Texas Republicans have done what red state Republicans might expect, and it has been a success. The 11th HourBrian Williams was very worried. Williams expressed concern that the “Texas brand” would spread to other states on Friday’s MSNBC show, much like Jim Crow.
Williams made his point by starting with a Charles Blow article from the New York Times “‘when Jim Crow was originally established, it spread from state to state like a contagion. Each subsequent state taking lessons from the ones before it. Mississippi was one of the states at the vanguard of the first Jim Crow. Texas may well be at the vanguard of the next.'”
Addressing University of Texas Prof. Victoria DeFrancesco Soto, Williams described this new and alleged Jim Crow as “the Texas brand” where the state is “Making it tougher to vote, making it tougher to get an abortion, no mask, no problem, no vaccine, no problem. If you want to carry a gun, that’s perfectly okay with us.”
You can find the NYTWilliams’ article. Blow condemns Texas for considering a bill requiring athletes to face off against their own sexuality. With all that as context, Williams asked DeFrancesco Soto, “Is there any indication this is going to be Texas’ leading export to other red states?”
DeFrancesco Soto agreed other states may look to Texas for inspiration, because that is how federalism works, “But in this case, to your point, Brian, we’re seeing states being laboratories of curtailing democratic rights, small-D democratic rights, which is so troubling.”
She then added another thing to Williams’ list of grievances against Texas:
…throughout the whole plight of voter integrity bills or voter restriction, I was never losing sight of redistricting because this really truly scared me, because even in an ideal world where we didn’t have voter restrictions, where we were able to knock them down, I always knew that once we came into session and to draw the maps that Latinos, African-Americans, communities of color were going to be drawn out. This is just one example. In Texas the growth that we saw Texas, 95% of that growth was fueled by communities of color. The latest maps that have approved by the Texas State Senate did not add one district of a majority-minority. Instead of that what we’ve seen is the practice of cracking.
Cracking is one form of gerrymandering that the media doesn’t consider a threat to democracy unless it is done by Republicans.
Volvo sponsored this segment.
This transcript covers the Oct 15th show.
MSNBC
The 11ThBrian Williams: Hour With Brian
11:00 PM ET
BRIAN WILLIAMS: To that end, Charles Blow had this to say about Texas in his latest piece in the New York Times and we quote, “when Jim Crow was originally established, it spread from state to state like a contagion. Each subsequent state taking lessons from the ones before it. Mississippi was one of the states at the vanguard of the first Jim Crow. Texas may well be at the vanguard of the next.”
Bill Kristol, Professor Victoria DeFrancesco Soto, and indeed Professor Victoria DeFrancesco Soto remain with us. Professor, sadly in all the right ways because you’re joining us from Texas and educating young minds there. We get to start this segment with you. So, we’ve all become familiar with the Texas brand these days. Making it tougher to vote, making it tougher to get an abortion, no mask, no problem, no vaccine, no problem. If you want to carry a gun, that’s perfectly okay with us. Is there any indication this is going to be Texas’ leading export to other red states?
VICTORIA DEFRANCESCO OTO: Absolutely. And we have seen it for hundreds of years, that state contagion that Charles Blow talked about. For better or for worse, states are laboratories of democracy, right? So, this is where you can fiddle with new policy, try it out and other states are going to pick it up. But in this case, to your point, Brian, we’re seeing states being laboratories of curtailing democratic rights, small-D democratic rights, which is so troubling. And one of the things that Representative Sheila Jackson Lee mentioned in her clip was the issue of redistricting. And throughout the whole plight of voter integrity bills or voter restriction, I was never losing sight of redistricting because this really truly scared me, because even in an ideal world where we didn’t have voter restrictions, where we were able to knock them down, I always knew that once we came into session and to draw the maps that Latinos, African-Americans, communities of color were going to be drawn out. This is just one example. In Texas the growth that we saw Texas, 95% of that growth was fueled by communities of color. The latest maps that have approved by the Texas State Senate did not add one district of a majority-minority. Instead of that what we’ve seen is the practice of cracking. Where we’ve seen, in the suburbs of Dallas a Latino entity and an Asian entity being cracked. So, this is what truly worries me, that even if you have the right to vote, and we know that’s being curtailed, that you aren’t going to have a community of interest to really have that translated and to me, this is what’s so worrisome because it sticks at least for the next ten years.
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