Texas State Rep. Nicole Collier is being hailed by Democrats after refusing to comply with a requirement by Republican management within the state Home of Representatives to be underneath regulation enforcement supervision to depart the Capitol chamber.
Collier, who was amongst 50 Texas Democrats who fled the state in protest of what they referred to as a racially gerrymandered congressional map, declined to signal a permission slip requiring a Division of Public Security escort to make sure she didn’t once more flee and delay the legislature’s approval of the controversial map. By refusing, Collier was not allowed to depart the chamber till the Home reconvenes on Wednesday.
“This was my evening, bonnet and all, within the #txlege,” wrote Collier in an Instagram caption of a photograph she shared of herself contained in the Texas Home chamber, the place she slept in a single day.
In making her determination to protest the demand from the Republican Home Speaker Dustin Burrows, Collier, who represents Fort Price, stated she refused to “signal away my dignity as a duly elected consultant simply so Republicans can management my actions and monitor me with police escorts.”
“My neighborhood is majority-minority, they usually count on me to face up for his or her illustration. Once I press that button to vote, I do know these maps will hurt my constituents — I received’t simply go alongside quietly with their intimidation or their discrimination,” stated the Texas lawmaker.
Collier is being praised by fellow Democrats and activists for difficult what they name clear authoritarian conduct.
“It signifies this energy seize that has come all the best way from President [Donald] Trump all the way down to our state legislature,” stated Zoe Cadore, a Democratic candidate for Texas’s 18th Congressional District, which is being impacted by the Republicans’ map redistricting.
Cadore informed theGrio, “If you don’t get in line, they may execute each inch of energy they should attempt to confine you. The symbolism round it is rather disturbing.”
She continued, “You might be symbolizing that should you step out of line, we aren’t solely going to detain you, however we’re going to do it in a manner that’s humiliating and doubtlessly harmful.”
For a lot of, the truth that Collier is a Black girl in a southern state like Texas makes the symbolism much more ominous.
“There’s a Black girl locked in a constructing, her very physique is being managed by these devils as a result of she received’t signal a stank piece [of] paper promising to return to work like she’s a rattling slave,” stated activist Tamika Mallory, who’s the founding father of Till Freedom, a social justice advocacy group.
Mallory continued, “If this isn’t sufficient to WAKE US UP, I don’t know what’s. It’s time ya’ll. Reality is, it’s BEEN time.”
Cadore additionally raised issues in regards to the optics of Collier as a Black girl being policed by a political physique comprised of principally white males.
“Waking as much as the photographs of a Black girl sleeping by herself within the Texas chambers with solely a bonnet and a blanket, as if she’s a prison, that’s very disturbing to see, contemplating the historical past of Black girls on this nation underneath the management and the authorization of white males,” the congressional candidate informed theGrio.
Cadore added, “I don’t assume that grown girls who’re capable of make legal guidelines that govern our state should be watched over like they’re kids.”
The detainment of Collier led to peaceable protesters gathering on the state Capitol constructing in Austin, the place they shouted, “Let her out!” The demand has additionally turn out to be a rallying cry on-line for Collier’s launch.
Rep. Collier thanked her supporters and urged them to “proceed to withstand” the actions of Republicans.
“We don’t should take the bullies…we don’t should allow them to push us over. We are able to get up towards them,” Collier stated in a social media video. “I’m drawing the road within the sand, and I’m glad that you’re. Proceed to withstand and allow them to know that you simply received’t again down and that you simply demand honest illustration and honest maps.”
Collier’s protest provides one other layer to the continued battle in Texas over a congressional map that dilutes the voting populations of majority Black and Hispanic voters in districts represented by principally Black Democratic members of Congress.
Cadore, who’s working in a Houston congressional district that is still a majority Black district, slammed the Republican Celebration’s redistricting scheme as a “desperation” to take and preserve energy and management on behalf of President Trump, who demanded the Texas map be redrawn to provide his social gathering not less than 5 extra congressional seats.
“He has handed insurance policies which might be dangerous throughout the board and as a substitute of accepting the results that include that, which is a rejection by the American individuals within the November 2026 election, he has determined to rig the 2026 election, and he’s utilizing Texas because the battleground,” stated Cadore.
‘What we’re seeing within the state capital from this Black girl is a protest in solidarity with the 1000’s of voices of Black and brown voters by gerrymandering, and it’s a refusal to simply accept it,” she informed theGrio. Cadore added, “We’re seeing a Black girl, essentially the most disrespected individual in America, get up for American democracy by placing herself on the road.”
