Black Lives Matter Protest Shines Light on Racism in a Small West Texas Town

street signs for various freeways along a street in texas

Standing on the steps of the Brewster County Courthouse in Alpine, Texas, Daedrien “Dae” Houston-Leyva told the crowd at the Black Lives Matter (BLM) rally on June 6 about “the talk” she received in fifth grade. Not the one about the birds and the bees, but the one that prepares Black kids for how to be safe in public.


“It is going to be hard,” Houston-Leyva told the crowd, recalling what her parents told her. “You need to know that you need to always be on your guard. Don’t drive around with your music too high. Don’t draw attention to yourself. If you get pulled over, make sure to have your ID [within] hands reach. Obey everything that the officer tells you to do. Do not resist. Don’t raise your voice. Don’t talk Black. Don’t move too fast. Stay as calm as possible. Make sure you get your phone call if you end up in jail. Don’t give them a reason to kill you. You need to stay alive for Mommy.”

Houston-Leyva is one of the few Black women to grow up in Alpine, the rural West Texas town that has less than 6,000 people. Her mom is Latina and her dad is Black and she self-identifies as Afro-Latina. Gina Leyva, Houston-Leyva’s mom, told Luz Collective that she and Houston-Leyva’s dad made the conscious decision when she was pregnant to raise their interractial daughter knowing both cultures. “We weren’t going to be divided,” said Levya. “We were going to come together and raise an interracial child together with my Hispanic culture and [his] African culture.”

two women during a protestSarah M. Vasquez

Latinos make up 46 percent of Alpine’s population and Black people make up less than one percent. President Donald Trump won Brewster County with 48 percent of the votes in 2016. Alpine is a college town with Sul Ross State University, named after the 19th Governor of Texas who was also a Confederate general.

Houston-Leyva said she never had it rough growing up as a Black person in Alpine, but looking back, she realized that she experienced microaggressions in her everyday life from both the White and the Latinx communities. “I’ve heard it all,” Houston-Levya told Luz Collective in a series of recent interviews. She heard people stereotyping Black people, asking why are they always “ghetto.” She heard the frequent use of the n-word from a Latino resident, who also told her that she wasn’t that because she was “smart and only half [Black].” Houston-Leyva shared in her speech that people have assumed she was good at sports or that she listened to hip hop, which she informed the crowd were racist assumptions.

Pushback on this kind of racism is starting to emerge. There’s currently an online petition to remove Devon Portillo, the Republican challenger from the ballot for Brewster County Sheriff after racist tweets including the n-word surfaced earlier this month. But growing up in this environment also led Houston-Leyva to internalize the racism around her, including a time when she hated herself for being biracial. “I would question myself why,” said Houston-Leyva. “I would pick on other Black kids and other Black kids would pick on me,”

Over 300 people marched under the blazing Texas sun and listened to speeches at the courthouse on June 6. It was one of the smaller demonstrations happening around the world in response to the murder of George Floyd, one of the many Black people who has been killed while in police custody, but has garnered national attention with mentions in the New York Times and The Rachel Maddow Show.

Before the Alpine protest, Houston-Leyva cried as she saw the protests in larger cities like Austin and San Antonio, because she felt like she couldn’t do anything in her rural town. She signed online petitions, gave donations, and attended a candlelight vigil at the Presidio County Courthouse in Marfa. At the vigil, she and her mom joined the small crowd wearing masks and practicing social distancing as they listened to two songs by Nina Simone and a short speech.

Shortly afterwards, Houston-Leyva joined a Facebook group created by a few Alpine residents who were organizing a protest for the following weekend, which led to one of the organizers asking her to speak at the protest. At first she was excited, but then a public Facebook thread revealed threatening comments towards the protesters that included the phrases “get a rope” and “lock n load,” and assumptions that there would be civil unrest during the 9:30 am protest. “I started getting nervous once we got those threats because I was like something could happen,” said Houston-Leyva. “I was worried about the other speakers. I didn’t know how many people were going to be there. I was worried about people just standing on the side of the street with big machine guns and stuff.”

At one point, she thought maybe she shouldn’t speak at the rally, but then she told herself that she had to do it as one of the few Black people in Alpine. Thankfully, the protest remained peaceful. A few people wearing red MAGA hats watched the march pass by, and one guy interrupted a speech with cries of “it’s conspiracy theories, not racism.” The crowd responded by chanting “I love you” at him. The hardest day for Houston-Leyva was the day before the event. It was her birthday as well as the birthday of Breonna Taylor, a Black woman who was fatally shot in her home by Louisville police officers during a now illegal no-knock search warrant. “It was just a lot, and I had to get there emotionally,” siad Houston-Leyva. “I had a couple breakdowns. I cried. I was really worried. But when I got up there, I looked at everybody and I knew that I had to do this.”

It was when she left to study in San Antonio a few years ago that Houston-Leyva realized there was a racism problem in Alpine. She saw more diversity and people from other races and cultures attending her school. “It opened my mind, but it was like, wow,” said Houston-Leyva. “Looking back at it, it’s like I was hearing all this negative stuff about these people and they’re nothing like that.”

Houston-Leyva said Alpine is like a little fantasy world where everybody is set in their ways. “They’re more worried about what people are going to think instead of what’s right,” she said. In her speech, she shared a story that she hadn’t told many people, not even her mom, about a sleepover in elementary school. Two of her white friends were making plans for an out-of-town trip in front of her and a Hispanic friend. “My Hispanic friend and I were baffled and wondering why not us? Why don’t we get to go with you? When we asked why [we] couldn’t go, the little girl replied, ‘Because I am white,’” recalled Houston-Leyva.

person recording speakers on their phoneSarah M. Vasquez

The crowd was silent after hearing her story, but she shared it because she wanted her neighbors to realize that racism exists everywhere. “Saying my speech here, it hit home because they watched me grow up,” said Houston-Leyva. “I didn’t talk about my issues publicly, only with my family, and I think that made people realize like ‘Oh, wow. Dae is affected by this.’”

During the march, she saw a little girl holding hands with her mom. It reminded Houston-Leyva of her younger self, and that’s when she realized that it was important for her to speak her truth about racism. “I’m doing it for her because I don’t need her to go through what I went through,” said Houston-Leyva. “I don’t know who she is, but she gave me that courage. She gave me that strength and she doesn’t even know it.”

This Viral Video Game Is Changing the Face of Voter Outreach

In 2024, voting campaigns have evolved greatly, to say the least. Creativity is now the name of the game and tongue-in-cheek humor is expertly leveraged to drive action. One example of that is Bop the Bigot, a revival of a viral game created in 2016 by Bazta Arpaio, an Arizona activist group, as part of a campaign to unseat Maricopa County’s Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Arpaio lost his re-election to Paul Penzone that year.

The game has now been updated for the current election cycle and relaunched by On Point Studios, with new features added to enable players to find out what’s on their ballot, confirm voter status, and register to vote.

Much like its former 2016 version, the game allows users to take out their political frustrations by virtually “bopping” GOP candidates in the head. It’s very similar to whack-a-mole, except the mole is replaced by former President Donald Trump, Ohio’s Senator J. D. Vance, and Kevin Roberts, President of the Heritage Foundation, which is spearheading Project 2025.

cartoon renditions of Donald Trump and J.D. Vance around a Bop the Bigot logoPromotional image provided by On Point Studios.

B. Loewe, Director of On Point Studios, came up with the concept for this game when working as the Communications Director at Bazta Arpaio in 2016, and is the executive producer of this revamped version. In the first version of the game, Bop the Bigot players used a chancla (flip flop) to “bop” the characters, tapping into Latino culture by leaning on the childhood experience of being set right by a flying chancla from a fed-up mother or grandmother.

This year, the chancla is replaced by a more current element, a green coconut, referencing Kamala Harris’ coconut tree meme. There are also side characters like “the couch,” cat ladies, and more coconuts. All references to jokes about Vice-Presidential candidate Vance, or insults Vance has made about women on the campaign trail.

Another new addition is that Harris’ laugh is immortalized as the game-over sound effect, an unexpected detail that adds even more humor and levity to the game.

cartoon renditions of Donald Trump, Kevin Roberts, and J.D. Vance around a Bop the Bigot logoPromotional image provided by On Point Studios.

Bop the Bigot, which is playable on desktop and mobile, is intended not just as a way to vent political frustrations, but also as a tool for activism and securing voter engagement.

For example, the game supports the work of Mexican Neidi Dominguez Zamorano, Founding Executive Director of the non-profit organization Organized Power in Numbers by using the “game over” screen to prompt players to donate to it and support their efforts.

Organized Power in Numbers is focused on empowering workers in the South and Southwest of the U.S. through collective action and comprehensive campaigns. Their mission is to create a large-scale movement that challenges the status quo and advocates for workers' rights, and racial and economic justice.

Currently, Dominguez Zamorano is leading worker outreach to 2 million working-class voters in the South and Southwest through doorknocking, texting, and calls with the help of local groups in North Carolina, Arizona, New Mexico, and more.

“We have been blown away by the enthusiastic reception for the video game. We knew we wanted to be part of its creative approach because our movement needs more fun and laughter. We need more ways to connect with nuestra gente so we can feel joy among all the absurdity we witness every day,” Dominguez Zamorano shared with Luz Media via email.

“Our people are gente trabajadora and we deserve to feel uplifted even in our toughest moments. We are deeply involved in the South and Southwest so we know what’s at stake in this election and we’re happy this can be a resource to mobilize, raise spirits, and get out the vote," she concluded.

Dominguez Zamorano is a committed activist for immigrants and workers' rights, known for her strategist skills and expertise. She played a key role in the campaign to win DACA and has also held roles in major campaigns, including as Deputy National States Director for Bernie Sanders' 2020 presidential campaign. In addition to her work with Organized Power in Numbers, Dominguez Zamorano is serving as a Senior Advisor to Mijente’s Fuera Trump Initiative.

Grassroots efforts like these have taken on new life in 2024, with Bop the Bigot adding to the larger, ongoing fight against political apathy and disinformation. Just as it did during the 2016 race, the video game uses humor to soften the serious task at hand—getting people to the polls.

"We want the game to be a fun and comical outlet for anyone who’s been insulted, frustrated, or harmed by Trump in the past and everyone who is ready to move forward as a country after election day," explained Loewe in a press release. "The proposals in Project 2025 and the beliefs of Trump and Vance aren’t just weird, they’re truly harmful. We wanted to give people a humorous and peaceful way to smack down their racism and sexism. We hope it makes people laugh and also feel empowered and motivated to get to the polls on or before election day."

With a mix of satire, sharp political critique, and nostalgia, the game is a call to action. The upcoming election, which is getting closer by the minute, has sparked fierce activism and creative yet grounded initiatives like these aim to ensure voters are engaged, especially young Latinos and disenfranchised groups.

hands holding up yellow protest signs that say Hands Off Our Bodies
Photo Credit: Gayatri Malhotra via Unsplash

Originally published in Common Dreams. Reprinted with permission.

The Latino electorate will prove decisive in securing reproductive freedom and abortion access through ballot measures around the country, particularly in states where Latinos are a significant portion of the electorate.

In November, abortion rights measures will appear on ballots across ten states, including Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Nevada, and New York, where Latinos make up a significant portion of the electorate. For decades, pundits and politicians have recycled long-held misconceptions about Latino voters and abortion access, citing our conservative and religious beliefs.

Anti-abortion extremists have long fueled these misconceptions through misinformation and disinformation campaigns targeting Latino communities with egregious lies and inflammatory rhetoric about abortion. Yet, polling, focus groups, and direct interactions with Latino communities have debunked these outdated tropes.

The Latino electorate will prove decisive in securing reproductive freedom and abortion access through ballot measures around the country, particularly in states where Latinos are a significant portion of the electorate.

For Latinos, the freedom to decide, a pillar of our American democracy, is critical. Meanwhile, Latinos are being hit directly with anti-abortion efforts that take away that freedom such as the six-week abortion ban put into effect by the Florida Supreme Court and the 1864 abortion ban upheld by the Arizona Supreme Court. In the wake of the Dobbs decision, people of color and Latinas have felt the impact of a lack of abortion access, an element of basic healthcare.

A 2023 report by the National Partnership for Women and Families estimated that nearly 6.5 million Latinas, or 42% of all Latinas of reproductive age in the country, live in a state that either had or was likely to ban abortion. Ironically, it will be abortion access and anti-choice efforts to restrict freedom of choice that will mobilize Latino voters this election.

In a poll conducted by three national reproductive justice organizations, 87% of Latinas named abortion and women’s rights as one of their top priorities as they head to the polls. Another battleground poll conducted by Somos PAC and BSP Research found that 61% of Latino registered voters expressed a more positive/favorable view of Kamala Harris after hearing that she will protect abortion rights, versus only 19% of Latinos who said they had a more negative view of Harris after hearing that.

In key states to secure the White House and both chambers, Latinos make up large chunks of the electorate: Arizona (25%), Colorado (15%), Florida (20%), Nevada (20%), and New York (12%). In the face of unprecedented attacks on basic healthcare access and targeted attempts by extremists to mislead and divide our community on this issue, this November Latinos will be key deciders on abortion access across the country.

Mari Urbina, Managing Director of Indivisible, Battleground Arizona Lead and former Harry Reid advisor.

Héctor Sánchez Barba is president and CEO of Mi Familia Vota (MFV).