Dems Should Not Romanticize What's Happening To Nicole Collier
Op-Ed: Democrats Should Not Romanticize What’s Happening To Nicole Collier In Texas
Much as I believe that Texas State Representative Nicole Collier’s story warrants front-page news treatment in every major American newspaper and wall-to-wall coverage across cable news and other news media, I’m already growing weary of some of the lessons being taken away by select national Democrats and of her growing number of supporters.
Collier is one of the more than 50 other Texas Democratic legislators who fled the state earlier this month to break quorum and thwart Republican efforts, at the behest of President Donald Trump, to draw new congressional maps that would create five additional GOP seats ahead of the midterm elections next year.
This effort, as I noted earlier this month on NewsOne, is racist as hell and not at all shy about its designs to dilute the power of Black and Latino voters to maintain power for an unpopular president who increasingly talks as if he plans to die in office rather than at the end of his second term.
Those Republicans have since launched a new special session to move forward with their plans, and returning Democrats like Collier were informed by House Speaker Dustin Burrows on Monday that they would not be allowed to leave the chambers without signing a document promising to be present when the House reconvenes on Wednesday.
Well, not only pledge to be present, but to agree to 24-hour police surveillance to guarantee compliance.
“Members who have not been present until today for whom arrest warrants were issued will be granted written permission to leave only after agreeing to be released into the custody of a designated DPS officer appointment,” Burrows explained.
Although many of these Texas Democrats called the policy an “unnecessary use of state funds,” only a handful of them actually refused to sign the ridiculous order – most notably Collier, who, after being detained against her will, has remained inside the chambers, drawing national attention for her efforts.
When asked by Fox’s Austin affiliate why she didn’t sign her rights away to the state, she explained: “I refused to sign. I will not agree to be in DPS custody. I am not a criminal. I am exercising my right to resist and oppose the decisions of our government. So, this is my form of protest.”
In another interview with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, Collier spoke just as plainly about Trump’s involvement and true aim with the Texas redistricting plan, saying, “I’ve had enough.”
“I’m not going to be part of a process that gives him more reinforcement to harm my community and my people. I will not allow you to put my people down without a fight,” Collier added.
Understandably, this has caused Collier to gain notoriety, and in the immediate hours after her false imprisonment at the state capitol, praise from the best-known Democrats like former Vice President Kamala Harris, who called Collier and told her, “You are those who history will reveal to have been heroes of this moment.”
Additionally, Harris wrote to Collier on X: “Nicole, we are all in that chamber with you. Thank you to you and all the Texas Democrats who are standing up for the people.”
Separately, Senator Cory Booker posted: “Texas House Democrats, especially Rep. Nicole Collier, are showing us the power we all have to stand up for the rights of every single American.”
And the Sunrise Movement argued: “This is what leadership against fascism looks like. Hope Chuck Schumer is taking notes.”
Now, Collier has already publicly embraced remarks by Harris, but I must say, as nice a sentiment as it sounds to say “we are all in that chamber with you,” we are not in fact all with her.
Fortunately, some of Collier’s legislative colleagues – mainly women, notably – have since pledged to rip up their previously signed permission slips and stand by Collier in the chambers.
And there have been everyday Texans showing up outside the chambers to cheer Collier and others on for what they are doing.
Still, I have to ask: where the hell is the rest of the Democratic Party?
Why are they not all down there making a bigger fuss about all this?
I support Collier and agree that she is being courageous in the face of authoritarianism, but I don’t like the idea of what’s happening to her being flipped into another story about “resistance.”
I’m not usually the type to quote former Biden Press Secretary turned cable news host Jen Psaki, but she’s right when she says: “Just to be clear, Texas State Rep. Nicole Collier is not holding some kind of sit-in protest. She is literally locked in the State Capitol against her will.”
Yes, Collier has described her actions as a form of protest, but ultimately, this is about an elected official being held against her will because she won’t agree to police surveillance once she leaves.
This is the unlawful detainment of a Black woman legislator, or to follow Collier’s lead on bluntness, a kidnapping by the state of Texas at the urging of its racist, power-hungry GOP bloc that will do anything for its master, Donald J. Trump, who most recently complained about how awful museums make slavery look.
She is courageous, but when you consider how some of the other folks that signed up for police surveillance have already been threatened with arrest, how much of a choice was she left with?
Many of us have been asking how bad is this all going to get under a second Trump term?
Here is one of the clearest answers yet.
I don’t think of Nicole Collier and want to muse about sacrifice in the name of patriotism, but how Black women continue to fight harder for “democracy” than others with fewer resources and support.
That includes Black men in elected office with more power, i.e., Senator Booker or House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who recently was rightfully lampooned for telling a reporter that his plan to tackle one of Trump’s administration’s latest fascist plots – the taking over of Washington, D.C., – with a strong-worded letter.
Gavin Newsom is garnering so much praise for his tweeting in the style of Trump, but his demo will not be dealing with the worst of what’s planned first, and it’s evident in how Collier is being treated.
As a native Texan, I’m used to watching Democrats talk about how important “democracy” is, yet do little to go deep down South and fight the tyrants who have been giving Trump a roadmap on how to wrap power around him for years.
I want to be clear that I support Nicole Collier and all that she’s doing, but let us not romanticize her kidnapping by fascists.
She is being held against her will but choosing to fight back.
And if they are to glean anything from her, it should be this attitude she has articulated to the press: “They say take that high road. That high road has crumbled. We’re on a dirt road and we’re gonna meet them and get down and dirty. My fellow Democrats are ready to fight with the grit that is necessary to challenge the oppressor.”
I hope her fellow Democrats are truly ready because it can’t just be the Nicole Colliers of America doing the hardest work.
Michael Arceneaux is a New York Times bestselling author whose most recent book, I Finally Bought Some Jordans, was published last March.
SEE ALSO:
Who Is Brave Enough To Stand With Texas State Rep. Nicole Collier?
5 Things You Didn’t Know About Texas State Rep. Nicole Collier
Op-Ed: Democrats Should Not Romanticize What’s Happening To Nicole Collier In Texas was originally published on newsone.com
