Ector County Republican Party-Aligned Group Calls For Lynching Of Brown Mayor
Ector County Republican Party-Aligned Group Calls For Lynching Of Brown Mayor
Violence in Odessa: A dangerous turn in local politics.
Over the last month, violence between Ector County Republicans has reached peak levels. There have been multiple Republican-on-Republican incidents, and at least one has led to a police report and a press conference from county officials. While researching the incidents and trying to understand what happened, I came across a Facebook page called “Odessa Accountability Project.”
This morning, they made a Facebook post calling for the lynching of the brown Republican mayor. I only came across this post because the Ector County Republican Party shared it. In fact, the Ector County Republican Party has shared nearly every post of the Odessa Accountability Project for months (maybe longer).
The exact verbiage used was, “Mayor Javier Joven should be shot or hung from a tree.”
Shot or hung from a tree.
Most of us who have lived in the South our entire lives know shooting or hanging people of color from trees is called lynching. So, essentially, the Odessa Accountability Project was saying, “Mayor Javier Joven should be lynched.”
This is jargon that they would never have used if Joven was white. Very rarely do we hear about Conservative’s ambitions to lynch white people.
Local restaurant owner Jamie Tisdale runs the Odessa Accountability Project and is deeply involved with local Republican politics. Here is the entire Facebook post, which calls for Jovan’s lynching (warning: it’s long and unhinged).
WTF is going on in Ector County?
Ector County was named after Matthew Ector, a Confederate general in the Civil War, and the demographic makeup is currently 30% Anglo and 60% Hispanic. And despite voters voting over 70% Republican in the last two elections, the turnout rate in this county is abysmally low. The voter turnout in 2020 was 55%, while in 2022, it was only 30%.
One of the violent incidents with Republicans in Ector County took place a week ago when the candidate for the Ector County GOP Chair allegedly roughed up a GOP precinct chair candidate. See the news report:
Now, local officials are planning on placing an armed deputy at each polling location to protect voters from Republican violence.
Here is an Ector County Republican talking about the ties between the Odessa Accountability Project and the Ector County Republican Party.
So, wtf is going on in Ector County?
One study from researchers at Oxford, Brown, and Harvard confirms Conservatives to be more aggressive.
Another study from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences confirms that right-wing extremists are twice as likely to engage in violence than left-wing extremists.
A third study, which confirms religious and right-wing ideologies may be more likely to promote extreme violence.
Republicans, especially in 2024, have embraced violence as part of their fascistic plans to take over government and similar institutions. With Ector County being a seemingly red county, they have no one to turn their violence against other than each other.
Moreover, these violent incidents and violent speech are likely why Ector County has some of the lowest voter turnout rates in Texas. There’s a good chance that the Hispanic community in Odessa is scared to go to the polls because Conservative violence has likely been a staple of this area since the beginning of Jim Crow.
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that there’s still a Confederate rock standing on the courthouse lawn in Ector County.
It was erected in 1891 and has served as a symbol to all people of color in Oddessa that there will be no equal justice for Black and brown people in Ector County.
It is common in rural Texas for towns that still honor the Confederacy to grapple with racial hatred. The two go hand-in-hand.
Mayor Javier Jovan is a Republican.
“A proud Christian Conservative,” he calls himself. Jovan is also the first Hispanic to be elected in the history of municipal elections in Odessa, despite Odessa long being a majority-minority city.
The situation in Ector County highlights the challenges the Republican Party faces in uniting diverse factions under a cohesive agenda. The party members’ aggressive rhetoric and actions raise serious concerns about the health of democratic engagement in the region.
Political violence and threatening language undermine the principles of democratic discourse and contribute to a climate of fear that deters electoral participation, particularly among minority communities.
Mayor Jovan is a Republican. So, isn’t this what he signed up for?
The tragic story of Jonathan Price.
In 2020, Jonathan Price, a Black man, was unarmed when he was shot and killed by a white police officer in Wolfe City, Texas. Wolfe City is in Hunt County in Northeast Texas and has a white population of over 70%. Of course, the white police officer was later acquitted, but two things about that incident resonated with me, and I still think about it today.
The first was during the week of Price’s death when it came out that he was a Black Conservative, a Trump voter, and was vocal about backing the blue. This stood out to me because I would later hear Black leaders talking about how adopting the ideology of the oppressor would not save Black men from the police or racial violence that takes place in America.
Black Community Leaders from East Texas and DFW went to Wolfe City in the days following his murder to hold a peaceful candlelight vigil despite him being a Republican.
The second thing that resonated with me was during the peaceful vigil, a white man with an AR15 showed up and brandished his firearm to the crowd of mostly Black people, which led to complete chaos. His behavior was reminiscent of the old Ku Klux Klan days, showing the Black out-of-towners that North East Texas is still white man’s territory.
If you missed it or have forgotten about the incident, here is the video.
What is the takeaway from the Jonathan Price incident?
The Jonathan Price incident serves as a harsh reminder of the complex dynamics of race, politics, and violence in America, especially within communities that strongly align with conservative ideologies.
Price’s identity as a Black conservative and his tragic death highlight a critical contradiction: the belief that alignment with particular political beliefs or law enforcement support can shield individuals from racial prejudice and violence. This notion has been painfully disproven too many times.
The intersection of race and politics is where the personal political beliefs of Black and brown individuals do not exempt them from the systemic issues of racial bias and violence.
Mayor Javier Jovan’s situation in Ector County illustrates that aligning with any political party, even one that ostensibly matches one’s values or identity, cannot entirely shield an individual from the threats and actualities of violence.
No one, regardless of political affiliation or position, deserves to be subjected to threats of violence.
The threats against Mayor Jovan bring to light the urgent need for change in Texas and beyond. A more peaceful and safer community can be envisioned where political discourse does not devolve into violence or threats.
This ideal future hinges on the active participation of all community members in the democratic process, mainly through voting. The habit of non-voting contributes to perpetuating a status quo that may not reflect the community’s needs or protect its members from harm.
Engaging every eligible voter in the electoral process is critical to reshaping the political landscape. Residents can elect representatives who truly reflect their values and prioritize the safety and well-being of all community members, irrespective of their political leanings.
Ending the cycle of violence and intimidation in Texas politics is about removing the Republicans who directly or indirectly endorse such tactics from office.
Texas, with its diverse population and dynamic political landscape, has the potential to be a much better place. It starts with voting in every single election and voting against Republicans every single time.
Important 2024 primary election days:
March 1, 2024: Last Day of Early Voting.
March 5, 2024: Election Day!
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i moved to midland in 2016 and lived there for five loooong years until i could safely relocate back to fort worth in 2021 after i was able to get the covid vaccine. midessa likes to bill itself as a caring christian community but it is anything but. while more and more racist residents were erecting flagpoles to waive their ridiculous, car dealership sized trump flags, i was getting more heavily involved in politics and mutated into one salty, staunch democrat… which is one, if not the only, good thing that i got out of that brown, upside down, hellhole.
i don't speak about my West Texas experience much cause there wasn't much politics to talk about........even in 2010 it was all white all right.
A buddy of mine's sister headed up the Tom Green County tea party.If I had given the Tea Party a thought the thought was it was a fad like the 'Take Back Texas' gang in the 80's..IOW harmless.
My friend convinced me to attend a Tea Party rally at the Tom Green County Courthouse. I went as a favor. I got there and su'nuff there was a thousand or so....whatever u want to call em, partiots? dupes? use your own term.
I saw a dozen or 2 Dems, Hispanics mostly, friends and family of Fuentes, a downtown Mexican resturant, huddled neath a sprawling oak tree i0n the shade, in lawn chairs with beer. I said my hello's and howya doings and turned back to the Courthouse to look at the throng......There I observed the Tom Green County Sherrifs Deputy, batons drawn, lined up to seperate the 'patriot's' from the commie gay Dems all 11 of us.
Thing is the Sherriffs Deputies were facing us, not the throng like we were the threat and not the thousand tea party lunatics.