will gain five seats. Lawsuits will be filed. this case may not be adjudicated even until the 2028 midterm elections, which means that even if they rule against Texas on this, they may have these five seats for the next two um uh elections or the next four years. So in your mind, should in your do you believe the Democrats should say on the House side be steadfast and say, “Hey, hold out as long as possible to keep these maps from being passed.” And and if that means waiting until December, so be it.
Because if you go back, they’re going to pass it in three minutes. Brother Martin, it’s easy to say in my mind what I would do. Yes. Okay. But you got to understand these are individuals who have been, you know, who are being threatened by the loss of their their their pensions, $500 day fines.
They had away from their families. It’s very tough to say. Now, if you’re asking me, would I stay out for 40 days? If at all possible, I could. I would, cuz I do understand the ramifications of what’s going to happen when these bills are passed.
I do understand how this is going to affect not just Texas, but all the states across this country. I do understand the longl lasting effect this is going to have, but it’s just not that easy, brother Martin. Trust me. No, no, no. I I understand it’s it’s not easy.
And I want you to know I want to say this. I support I fully support all the time that my my colleagues in the state house have spent out in whatever decision they make.
But if it were me, I would love to have been able to stay out for the 40 days. Yes, of course. Yeah.
I mean, it absolutely is not easy. Of course, not easy at all. It is is a tremendous sacrifice. Uh but the end result the end results are going to be disastrous for just not just for Texas but for the entire country and they’re going to be long lasting as we all understand. Absolutely.
This is the map that was passed uh by the Texas Senate. Uh I don’t know if you could see it uh but but but explain explain to folk.
Okay. You can’t see on your end but I can’t see. I got it.
Okay. Not a problem. I can tell you this. I haven’t heard you say right. This was a direct demand from the DOJ to focus on five minority districts.
Five minority districts. Three of which in Harris County, two in Dallas. Three of which are actually in or partially in Senate District 13. This is a direct ro hostile attack on African-Americans. You should also know this, brother Martin, and you know this.
For the last 25 years, Texas has attempted to suppress black votes in Texas. And they’ve lost at every turn in legal battles. This is just another way of trying to suppress African-American and some minority and some his some brown votes in Texas. Okay. This is this is a natural progression that always historically has gone through with Texas as it relates to African-American voting.
Now, what I always say and what my response is and what my response this morning was, they don’t understand, they are doing nothing but kicking the bear cuz these these antics, these embarrassing, you know, this this this all these tactics will do nothing but hopefully wake up our people because it’s time to rise.
It’s time to get in reality, okay? And it’s time to stand up and understand what’s going on. The um when we talk about what’s happening here and and I I did an interview earlier today and and I was asked how do we respond and I said very simply Texas has more African-American eligible voters than any state in the country. That’s right.
When Betto Ror ran against Greg Abbott, 75% of people 30 and under did not vote. It’s correct. And the way to and I said the only way to defeat these heathens is you have to outvote them.
The numbers are there, which means the state has to be organized and mobilized. Is that happening?
Is the Texas Democratic Party are black organizations, grassroots groups, are you seeing folk do that? Because it’s one thing for people to say, “Hey, state senate, black caucus in the house, man, y’all keep the good fight, but you got to have folk vote. They they can be beaten at the ballot box.” And the answer to your question is yes. You know, fortunately, I am starting to see organizations, the churches, the the Divine Nine, all black organizations calling on us, asking what it is that we can do to help.
Now, may it be a little bit too late. That’s to be determined. But I can guarantee you, we will start preparing for the future.
Okay? And as I’ve told in every every in front of every camera that I’ve gotten into, do not let them win by rocking us to sleep.
This should be the wakeup call for black Texans and for black America. This should be the wakeup call as they try to run the hands of time backwards on us. This should be the call as they try to suppress and pack all of us into one or two districts. This should be the call, brother Martin, that we wake up and we rise up and we start to understand from our elderly to our young folks and get everybody registered.
Not one of us has to go to the polls.
We have to go in in gangs, in families, in church bands. And don’t and don’t misunderstand me. This is the time. This is our Edis Pman Bridge moment. As I coined that from from from Congressman Al Green.
This is the moment we have to stand up. If not now, then when? If not who, then then if not us, then who? Questions for my panel. Uh Joe, you first.
Senator, thanks for everything that you’re doing and just kind of building on what uh has been said here is that this should absolutely be the wakeup call, the Pettis Bridge moment, etc. But I wonder, do you feel in here like it is that moment? Does it feel different in terms of how people are responding to it? Are people really connecting and really understanding that really what we’re trying to do is chase something down that’s been going ary for a long time.
They’ve been, you know, making less voting spots for a long time in Harris County.
They’ve been doing a lot and this is a culmination. Does it feel different like maybe people are really getting it and will embrace the urgency the way that they need to? I feel that this moment right now is the probably the best I felt as since I’ve been serving in 20 years. And brother, in 20 years, my motto has always been as brother Martin knows, keep keep our faith and keep our fight. This moment is the most uh u exciting and and um um exciting moment that I felt that we have we have had in 20 years.
And we’re doing everything we can to keep this moment going and growing faster. I get calls every day from different organizations, brother Martin, from different people, from just brothers on the street.
What can I do? What can I do? But it’s unfortunately because they have thought this through, because they have the numbers, because this is what I call the rigged redistricting, okay?
And they have all the players in place from the governor to lieutenant governor to the attorney general and to the speaker of the house in Texas. And they’ve got the numbers. They’ve got the pure sheer numbers in Texas. I think that we may have to to to we’re not gonna stop until it’s over. Please believe that family.
Please believe we’re not going to stop until it’s over. But the answer to your question is this is the most exciting time that I felt in 20 years.
As a Democratic party getting together, we’ve got to You mentioned Telerico. He’s a bright in the future of Texas. We’ve got a quite a few.
Our our chairwoman, Carol, uh um um you know, we’re we’re working hard. Royce West, as you know, and we’re all working hard in the Democratic uh Senate chambers as well as in the House to get this right on track to to to to make sure that this is, you know, we rise to the top at this at this moment. But it’s difficult. It’s difficult, Brother Martin, because they’ve been preparing for this moment much longer than we have.
Randy, uh Senator Miles, thank you for being here.
I I you know when I talk to people all of the time the feedback I’m getting is they want to resist they want to fight back and of course we know we need to vote but what can we do now? You hear people talking about we’re not going to buy beef because that will uh create some stress and people I don’t what can people do because I think people are desperate for information can resist and fight back right now. Again, unfortunately, I don’t have the answer for what it is they can do now. They took the vote today. Nine of the 11 Senate Democrats walked out.
The House, my House brothers and sisters have have had it held up for, as you know, a couple of weeks now. It’s my understanding that the speaker of the house is going to go ahead and sudden die on Friday, meaning that they’re going to end this session and the governor is going to call us right back the same day.
I don’t know how long my my colleagues in the house can can hold out. I can tell you that I’m going tomorrow to support them and try to lift them up in Chicago. You know, if they can if they can go another session, that’s up to them.
But to answer your question right now, sisters, is what can we do now? You know, I don’t have that answer. I know what I can do as one of the two black senators in the House in the Senate chambers. I cannot take that vote. I will not be a part of this sham.
I will not be a part of them trying to suppress our black vote and steal our democracy from us. Thank you, Mustafa. Yeah. Well, brother, Senator Miles, thank you for everything you do. Um, you know, I think we often when we have these political conversations and people talk about someone’s vote being taken away or being suppressed, those types of things, they often don’t take the conversation further of what is it that black and brown folks are going to lose um, if this takes place.
Could you sort of just share with folks basically what is it that folks are going to lose? More importantly than anything else, we’re going to lose our voices. We’re going to lose justice. When I say our voices, I mean they’re going to take from having two black congressional members in Harris County down to one. They’re going to pack us all into uh Congressional District 18.
We’re going to lose some of our economic bases in our in our in our communities because they’re going to vote to strip those out. That’s important. But what cannot hold on Senator Miles, but explain to people they literally are shifting major companies out of these um black uh Democratic congressional seats and moving them to Republican seats. That’s what you’re talking about when you talk about the economics. That economic basis, not not just companies, our educational institutions, our universities, brother Martin, those are important.
our health care centers when they control the dollars that flow into those communities that affects our economic basis.
When they can control everything we all know on this on this line is controlled by the dollar bill. When they can control our dollar bills and which way they flow, those things control our communities. That’s what I mean by economic basis. Absolutely, Senator Miles.
Go ahead. And those things are important. you know, we’ve worked long and hard to to to improve our communities, you know, um and and to to put the the uh resources that we need, the grocery stores, thearmacies, all the type of things, the healthc care uh uh facilities. We’ve worked hard to make sure that we’ve worked over the years to get those in our communities. Now, to come and strip them out and leave us barren and let us have food desert, healthc care deserts, that’s going to hurt our communities as we know them.
And don’t add the fact that now now I’m going to touch some souls right here that we’re getting ready to have, you know, vouchers.
Okay? When you have vouchers in black communities, that deteriorates our school our our school bases. When you deteriorate our our public school bases, that deteriorates our communities. We’re proud of our high schools and our communities.
We’re proud of our schools and our communities. So everything that you see the Republicans doing right now, they’re all that all this is to reverse the hands of time backwards on African-Americans and Latinos. Absolutely. Senator Bars Miles, keep up the good fight. We appreciate it.
I appreciate you, brother. What you doing? Congratulations to your your uh your your counselor. Thank you, brother. Thanks a bunch.
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