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Category: Austin

Austin Marches Over End of RoeActivists sit in the streets of downtown Austin, holding up their middle fingers towards the Texas Capitol, under a bright summer sun.
Austin took the streets to protest the end of Roe v. Wade. (Kit O'Connell)
June 25, 2022
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Austin Marches Over End of Roe

Posted in Austin, Journalism, and The Texas Observer

More than 1,000 people marched through downtown Austin on Friday, June 25 to express their anger and sadness over the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Roe V. Wade and the impending, widespread erosion of abortion access as a result.

Organized coalitions like Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights and others called for protesters to gather at the federal courthouse and in the surrounding Republic Square Park on the night after the Supreme Court decision came down. Word spread rapidly via social networks and posters affixed to lampposts throughout the city.

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Austin Chronicle: Low-Income Austin Renters Negotiate For Better DealA photo of the Austin downtown city skyline. Added text: "Public domain image by Jeremy Banks via Unsplash"
As high rents cause displacement, one group of renters negotiates. (Unsplash / Jeremy Banks)
June 10, 2022
Kit
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Austin Chronicle: Low-Income Austin Renters Negotiate For Better Deal

Posted in Austin, Austin Chronicle, and Journalism

Low-income residents of a North Austin apartment complex are putting pressure on a developer intent on demolishing their homes, and they’re having some success in getting concessions. The Old Homestead, located on Clayton Lane near the intersection with Cameron Road, is set to be rezoned for vertical mixed use – meaning developers JCI Residential, an affiliate of the Journeyman Group, will be allowed more height and building size in exchange for affordable units. While the new property will have more units than the current 16-unit complex, residents say they’ll struggle to find apartments as affordable – or with a community so closely knit – amid Austin’s surging rental prices.

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We’re Not Ready: Protecting Events From Fascists & Media TrollsA bald man with a red beard in a black tee gestures, phone in one hand, megaphone in the other, outside the Texas Governor's Mansion. His face has been mosaic blurred.
A media troll at a trans rights rally outside the Texas Governor's Mansion, March 2022. (Photo: Kit O'Connell)
April 30, 2022
Kit
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We’re Not Ready: Protecting Events From Fascists & Media Trolls

Posted in Austin, Creative Commons, and Journalism

One thing that keeps me up at night is the thought of how unprepared the Left is to defend itself. I worry we’re simply not ready for what’s coming.

What I want to focus on in this short article is the idea that groups, from smaller collectives to larger nonprofits, need to be prepared for disruptive, even violent attacks from right-wing operatives. The actors can vary … white supremacists like Patriot Front or street brawling brownshirts like the Proud Boys, even media trolls like Infowars reporters.

At a recent rally for the rights of trans kids in downtown Austin, I watched as right wing trolls (yelling horrid things about pedophilia, groomers and imaginary surgery involving childrens’ genitals) attempted to storm the makeshift stage area where a series of speakers were holding space. The crowd were mostly queer-friendly Austin residents including many families. The organizers looked stunned. State Troopers eventually intervened, but only after regular, everyday people put their bodies in between the fascist trolls and the speakers. And it could have gone much worse. We’re just not ready.

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Update: St. Johns Camp Moved Into Temporary HousingAn activist talks to a journalist outside Austin City Hall, standing near a banner which reads "We Are Dying Out Here Housing Now".
A protest for Austin's unhoused residents, March 2022. (Photo: Kit O'Connell)
April 8, 2022
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Update: St. Johns Camp Moved Into Temporary Housing

Posted in Austin, Austin Chronicle, and Journalism

On March 25, city personnel moved 31 people living in a controversial encampment at St. Johns and I-35 into transitional housing at the North­bridge and South­bridge shelters, as part of the city’s HEAL (Homeless Encamp­ment Assistance Link) initiative, adopted in the wake of last year’s local and state reinstatement of a ban on public camping.

For months, the encampment in and around St. John Neighborhood Park had generated concern among neighbors. On March 6, police shot and killed 28-year-old Miguel Ruiz Rivera, who lived periodically at  the camp, after he had apparently been spotted firing a gun near one of  the tents. At the same time, an outpouring of generosity from locals seeking to help unhoused neighbors inspired multiple fundraising campaigns and sustained volunteer efforts to feed, assist and,  ultimately, house the campers before the city stepped in.

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Austin Chronicle: Why Is Fox Celebrating This Nazi?Activists hold an Antifascist Action flag at a rally in France.
Activists hold an Antifascist Action flag at a rally in France. (Flickr / doubichlou14, CC ND, NC license)
March 17, 2022
Kit
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Austin Chronicle: Why Is Fox Celebrating This Nazi?

Posted in Austin, Austin Chronicle, and Journalism

Paul Gray, a white supremacist originally from Tyler and active in Austin during the Trump presidency, is being lauded by Fox News after volunteering to fight Russian invaders in Ukraine. During a March  1 appearance in a segment titled “Former American paratrooper joins  fight in Ukraine,” Fox reporters praised Gray as a veteran volunteering  to fight on behalf of Ukraine but neglected to mention his violent  history.

Despite Fox protecting Gray’s identity by using only his first name, he was easily recognizable to extremism researchers like Michael Edison Hayden, senior investigative reporter and spokesperson for the Southern Poverty Law Center. “They elect not to report his full name and don’t even stop to ask why he might already be in Ukraine,” Hayden told the Chronicle.  “They just hope that the audience doesn’t ask any questions because  then Fox will be forced to dig deeper into an uncomfortable story about  our problems with radicalization here at home.” Reports published by  KETK, Tyler’s Fox affiliate, did use Gray’s full name and further  identified him as an American citizen who’s owned a gymnasium and  reportedly “been an influence on the Ukrainian community.”

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Austin Chronicle: Court Halts Abbott’s Anti-Trans ‘Abuse’ DirectiveActivists gather at the Texas Capitol for a press conference in support of trans rights, holding signs which read "Trans Rights Now" "We Support Trans Rights" and "Transgender People Are A Gift To This World".
At a press conference on behalf of transgender young people's rights, Texas Capitol, March 2022. (Photo: Kit O'Connell)
March 17, 2022
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Austin Chronicle: Court Halts Abbott’s Anti-Trans ‘Abuse’ Directive

Posted in Austin, Austin Chronicle, Journalism, and LGBTQIA

Families with transgender children in Texas won a reprieve on Friday,  March 11, after a court temporarily blocked a statewide directive  issued by Gov. Greg Abbott that redefined gender affirming care as presumed child abuse.

The action came in a lawsuit brought by the ACLU and Lambda Legal on behalf of an anonymous family with a 16-year-old transgender teen,  who’d found themselves under investigation by the state. The child’s  mother, referred to in court filings as Jane Doe, was an employee  of the Texas Depart­ment of Family and Protective Services and had  expressed concern about the Feb. 22 directive. The agency then put Doe  on leave and opened an abuse investigation into her family. Another  plaintiff is Dr. Megan Mooney, a Houston psychologist who feared  the directive could force “mandated reporters” such as herself to turn  in clients simply for offering their trans kids appropriate care. Brian Klosterboer,  an ACLU of Texas attorney who represents Mooney and the Doe family,  said the state was moving against trans kids with alarming speed. “It’s  really scary that they’ve weaponized the Department of Family and  Protective Services to play politics with the very lives of transgender  young people and to terrorize families in this state,” Klosterboer told  the Chronicle before the hearing.

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