February 24 Professors at the University of Houston Downtown campus took to the streets on Wednesday afternoon for the “Professors Against SB4” rally.
Protesters rallied against legislators seeking to eliminate sanctuary cities here in Texas. It’s a last minute addition to the language of the bill that is terrifying educators. Officials who resist are subject to punishments including; a loss of funding, civil penalties, and the possibility of losing their job.
“SB4 does include a provision that says, that race, color, national origin, language, religion can not be can not be considered as factors. I don’t see how it can be done without discrimination inherent in the process. In the last 10 days, I have personally been made aware of three of our students, that are afraid to return to class,” Lone Star College System Trustee Linda Good, said.
From the changes we’ve seen already with immigration detention, that fear seems legitimate.
“I`m not going to make any exaggeration here, Texas SB4 would turn campus police into immigration officials,” said Tony Diaz of Librotraficante and Professors Against SB4.
The law has only passed the Texas Senate and is headed for the House, but it`s already replacing hope with fear in Texas schools.
This is excerpted from an article that originally appeared on the site of CW39 in Houston.