Veronica Vela Whitacre has been the District 6 McAllen City Commissioner for eight years.
She said she decided to become a commissioner because many of her friends encouraged her to run.
“They said, “Veronica, you’ve done everything there is to do in the city of McAllen. The only thing left you have is the city commission,” she said. “I thought, oh wow, and they said, Veronica you’d be amazing. It’d be a good thing for our city to have you. ”
Vela-Whitacre was born and raised in McAllen.
“I remember you could ride your bike anywhere, and we didn’t have a phone connected to us, she said. We were able to ride our bikes and go walking and entertain ourselves outside. We would make little campfires and forts and stuff in the different fields in our neighborhoods. A lot of that is gone because McAllen has grown tremendously. McAllen is booming, and rightfully so, and they’ve done a great job of growing consistently, slowly, and we’ve grown for the benefit
A spate of new laws crack down on social justice and environmental activism
Police arrest a water protector protesting the construction of the Line 3 oil pipeline in Minnesota last January. | Photo by Kerem Yucel/AFP/Getty Images
A half-year after Donald Trump’s drubbing at the polls, the right-wing effort to criminalize dissent and protest among environmental and social justice activists continues to gain momentum.
In early May, Montana governor Greg Gianforte signed into law a bill designed to protect “critical infrastructure,” including gas and oil pipelines. The law defines infrastructure broadly, from wireless towers to prisons. Individuals who trespass, or merely “impede or inhibit operations” at these sites could face as much as 18 months in prison and $4,500 fines. Under the new law, protesters who cause more than $1,500 in damage could be faced with a maximum of $150,000 in fines and 30 years in prison. Organizations found to be involved in coordinating with th
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George Floyd was killed a year ago. His family will need no reminder. But May 25 last year took on a larger symbolism. It became the tipping point when civil society in America had had enough of the repeated cases of racist police brutality.
The injustice that led to the deaths of young African Americans earlier in 2020 – of Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor, among others – pushed race relations to the brink. It propelled the Black Lives Matter Movement forward, gave rise to hundreds of protests and caused a shift in the consciousness of more than 330 million people who live in the most powerful country in the world.
3 Black Activists Discuss What s Changed and What Hasn t 1 Year Since George Floyd s Death
Despite more people joining calls for racial justice, Black people are still being killed by police.
By Anastasia Moloney
May 24 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) In the year since the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who died after a police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, people worldwide took to the streets to protest against racism amid renewed calls for reforms in US law enforcement.
Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murdering Floyd in April, a milestone in the fraught racial history of the United States and a rebuke of law enforcement s treatment of Black Americans.
EXCLUSIVE: Leaked State Department Memo Indicates Official Support for BLM Agenda humanevents.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from humanevents.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.