The Conservation Of White Supremacy In Tarrant County

From Greenwood to Galveston to Tarrant: The long war on Black representation.

In the early 1960s, Black residents in Leflore County, Mississippi, comprised two-thirds of the population. Despite that, they had no political representation. In 1962, when voter registration of Black voters increased, the all-white Board of Supervisors (similar to a Commissioners’ Court in Texas) cut off federal surplus food aid, a lifeline for over 20,000 poor Black sharecroppers and farmworkers. This move came to be known as the Greenwood Food Blockade.

This move by the white Board of Supervisors exacerbated widespread poverty-induced hunger and malnutrition among Mississippi Delta sharecroppers. This laid the groundwork for long-term food insecurity, economic marginalization, and ongoing inequality in Mississippi that persists to this day.

This pattern is not new. Every time Black Americans have taken even a step toward political power, white supremacy has moved to snatch it back. In Greenwood, it meant starving families to stop them from voting. In Tarrant County today, it means redrawing district lines to erase Black representation, again, by a white-majority governing body.

What happened in Mississippi in 1962 wasn’t just about food. It was about control. And what happened in Tarrant County today isn’t just about maps. It’s about the same thing.

Today, the Tarrant County Commissioners Court voted to approve a redistricting map that effectively eliminates the seat of Commissioner Alisa Simmons, the only Black woman on the court.

It’s not a coincidence. It’s not neutral. It’s not “routine.” It is the calculated removal of a voice that dared to speak up for all of us.

Commissioner Simmons has stood firmly against the racist agenda pushed by Judge Tim O’Hare and the Republican Commissioners on the court. She spoke out against the rise in jail deaths under their watch. She called out the cruelty of defunding Girls Inc., a nonprofit that empowers young women of color. She opposed the elimination of free rides to the polls, which made it harder for working-class people, especially Black and brown voters, to cast a ballot.

And now, she’s being punished for it.

Commissioner Simmons wasn’t just a name on a ballot. She is my commissioner. I voted for her. I campaigned for her. And like thousands of others in Precinct 2, I saw her as a voice for the voiceless, a woman unafraid to shine a light on white supremacy, even when it came dressed in a suit and tie.

That light scared them. So they tried to snuff it out.

What we witnessed today was retaliation. It was white supremacy striking back at a Black woman who told the truth. And just like in Greenwood in 1962, they’re using the tools of power, maps, votes, and bureaucratic language, to do what they couldn’t do in public: silence her.

But we see it. We name it. And we will fight it.

The new map that the County Commissioners voted on today.

The Republican Commissioners and their defenders kept repeating the same excuse over and over again, “This wasn’t about race. It was just about politics.”

They said the map was designed to secure a Republican majority, not to silence Black voters. As if those two things aren’t deeply intertwined.

It’s the same argument Greg Abbott’s lawyers made in Shannon Perez v. Abbott, when Texas was caught racially gerrymandering districts. Their defense?

A direct quote from Greg Abbott:

“It is not our intent to discriminate against minorities. It is our intent to discriminate against Democrats. If minorities happen to vote Democrat, that is their fault, not ours.”

That’s not a denial. That’s a confession.

Let’s stop pretending this distinction between race and party means anything in Texas. In Tarrant County, in Harris County, across the South, voter suppression by “party” is voter suppression by race. When you target the communities who dare to elect Black women, working-class progressives, young organizers, and civil rights leaders, you are targeting those communities on purpose.

They can say it’s about partisanship all they want. But we know what it’s really about.

Because when Conservatives talk about “conserving” something, they mean it.

They want to conserve white supremacy.

They want to conserve inequality, corporate power, and police brutality.

They want to conserve a system where jails are full, books are banned, teachers are silenced, and women don’t have autonomy.

They want to conserve a Texas where your zip code decides your worth, and where Black and brown voices are only welcome if they stay quiet.

And when people like Alisa Simmons refuse to stay quiet, they get erased.

But erasing her seat won’t erase her power, or ours.

And just when we thought we might get a win, it vanished as quickly as it came.

Yesterday, far-right extremist Tony Tinderholt (R-HD94) announced he would not seek reelection to the Texas House. For a brief moment, there was celebration across Arlington. A man who built his career on cruelty, censorship, and conspiracy was finally stepping aside. But the celebration didn’t last.

Because today, just minutes after the Tarrant County Commissioners voted to dismantle Precinct 2, Tinderholt announced he would run for that very seat, Alisa Simmons’ newly gutted district.

And he didn’t come alone.

Cheryl Bean, another far-right extremist and ally of Tinderholt, announced her run for the now-open HD94 seat. A seat that was, conveniently, made safer for someone like her under the new maps.

Bean doesn’t even live in the district. She changed her voter registration to a new address inside it—an address she doesn’t own, according to the Tarrant Appraisal District. Her real home? Still outside the district lines. But facts don’t matter when the plan is to bulldoze through communities with precision and arrogance.

This wasn’t a coincidence. It was a coordinated political hit job, plain and simple.

A rigged map. A choreographed retirement. A handoff. A handpicked replacement. All timed to disempower the voices of Black and brown voters in Tarrant County. All orchestrated by Tim O’Hare and the extremist wing of the Republican Party.

They knew Simmons couldn’t be beaten fairly.

So they changed the lines.

They cleared the field.

And then they tried to rewrite the future.

But we see them.

We know the playbook.

And we’re not going to let this go unanswered.

This is part of a broader, coordinated strategy across Texas to suppress the political power of Black and brown communities under the guise of partisan politics.

Take Galveston County, for instance. In 2021, the county redrew its commissioner precincts, dismantling the sole majority-minority district, Precinct 3, where Black and Latino voters had successfully elected their preferred candidate. The new map fragmented these communities, ensuring that white voters comprised at least 62% of the electorate in each of the four precincts, effectively diluting the voting strength of Black and Latino residents.

A federal judge, Jeffrey V. Brown, appointed by former President Trump, found this redistricting to be a clear violation of the Voting Rights Act, describing the changes as “stark and jarring.” He ordered the county to redraw the maps to include at least one majority-minority precinct.

However, in a significant setback, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals later ruled that coalitions of minority groups, like Black and Latino voters, cannot be protected under the Voting Rights Act unless they form a single majority group. This decision overturned decades of precedent and weakened protections against racial gerrymandering.

Now, Tarrant County is following a similar playbook.

This is not coincidental. It’s a calculated move to suppress the voices of communities of color and maintain power structures that favor the white majority. The tactics may have evolved from overt acts, such as the Greenwood Food Blockade, to more insidious methods, like gerrymandering, but the objective remains the same. To disenfranchise and silence.

We must recognize these patterns and call them out for what they are. Modern-day strategies to uphold white supremacy under the veneer of political maneuvering. And just as communities have resisted in the past, we must continue to fight against these injustices today.

In related news, Tarrant County Democratic Party Chair Crystal Gayden has announced her resignation, effective upon the election of her successor.

A special election will be held on July 7, and the County Executive Committee will choose the next chair. That is, Tarrant’s elected precinct chairs.

Shortly after the news broke, Allison Campolo announced she’s running for chair again. Here is what she posted on Facebook.

I’ve always been critical of county chairs across the state, Campolo included, back when she held the job. That’s not shade. It’s just the role I’ve taken on in Texas politics, part cheerleader, part watchdog, and always trying to keep it honest with my readers.

But facts are facts. When Campolo was chair, Tarrant went blue twice. That’s not nothing.

We’ll see who else enters the race. But one thing is clear, Campolo is someone who shows up. And right now, that matters.

Food for thought.

What happened today in Tarrant County was a test.

A test of how far the right will go to maintain power. A test of whether we’ll call white supremacy by its name. A test of who will fight back, and who will fold.

They think they can redraw us out of existence.

They think if they rig the game hard enough, we’ll stop playing.

They think that if they erase our leaders, we’ll go silent.

But we are not silent.

We remember Greenwood.

We remember Galveston.

And we will remember this moment.

Let this be a turning point, not a breaking point. Let today’s injustice light a fire that carries us through every hearing, every organizing meeting, every special election, every single vote, until they no longer get to write the rules in secret.

We’ve got the receipts. We’ve got the truth. And we’ve got each other.

Let’s get to work.

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