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Update 6/1:
Protests over police violence took place Sunday despite the formal cancellation of the event. Protesters shut down I-35, and police used tear gas and rubber bullets.
Late in the afternoon, Michael Ramos' mother, Brenda, spoke at a press conference outside her apartment complex.
"Why is Officer [Christopher] Taylor still drawing a paycheck from us, the citizens of Austin?" she asked, pulling down her mask so she could speak. "Why are we paying his salary when he murdered my son over a month ago and he murdered someone else's son over 10 months ago? Why isn't he in jail?"
5/31:
Despite the formal cancelation of Sunday's protest at the Texas State Capitol, hundreds of people gathered along 11th Street and marched to Austin City Hall and back. Some shut down I-35 for the second day in a row, and Austin police used tear gas and beanbag rounds in an effort to move people off the roadway.
Tear gas and rubber bullets get shot to disperse crowd from highway. https://t.co/ffchePzSKV— Thee Environmental Reportréss (@Thee Environmental Reportréss) 1590959385.0
The police form a line on Cesar Chavez, stopping demonstrators marching from City Hall.s3.amazonaws.com
Police allow protestors to turn north on San Antonio toward Republic Square.s3.amazonaws.com
Update 5/31 11:21 a.m.:
Chas Moore, executive director of the Austin Justice Coalition, announced on Facebook live that the organization would cancel the protest planned for Sunday at the Texas State Capitol.
"We are supposed to be out demonstrating, peacefully protesting the need for safety and for freedom and liberation for black people," Moore said. "And when I look at what's going on in Austin, when I look at the mess that happened last night, I look at white people burning stuff up in the name of Black Lives Matter and there's little to no black lives at these events."
Police used rubber bullets and pepper spray during Saturday's protest, which ended with reports of fires and looting. Nineteen people were arrested, the Austin American-Statesman reports.
Demonstrations took place on Friday night and Saturday in several major Texas cities as well as across the U.S.
Gov. Greg Abbott declared a state of emergency on Sunday in response to the protests.
Update 5/31 11:10 a.m.
Another protest is planned for the Texas State Capitol grounds on Sunday, with organizers calling for peaceful demonstrations.
Planned protests yesterday ended in clashes between police and protesters as well as reports of fires and looting.
Austin Police Department officers will be working 12-hour shifts for the indefinite future, the CBS Austin reports, and all have been called into work.
Mayor Steve Adler said in an emailed statement sent Sunday morning that he would not attend the protest. "I want to stand with others to recognize that only a 'just' city is a safe one," he wrote. "I also know that especially large gatherings still present great risk of spreading the virus in ways that would be hard to tract, isolate and control."
Update 5/30 11:28 p.m.
Fires and looting were reported on socialmedia and in newsoutlets downtown Saturday night after a long day of protest in Austin and around the state.
Target said it would temporarily close some stores nationwide, including at least three in Austin.
Update 5/30 6:33 p.m.: Police and protesters clashed on Saturday as a demonstration against the killings of George Floyd and Michael Ramos wore on, according to reports.
The protest wound around the city over the course of the day, with demonstrators blocking I-35 at times and police using rubber bullets and pepper spray.
Original: Protesters in downtown Austin blocked traffic on I-35 in a demonstration over the killings of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer and Michael Ramos by Austin police last month.
The protest started with hundreds outside the Austin police headquarters, moved to the highway and grew even larger as it made its way to the Texas State Capitol.
#austin #MikeRamos Hundreds more protestors coming from the west on 8th street. https://t.co/RojNptRldx— austonia (@austonia) 1590864321.0
#austin #MikeRamos Clearing damp w horses https://t.co/YmGcau2ut2— austonia (@austonia) 1590863203.0
Crowd@moving south I35 both lanes. Southbound lane clear of cars Northbound cars slowly moving https://t.co/SPk0TRudTl— austonia (@austonia) 1590861555.0
It is not the first protest of the weekend, nor will it be the last.
Police in Austin made several arrests at a protest that took place last night and early this morning outside Austin Police Department headquarters downtown, KXAN reports.
Protests also took place in cities around Texas, the Texas Tribune reports, as well as in more than 30 cities around the U.S.
Gov. Greg Abbott, who yesterday said the Floyd killing was "horrific" and "a consequence of poor police work," announced today he had spoke to the mayors of major cities in Texas—including Austin—and had "sent state resources" to help manage protests.
Another protest is planned tomorrow at the Texas State Capitol.
Travis County District Attorney Margaret Moore announced last night that the office will convene a special grand jury to consider the Ramos case.
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Popular
(Paxton Smith/Instagram)
Paxton Smith’s 2021 valedictory speech at Lake Highlands High School in Dallas wasn’t the same speech she had previously shared with school administrators. She dropped the approved speech and made a case for women’s reproductive rights after lawmakers passed the Texas "Heartbeat Bill.”
Her advocacy made news on NPR, YouTubeTV and in The Guardian. Just over a year later, the “war on (women’s) rights” she forewarned has come to a head as the U.S. Supreme Court voted Friday morning to overturn Roe v. Wade, ending constitutional protection for abortion access.
“It is up to the people to show up and show the courts and the politicians that we won’t sit back and let this happen,” Smith told Austonia Friday morning. “We will show up, we will fight back. Before, we were scared of them, now they should be scared of us.”
Now a University of Texas sophomore and abortion rights activist, 19-year-old Smith said she wanted to give the same speech in the “the most public way possible” to reach “as many people as possible who don't agree that I deserve this right.”
However, she says the response was “actually overwhelmingly positive” and supportive of her cause. According to a recent UT poll, 78% of Texas voters support abortion access in most cases.
The speech opened up further opportunities for activism: she advocated for reproductive rights at the International Forum on Human Rights in Geneva, interviewed with Variety magazine and spoke to tens of thousands at Austin’s Bans Off Our Bodies protest at the Texas Capitol in May.
Smith also serves on the board of directors for the Women’s Reproductive Rights Assistance Project, a national nonprofit organization that helps fund abortions or medication abortion—like Plan C pills—in all 50 states. Most recently, Smith has been attending protests in Washington, D.C. leading up to the ruling.
“This is land of the free. This is where you get to choose how you live your life,” Smith said. “Overturning Roe v. Wade violates everything that we have come to believe about what it means to live in this country. I think a lot of people aren't willing to accept that this is a human right that is most likely just going to be gone for over half of the country within the next couple of weeks.”
Bracing for the next steps, Smith gave some tips for supporters:
- Find a protest to attend.
- “I would say invite somebody to go to those protests with you, invite a couple of friends, invite people into the movement,” Smith said.
- Talk about the issue on social media—use the platform you have.
- “Have these kinds of conversations where people can just talk about their fears and then find ways to go and advocate for yourself,” Smith said.
- Volunteer at a nonprofit near you.
“I feel like a lot of the reason things have gotten as bad as they have within the abortion rights world is that people are not making a scene, not protesting, not putting the effort into ensuring that the government doesn't take away this right,” Smith said. “I want to emphasize that if you're not doing anything, don't expect the best scenario, expect the worst because that's the direction that we're going in.”
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(Council Member Chito Vela/Twitter)
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that guaranteed a constitutional right to an abortion, Friday morning. Moments later, Austin City Council set a special meeting for next month to pass a resolution aimed at decriminalizing abortion.
The GRACE Act, which stands for guarding the right to abortion care for everyone, is a twofold plan submitted by council member Jose “Chito” Vela. It recommends that city funds shouldn’t be used to surveil, catalog, report or investigate abortions. It also recommends that police make investigating abortion their lowest priority.
Council Member Vanessa Fuentes, who co-sponsored the resolution along with council members Paige Ellis, Kathie Tovo and Mayor Steve Adler, said the importance of the GRACE Act cannot be overstated.
“By introducing this resolution during a special session, City Council is doubling down on fighting back for reproductive health,” Fuentes said. “Items like the GRACE Act will promote essential healthcare while enabling individuals to exercise their bodily freedom.”
The act takes an approach similar to when former council member Greg Casar moved to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana. Ultimately, state law doesn't allow city officials to order police chiefs to adopt specific enforcement policies so the resolution would be a request to Police Chief Joe Chacon. In May, Politico reported that Vela is having "ongoing conversations" with Chacon about the proposal.
Austonia contacted Attorney General Ken Paxton for comment on the GRACE Act but did not hear back by time of publication. On Friday, Paxton celebrated the overturning of Roe and announced an annual office holiday on June 24 in recognition of the high court's decision.
In a press release, Vela said the Texas state government has a history of overturning municipal protections of human rights. Thirty days after the Supreme Court’s ruling, Texas will ban all abortions, with exceptions only to save the life of a pregnant patient or prevent “substantial impairment of major bodily function.”
Still, Vela expressed hope for the GRACE Act’s longevity. Council’s special meeting on it is set for the week of July 18.
“We know this resolution is legally sound, and Austin is not alone in this fight,” Vela said. “We are working with several other cities who are equally horrified by the prospect of an abortion ban and want to do everything they can to protect their residents.”
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