Day 45: Brian Harrison's Overt Racism Is Scolded By GOP Leaders

Oops! Texas Republicans prefer their racism with a softer touch.

Operation “let them speak” is once again proven successful, as Brian Harrison’s (R-HD10) dog-whistle racism over diversity turned into overt racism. He caused one Black woman to leave in the middle of questioning and another Black woman to cry.

The Democrats on the subcommittee, Chairman Armando Walle (D-HD140) and Nicole Collier (D-HD95), comforted the long-time civil servant, while Harrison’s Republican peers took to social media to condemn him.

Check it out. (It’s about 30 minutes, but well worth the watch.) Some time stamps:

18:20 - Representative Collier’s response.
20:45 - Representative Walle’s response.
24:00 - Texas Water Development Board Chairwoman L’Oreal Stepney’s reaction.

After this incident, Governor Abbott, Lt. Governor Patrick, and Speaker Burrows (all Republicans came to the defense of L’Oreal Stepney.

But here is the thing: banning DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) is racist. Full stop.

Harrison only acted on Abbott’s executive order banning DEI from government institutions. But Republicans know that only dog-whistle racism is acceptable among their ranks. Once it slips into overt racism, then it’s crossing the line.

Harrison took zero accountability for his racist line of questioning and instead doubled down and then blamed Democrats. This clip is from Harrison’s social media:

Racism among the Republican ranks must be covert. Otherwise, they’d have to admit they are racist, and they’d never do that.

Texas is 62% non-white, but Harrison says he’ll never stop fighting against having non-white civil servants because “diversity must die.”

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Dear Ellis County Democrats,

I’m only a short drive away. When are we protesting?

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Of course, it wasn’t Harrison’s only performative stunt yesterday. While the House chamber was gaveled in, he made a video for his social media, crying about how there would be no cameras on him again until Tuesday.

Representatives Ana-Maria Ramos (D-HD102), Mihaela Plesa (D-HD70), and Toni Rose (D-HD110) appear in the background, mocking Harrison’s behavior. And when Harrison said, “We are taking a long weekend and not working,” Representative Rose could be heard saying, “What are you talking about? We’re all working. I’m headed to my office now.”

The Tim Dunn acolytes, especially Brian Harrison, only work when the camera is on. How else would they tap-dance for change?

Brian Harrison’s overt racism wasn’t the only discussion on race that happened yesterday in Austin. During one moment in the Texas Senate, Donna Campbell said, “We all bleed red, and we all pee yellow.”

This sums up the Texas Legislature.

The Senate moved to ban drag again.

The ban on drag shows in the last session was tossed out in court because it violated the First Amendment. So, Republicans are seeking to tailor a new bill specifically to ban events where drag performers read to children in public libraries. And if a municipal library hosts an event where a performer dressed as the opposite sex reads to children, it would lose all state and city public funding.

The bill is a censorship measure aimed at cutting off public funding to libraries that host drag performers reading to children. It aligns with broader conservative efforts in Texas to restrict LGBTQ+ visibility. It’s an attack on free expression and LGBTQ+ representation.

Several witnesses testified about this bill: some ultra-right, religious nutjobs and members of the LGBTQ+ community and their allies.

Even if this bill passes, it will likely be blocked in courts again. The government cannot restrict speech or expression based on its viewpoint. This is a clear example of viewpoint discrimination, as it targets speech because of its LGBTQ+ association.

It was surreal watching Brian Hughes (R-SD01) in the Senate Committee chair the hearing while the witnesses pleaded with him not to pass this bill. He kept this uncanney valley on his face, and after each witness smiled, and said, “Thank you for coming to testify.”

And that’s how it goes. Republicans know it’s their constitutional duty to take witness testimony on each bill. Still, no matter how unpopular the bill is or how many people testify against it, it doesn’t change their minds. They just smile and say, “Thanks for coming to testify.”

The Senate also moved to ban diversity in public schools.

The irony of pushing to ban diversity in public schools on the same day Brian Harrison gets reprimanded by GOP leadership for questioning a Black woman on diversity can’t be understated.

Here were the bills:

But don’t worry. Senator Creighton (R-SD04) used dog-whistle racism while laying the bill out.

Later in the committee hearing, Senator Angela Paxton (R-SD08) laid out her bill to ban books. The book banning the bill from the last legislative session was thrown out in court due to its unconstitutionality. But when fascists rule our government, free thought will always be under attack.

Here was the bill:

There were about five hours of public testimony in the Senate Committee on Education yesterday; I haven’t had a chance to watch it all since it went late into the night. But Sara Cress with the Houston Chronicle did manage to make this mashup of some of the loonies (including SBOE member Julie Pickren):

I have a lot of videos to watch over the weekend, so I should have plenty of clips to post on social media by Monday. But from what I’ve seen so far, it’s the usual mix of pearl-clutching over “protecting the children,” deliberate misrepresentations of books and curriculum, and the relentless push to turn public schools into conservative indoctrination camps. All the while, they are pushing bans on diversity in a state where white people are the minority.

We have to get people to vote in state elections. 😭

The Senate held its first Committee on Border Security for the session.

It was heavy on Republican talking points. The key themes revolved around praising Operation Lone Star, blaming federal immigration policies, and justifying aggressive state actions at the border.

Multiple officials, including General Tom Selzer and Colonel Freeman Martin, used inflammatory language to describe the border situation, referring to it as an invasion and suggesting that terrorists, violent criminals, and cartels are pouring into Texas unchecked.

The “invasion” narrative is a talking point of far-right nativist and white supremacist movements. The reality is that most migrants are asylum seekers or economic migrants, not criminals or terrorists. The FBI has repeatedly debunked the idea that terrorists are sneaking across the southern border in significant numbers.

Officials defended Operation Lone Star (OLS) and claimed it reduced illegal crossings by 90%, though they provided zero evidence for this number. Texas has spent BILLIONS on this program, with little to show for it beyond mass arrests for low-level offenses and failed legal battles with the federal government.

OLS has been riddled with corruption, mismanagement, and human rights abuses, including false arrests of U.S. citizens and military suicides due to forced deployments. It hasn’t solved anything. Migrants just shift routes, and cartel activity remains strong. The Texas Military Department admits that morale is low, even as they insist the mission is “voluntary.”

The Texas National Guard described their border operations in full military terms, boasting about deploying drones, radar, and infrared cameras to track migrants, as well as constructing barbed-wire fences, “no-climb” barriers, and concertina wire. They highlighted the creation of “Quick Reaction Forces” that can be deployed within 48 to 96 hours, reinforcing the idea that Texas treats migration as a battlefield.

This militarization of the border turns asylum seekers, many of whom are families with children, into enemy combatants. Migrants caught in the barbed wire are left to suffer in extreme heat, with some even dying in the process. The Biden administration has already sued Texas over the placement of barbed wire and buoys in the Rio Grande, which have directly led to multiple migrant deaths.

At the same time, officials openly admitted that border crossings are at record lows, with Texas seeing fewer than 100 crossings per day in recent weeks. But instead of crediting the Biden administration’s policies for this decline, they insisted that the border remains a crisis and used this claim to justify continued spending on Operation Lone Star.

If crossings are down, why is Texas demanding more state funding? It’s a blatant refusal to acknowledge that federal policies are working while still blaming Biden when numbers are high.

Even more revealing was the committee’s admission that, regardless of how much border crossings decline, they want Operation Lone Star to continue indefinitely. Their reasoning? They don’t know who will be president in 2029 and don’t want to lose “institutional knowledge.”

Ultimately, this hearing was nothing more than a political performance, setting the stage for Texas Republicans to continue their aggressive border policies, even when crossings are at historic lows. They avoided any discussion of real immigration reform and instead focused on fear-mongering. The real goal here isn’t security. It’s justifying more state money for Operation Lone Star and turning it into a permanent political weapon.

The Legislature will be back at it on Monday.

There are multiple hearings scheduled in the House:

And in the Senate:

We’re officially in the chaos phase of the legislative session. Bills are moving, hearings are stacking up, and Republicans are sprinting to pass as much far-right legislation as possible before the clock runs out. From banning DEI and drag shows to militarizing the border and gutting public education, they are laser-focused on attacking civil rights, free speech, and any semblance of diversity in Texas.

They know most of this legislation won’t hold up in court and don’t care. The goal is to score political points, rally their base, and keep the culture war alive for another election cycle. Meanwhile, the real crises in Texas (crumbling infrastructure, skyrocketing property taxes, and a broken power grid) are ignored in favor of performative outrage and authoritarian power grabs.

It’s exhausting, infuriating, and entirely predictable. But we have one job: pay attention, spread the word, and mobilize for the next election. Republicans bank on people tuning out. Let’s prove them wrong.

• March 14: The last day Legislators can file bills.

• June 2: The 89th Legislative Session ends.

• Click here to find out what Legislative districts you’re in.

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