In Texas, Daniel Perry—a white man—posted "he might kill a few people," drove his car past a red light & into a previously peaceful BLM march, shot & killed a protestor, was duly charged, unanimously convicted—& TX Gov Abbott is pardoning him.😳
Texas is announcing to the world that in their view, murdering people for exercising their First Amendment right to peacefully protesting racism is OK.
This isn't democracy. It's fascism. This sets a literally deadly precedent for the future.
The dangerous reality in any democracy is that the end result of apathy or ignorance is exactly the same as unlimited tolerance. If you do nothing while bad actors work to destroy your democracy—no matter how perfectly designed or implemented—then eventually enough checks and balances will be circumvented and you’ll wake up to find you’re living in a fascist, authoritarian, oligarchic state.
Excusing the people of Texas by observing that gerrymanders, suppression and corrupt judiciary make it very hard NOW to alter the situation conveniently ignores the slow but reversible erosion that led up to the current situation.
Fascists rely on and encourage apathy and ignorance, not good will and tolerance, and the only remedy is active resistance.
Otherwise they’ll always win.
Qasim Rashid, Esq.
Peter Barnes
Lilly Hunter