Shaun King: Get Up, Get Out & Vote Dallas!

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18 months ago, Donald Trump, a lifelong bigot and misogynist, a known liar and scammer, became President of the United States.

He literally rose to power off of the support of white supremacists – being roundly endorsed by the KKK and neo-nazi’s and the new alt-right movement. The unashamedly claimed him as their leader.

And he the President. With his election, Republicans now control the House, the Senate, the Presidency, the Supreme Court, most governorships, and most state legislatures.

Politically, they run this country.

And I keenly remember the day after Donald Trump’s election, people began talking about how we needed to organize and mobilize for the mid-term elections.

In November of 2016, that seemed a long way away.

But it’s right here. In Texas, the mid-term political primaries are TODAY – not this August, not this November, TODAY, all over Texas. Listen, many of you listening are in Texas or are from Texas, but for those of you who aren’t – Texas is the second most populated state in this country behind California.

And Democrats have made a few huge mistakes politically in places like Texas. See, when we write a state off as a red state, and the national Democrats don’t give that state any attention, because they think it just can’t be won in a presidential election, what happens is that the everyday people of that state also get cheated, and end up not being nearly informed enough about when to vote and who they need to vote for.

Listen – I don’t know if a Democrat will win in Texas against Donald Trump in two years, but I do know a Democrat won the Alabama Senate race for the first time in generations.

I don’t know if a Democrat will win in Texas against Donald Trump, but what I do know is that the policy of ignoring entire states is part of why Donald Trump won 30 states and Hillary only won 20. It’s why he won the Electoral College. It’s why he’s President of the United States.

It’s why I decided in my new role as an organizer for a group we call the Real Justice PAC, we decided that we could not follow the lead of the Democratic Party and pretend like Texas does not exist.

Listen to me – Donald Trump might’ve won Texas, but he lost Dallas, he lost Houston, he lost San Antonio, he lost El Paso, he lost Austin. He even lost many of the counties around those big cities. And we simply cannot afford to pretend like what’s going on in those places doesn’t matter.

It matters. I actually think Democrats can win in Texas. I think they can win in statewide elections. I think they can win Senate seats. I think they can win in the Presidential election – particularly if they empower millions of new voters who aren’t sure if their vote really matters.

I’m following dozens of important races today across Texas, but for the next two minutes, I particularly want to tell you about two – and why they matter so much – why you need to prepare to follow similar races in your hometown.

Democrats control the city governments in Dallas and San Antonio – from Mayor, to City Council, and every other major position – except for one – and it’s a disturbing trend across the United States.

Dallas and San Antonio both have conservatives as their District Attorney. If you’ve seen or heard me say anything at all these past two weeks, you’ve seen me say that no single person or position in the entire country has more power to reform the justice system than our local DA. In some places they are called the County Attorney, the State’s Attorney, but the positions are all the same – they are your local prosecutor – and because we’ve paid so little attention to that position – we’ve basically given it over to people who absolutely do not have our best interests at heart.

Many people built the current system of mass incarceration. Many people are responsible. But nobody has sent more people, more of our people, to jail and prison than the local DA. They are the gatekeepers and enforcers of the racist system of mass incarceration. And we must replace them with women and men committed to flipping the current system over and building something fair and righteous in its place.

It’s why I’ve fought hard to help Dallas elect a righteous judge named Elizabeth Frizell as their new DA. Listen, less than 1% of all DA’s are women of color, which is a problem all by itself, and Judge Frizell is not only a brilliant Black woman, she will change the system there in Dallas from the inside out.

Voting in Dallas is from 7am – 7pm and if you simply Google “Dallas Voting Locations” you can find your voting location today. GO VOTE! Take your crew with you. Text everybody you know and tell them to vote too!