September/October 2021

The Texas Observer

Observing Texas since 1954

The Texas Observer2 min readCrime & Violence
Editor’s Note
One of the most remarkable things about Texas justice is how it fails to confront power in any meaningful way. It’s an unyielding beast when it comes to drugs, immigration, violent crime, or so-called election fraud, but when it comes to corrupt poli
The Texas Observer4 min readAmerican Government
To The Right, To The Right
With a simple statement, the man from Mar-a-Lago can still make or break political fortunes. Exhibit A: the GOP primaries in Texas. This summer, former President Donald Trump issued his “Complete and Total Endorsement” of two of Texas’ most powerful
The Texas Observer1 min read
The Texas Observer
EDITOR IN CHIEF Tristan Ahtone EXECUTIVE EDITOR Megan Kimble ASSOCIATE EDITORS Christopher Collins, Sophie Novack DIGITAL EDITOR Danielle Lopez SENIOR REPORTER Lise Olsen STAFF WRITERS Amal Ahmed, Michael Barajas, Gus Bova, Pauly Denetclaw, Justin Mi
The Texas Observer5 min read
On The Coronavirus, Loss, And My Mom’s Tacos
“Hijo, ya está la comida!” My mom shouted from the kitchen of our family home in Oak Cliff that my huevo con chorizo tacos were ready. It was New Year’s Eve 2020, and I’d been staying at my parents’ house for almost a week so my mom didn’t ring in th
The Texas Observer1 min readAmerican Government
Texas Tally
$250 MILLION was transferred from the state’s beleaguered prison system to border security in June, a bid by Texas Governor Greg Abbott to finish former President Donald Trump’s border wall in Texas. During his time in office, Trump managed to build
The Texas Observer5 min read
All In The Family
Bryan Parras recalls a time in elementary school when he accompanied his dad on a work trip to Nederland, in Texas’ Golden Triangle. The warehouse where his dad organized county workers was “just one open vacant room with a bunch of chairs like you w
The Texas Observer2 min read
Strangest State
In El Paso, the operators of the local zoo are raising the fences around the spider monkey exhibit, KDBC reports. The construction, which will raise the fences from 3 feet to 5.5 feet, comes after a woman hopped the fence to feed the monkeys, which i
The Texas Observer17 min read
Portraits Of The Pandemic
A year and a half into the pandemic, millions of Texans have been infected with the coronavirus and more than 54,000 have died. Vaccines brought family reunions and the hopeful, albeit short-lived, promise of a semi-normal summer. But with less than
The Texas Observer5 min read
Promoting Equity
San Antonio has a history of electing young, fresh faces to city council—think Henry Cisneros and Julián Castro. In June, voters picked a 26-year-old math teacher named Jalen McKee-Rodriguez to represent the city’s historically Black East Side, makin
The Texas Observer14 min readCrime & Violence
Justice For Some
PAUL ANDERSON’S RED-BRICK law office faces North Street in Nacogdoches and fits right in with the rest of the offices and cafes along the small city’s main street. The interior reflects Anderson’s flamboyant personality: It’s painted scarlet and feat
The Texas Observer3 min readCrime & Violence
564 Investigations 67 prosecutions
STATEWIDE, THE TEXAS RANGERS HAVE INVESTIGATED MORE THAN 560 CASES OF PUBLIC CORRUPTION AND PUBLIC INTEGRITY, INCLUDING BRIBERY, THEFT, FORGERY, AND OTHER WRONGDOING. YET NEARLY 90 PERCENT OF THE TIME, THERE ARE NO PUBLIC RESULTS OR PROSECUTIONS AND
The Texas Observer14 min read
No Other Option
Gerald Nielson’s back pain has plagued him ever since the day in 1986 when he crashed his Trans Am while going 80 miles an hour. The accident broke his back in several places and left him with a constant, searing ache from his neck to his tailbone. T
The Texas Observer5 min read
On The Porch Celebrates Terlingua And Its Residents
W. Chase Peeler, a researcher who studies music cultures, headed to the farthest corner of West Texas in 2013 to find a remote region where music was in full bloom. He drove through Big Bend, stopped in Terlingua Ghost Town, and discovered a communit
The Texas Observer9 min read
The Final Frontera
Wade at night into the gently lapping surf at Boca Chica Beach, an undeveloped stretch of sand about 20 miles east of the Texas border town of Brownsville, and ahead you’ll see nothing but Gulf waters meeting sky—endless, dark but for the stars and l
The Texas Observer2 min read
The River, At Night
As the tide drops, navigating the banks of the Rio Grande becomes more manageable. Along the 1,200-mile boundary are points where the United States and Mexico are only feet away from each other, the river easily crossed in the right conditions. In th
The Texas Observer3 min read
Forgetful City
The Freedman’s Memorial Cemetery is empty on a sweltering weekday in June, the gated park tucked between Lemmon Avenue and Calvary Street contained by the three-lane frontage road that edges the moat of the North Central Expressway. The sound of traf
The Texas Observer1 min read
Trigger Warning: Time
Everything happens in timebut Time still sometimeswants a body a stalk like an asparagusa golden eyethat opens slow and misty maybe a scar or twoto prove its memories the mirror of a quiet poolor nakedness before another Time dreams a trunkand leaves
The Texas Observer1 min read
Archives
In the spring of 1959, the Texas Observer published an ambitious series of in-depth reports on the state’s hospitals for the mentally ill, featuring images by noted documentary photographer Russell Lee. The stories revealed the deplorable conditions

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