Bandera Democrats Won’t Stand Down
There is no question Democrats are under attack in Texas. Democratic headquarters in Austin and New Braunfels have been assaulted. One was firebombed. Security cameras at both sites recorded the incidents. The footage made national news.
On January 12, 2022, Katie Naranjo, Chair of the Travis County Democratic Party, was a guest on a national TV show. She discussed the attack on her office by a woman with a shovel who attempted to smash the glass front door two times. Naranjo said that in 2020, Texas Democratic headquarters were attacked nearly “six times.”
On October 31, 2020, The New York Times reported that “multiple vehicles” flying Trump flags and displaying Trump signs surrounded a Biden Harris campaign bus on the highway between San Antonio and Austin, trying to run it off the road near San Marcos. The Trump vehicles also ran into a person’s car, “yelling curse words and threats.”
The Democratic bus was full of campaign staff workers. The Hill reported that “transcribed 911 calls reveal the San Marcos police refused multiple requests from the Biden campaign bus” for protection.
Recently, a Bandera Democratic Party “Adopt A Highway” sign on Hwy 16 near Pipe Creek, marking a two-mile area cleaned by Democrats, was smeared with red paint that made it look like it was dripping blood. It’s the second time in 14 months the sign has been defaced. The latest attack made front page news in the Bandera Bulletin that included a picture of the sign.
An older president of Bandera’s Democratic Party remembers past attacks on Democrats with this sobering statement:
“We are in a dangerous area and it’s not getting any safer. We have a history in Bandera County of our signs, materials and headquarters being violated…when we had a headquarters across the street from the motel, next to the CVS Pharmacy right there on Main Street, we had a large 8-foot x 11-foot sign stolen during the night. The cops thought it was funny.” He said it wasn’t the only incident.
I remember a parade on Bandera’s Main Street in 2020, that was invaded by a lot of Trump vehicles, flying Trump banners and signs. The occupants were yelling and screaming at bystanders.
In 1791, our founders ratified and added 10 Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The First Amendment protects freedom of speech. On January 11, 2022, The Washington Post reported that domestic terrorist attacks today are so violent that for the first time, the U.S. Justice Department has launched “a domestic terrorism prosecution unit,” at the DOJ.
In 2022, 231 years after the First Amendment that protects free speech became part of our revered Constitution, Democrats must rely on the federal government to protect us from fanatical attacks on our freedom of speech.
It is a shame, a metric you might say, that because of today’s political climate, we will inform the FBI and the Justice Department we’re opening a new Democratic headquarters in Bandera.
Jodie Sinclair is an award-winning writer who holds a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University and resides in Bandera, Texas.