Calling IN Austin voters
Today is 977 days since Ahmaud Arbery was pursued and murdered while on a run in Georgia.
It’s been 958 days since Breonna Taylor was killed in her own home in Louisville when seven police officers falsified information to enter her home.
It’s been 885 days George Floyd’s police-led death was recorded in Minneapolis leading to Black Lives Matter protests around the world.
How long has it been since you said Black Lives Matter? How long since you protested or marched? How long since you demanded justice? How long since you practiced anti-racism? How long since you actively did something to end systemic racism?
If there is anything I’m disappointed by in the last couple years since the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, it’s the lack of follow through.
Sure, folks posted black squares and talked to their Black friend(s) and started watching films and TV shows with Black actors and re-posting Instagram stories from Black celebrities, but where’s the follow through?
I am a progressive and support the hell out of Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg and Gavin Newsom and John Fetterman and Beto O’Rourke. I am excited to see Mike Collier be the next Lt. Governor of Texas and on down the line with Democrats running for statewide office here in Texas.
But where are the Black candidates for office and where is your support?
Stacey Abrams is arguably the most important politician in America today and she’s still in an uphill battle to become the next Governor of Georgia, even after securing two US Senators in the Southern state. What have you done to thank her for her commitment not only to her home state but to our democracy?
Gary Chambers is a hard-charging progressive with a clear track record of focus on justice and equity yet he remains somewhat unlikely to unseat Republican John Kennedy in the US Senate. Still, I donated again and again. But did you?
The fact that Kirk Watson is the front runner isn’t all that surprising. Austin has almost always had a white man as mayor going back decades with the sole exceptions being when Carole Keeton McClellan (formerly) was mayor from 1977-83 and Gus García, served as mayor from 2001-03 when Watson cut his second term as mayor short to run for state office.
As for my election, for City Council’s District 9 seat, I’m honestly a bit confused by what I’ve seen from institutional organizations and local media who describe themselves as progressives in many ways.
Black Austin Democrats endorsed Linda Guerrero despite my clear track record of being in rooms many of us have been kept from, and making access for others like me to enter those very rooms, from nonprofit board rooms to getting checks from tech investors to speaking out with local and national media ranging from NPR to the Austin Business Journal. The Austin EMS Association endorsed the candidate who is least likely to address Austin’s housing affordability crisis - which is disproportionately impacting Black residents and communities - even as they seek, much-deserved, higher wages to offset increases in housing costs that have negatively impacted their staffing levels. When given an opportunity to endorse a candidate who lives the very lifestyle of arts, culture, live music, restaurants and city life that Austin Chronicle writes about each week, they instead endorsed Guerrero - possibly the least pro-housing candidate in the D9 field that includes a Republican - and a white man who grew up middle class by any historical marker except when compared to affluent West Austinites. Objectively, Guerrero has a long track record of board and community service which is very admirable and Leffler has relevant experience from working for the City of Austin nearly a decade ago, but it’s clear neither played meaningful roles in this community’s response to the aforementioned deaths or Black Lives Matter movement.
So what's odd about a country that elects Joe Biden and champions Pete Buttigieg more than Stacey Abrams, a state that put not one Black person on the statewide ballot and a city that is likely to have another white male mayor is that even when you drill down to the hyper-local district level, you're seeing a tendency to do the same: minimize the essential role Black lives play not only in America, but in American politics. We are deemed as a nice to have and only made essential when the votes are being tallied on Election Night.
So maybe I shouldn’t be asking when did you last care to re-affirm that Black lives matter, but whether this is even something Austin is capable of sustaining? Maybe 977 days or 958 days or 885 days is one or 30 or 365 too many to still care. Is this a city that rides the wave of progressivism when it's trendy to maintain its perception as a “weird” city then shirk its responsibilities when elections come around?
Asking for a friend.