4 Reasons Amazon Should Avoid Texas

Dear Amazon:There's much flurry in the Lone Star State about possibly locating your second headquarters here. Some Texas cities are among the 238 North American locations that have submitted proposals, hoping to woo you. The proffered Amazon carrot is the potential of 50,000 jobs; the quid pro quo is financial incentives from the applicants.However, no matter how sweet a city's offer might be, I respectfully urge you not to avoid Texas because of the state's stiff anti-Hispanic and anti-immigrant climate.The current hostility toward Hispanics and immigrants is part of a long, pervasive, and poisonous history that has infected Texas since its beginning. But, unlike other areas of the country, Texas is not trying to undo its past, but to double down on it.Particularly culpable are our unholy trinity of Governor Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, and Attorney General Ken Paxton. Rather than trying to build Texas into a solid racially, ethnically, and culturally diverse society, they thrive on driving division.Here are four examples for you to consider. They are hardly the actions of the friendly state.1. Texas passed a voter ID law to make it more difficult for people to vote. After decades of minority groups struggling to win the franchise, Texas politicians are trying to take it away again. A federal judge has ruled the Legislature deliberately passed the law to disenfranchise minority voters.2. Not only do the politicians try to keep minority folks from voting, they gerrymander virtually any district, whether Congressional or local school board, to prevent minority folks from electing their own representatives. Here, too, the federal courts found our Legislature engaging in conscious discrimination.  Continue reading...