Thumbs up, down: Naked truth of masks
Dad strips to make point; kids busted for hair, not face coverings; word ‘racism’ banned in House.
will it take to convince people that masks in schools can save lives? Apparently, the full monty. One dad in Dripping Springs this week went before the local school board and gave testimony at the front mic more powerful than anything parents shouted at last week’s Houston ISD meeting. That’s saying a lot, seeing as how some people claimed earnestly that masks give kids pneumonia and deform their faces. No, James Akers came bearing actual facts — and everything else — during his 90 seconds before board trustees. “I’m here to say that I do not like government or any other entity — just ask my wife — telling me what to do,” said Akers, whose three children had gone through the district. He told the board that he doesn’t like his job requiring him to wear a jacket, either, or a tie — and then promptly took off both. He drew gasps, a few chuckles, and some cellphone clicks as he continued to strip, talking about how he ran stop signs and red lights on the way to the meeting because he didn’t like them either. By the time his pants dropped, the jaws had, too, and security guards drew near. But Akers left his Speedo-like bathing suit on and declared: “It’s simple protocol people. … We follow certain rules for a very good reason.” Old school superheroes of yore routinely saved humanity in tightly fitting undergarments, and we hold Akers’ mission to protect the schoolchildren of Dripping Springs in no less regard.
We cannot say the same for the jokers in Barbers Hill ISD. The Houston-area district, which gained infamy last year for threatening to suspend De’Andre Arnold and cousin Kaden Bradford if they didn’t cut their dreadlocks, started this school year off with the same shear idiocy. On the first day, the district relegated 36 male students to in-school suspension after determining their hair length violated policy, which is still being challenged in a federal case stemming from last year’s dreadlocks debacle. The NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund threatened to sue again over this week’s actions, alleging in a letter that district staff pulled boys’ curly hair taut to straighten it and one mother said staff cut her child’s hair. Barbers Hill sounds more like Barbers Hell. But hey, maybe the district feels it’s acting in the kids’ best interest, teaching them discipline, uniformity and encouraging them to express themselves from within. Perhaps the district goes to equally great lengths to guide and protect kids in other areas that matter even more. Nope. The district’s desire to dictate students’ hairstyles does not appear to extend to life-saving health protocols: “The wearing of a mask,” reads the district’s COVID guidelines, “is optional and is up to the individual.”
Hypocrisy so thick you can cut it with some pinking shears — or maybe bang it in place with a gavel. That’s essentially what House Speaker Dade Phelan did this week. Urgingmembers of the Texas House to be “civil and respectful” during a passionate debate on the infamous voting restrictions bill, the chamber’s gavelwielding leader added that he “would appreciate members not using the word ‘racism’ this afternoon.” Limiting the vocabulary of duly elected officials is an interesting move for a man whose party has made fighting rhetorical censorship a core mission. Limiting the word “racism” in a discussion about voting in a state that has been caught racially discriminating in every redistricting plan since 1970 is equally curious. We agree with Phelan that hyperbole in such debates can lead people to hurl allegations such as racism against people and proposals that aren’t truly deserving. But we know a better way for Phelan to quiet the debate on whether Senate Bill 1’s unnecessary and potentially harmful voting restrictions are indeed racism: tell the authors to study the racial impact of the bill on people of color, something Republicans haven’t bothered to do over the many months they’ve been pushing the bill.
Of course, if they appointed the same quality of folks who review Texas history textbooks, we all know what the outcome would be. Something akin to the academic rigor and intellectual honesty that went into a review of our state attorney general, who is under indictment and is being investigated by the FBI and other groups amid allegations of bribery and abuse of office brought by his top aides. The Chronicle headline simply read: “Embattled Texas AG Ken Paxton releases anonymous internal investigation clearing himself.” Interestingly, the author of Paxton’s review didn’t sign it, which has happened to Paxton at least once before when his top litigator refused to sign on to his ridiculous lawsuit trying to overturn the United States presidential election. Even if Paxton’s Republican primary challengers are able to unseat him next year, it will take a powerful fogger to remove the stench.
We know just the guy for the job! Former Gov. Rick Perry. Critics who have long portrayed Austin politics as one big infomercial by industry and special interests got their proof this week when Perry returned to the Capitol to host an hourlong press conference on an air filtration device he’s trying to sell to state leaders. In what felt like a wee-hours pitch on QVC, the former energy secretary under President Donald Trump claimed products from Houston-based Integrated Viral ProWhat tection are just the thing to rid Texas classrooms of COVID and end the polarizing debate over mask requirements. He said the filtration system is proven to work and is already in use at the George R. Brown Convention Center. Perry acknowledged he has “a part” in the company but when asked how much, he demurred: “Well that’s none of your business. I’m not a public official anymore.” Maybe Perry’s not the best guy to clean up after Paxton. To paraphrase Mama, two conflicts don’t make a right.
Speaking of right calls, the NRA finally made one. The nation’s largest gun lobby canceled its annual convention planned for next week in Houston over concerns about the surge of COVID-19 cases in the area. It’s odd to see the NRA, which has pushed reckless permitless carry legislation while blocking sensible background checks and even government studies on gun violence, espouse concern about public health. But then, they’re protecting their own members with this decision — not America’s schoolchildren, who have become either sitting ducks for mass shootings or inmates in converted, high-security prisons. Or maybe the NRA wasn’t acting out of concern for their members at all. Maybe nobody wanted to come to the party of a group that’s apparently so corrupt it tried to fake bankruptcy to escape the scrutiny of the New York attorney general trying to probe its wrongdoing. In any case, the Twitterverse opened fire with clever responses on the NRA’s COVID cancellation: “Even death merchants are afraid of death,” read one post. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo kept it simple: “Thoughts and prayers.” Bullseye.