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This week's episode focuses on two events from Texas in recent days. The first is the release of five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father from a detention camp after court intervention. The second is the stunning upset in a Texas state senate race, which pro-labor veteran Taylor Rehmet won handily, though Donald Trump had defeated Kamala Harris in the same district by double digits just over a year ago. Andrea Pitzer looks at these recent happenings and despite the violence and turmoil still taking place nationwide, believes a sea change is underway. She walks listeners through recent court cases and polling that are going very much against the Trump administration. She traces local actions in places like Virginia and New Jersey working to keep ICE detention facilities out. She notes recent research from sociologist Dana Fisher, who has found tremendous support for organizations engaging in nonviolent civil disobedience, including sit-ins and blockades.
It's not that the government isn't continuing to terrorize whole cities and communities. What the president and his allies are finding out is that being able to terrorize a people is often not sufficient to force them surrender. Bringing everyone into this fold of civil rights and humane treatment won't happen automatically. It takes work. But the seeds have been planted, and a movement is growing.