This is Let's Talk About It, the official podcast
of La Prensa, Texas, hosted by Yvette Teo and
produced by JMT Studios. This show grows from
a tradition rooted in culture, memory, and the
power of community voices. Our history told by
us in our own words. From city hall to the corner
store, from policy to personal experience, this
is where real conversations live. The overlooked.
The everyday, the resilience, the stories that
shape who we are in English, in Espanol, and
always from the heart of our community. Not from
the sidelines and not from a distance. This is
the community speaking for itself. Welcome to
Let's Talk About It. Welcome to Let's Talk About
It, the podcast where we talk about what's happening
in the community, where the stories that are
told about us are told by us. I'm Ivette Teo
with La Prensa, Texas. And I'm Jacqueline Tecorante
with JMT Media. And we are here to really get
down to the nitty gritty of Let's Talk About
It. So we are extremely blessed and honored to
be here with two amazing pioneers here in San
Antonio, Texas, as well as the greater surrounding
areas, our amazing Commissioner Tommy Calvert.
And we also have Bexar County District Attorney
Candidate Mr. Shannon Locke. Thank you both for
being here. Thank you for having me. It's an
honor. Congratulations on this new show. This
is what we need in San Antonio. Antonio, so you
are pioneering women. So thank you for leading
the way to truth in the media in San Antonio.
It's sure needed. We are definitely, we're working
it. We're working it. And so we're going to start
off by talking about a couple of weeks back,
we were in attendance at City Hall to really
advocate and push for the voting to be moved
from March to November, namely for a variety
of reasons. One, we don't want voter suppression,
right? But we also wanted folks to be able to
have access and the opportunity to vote and have
it not compete against other very historic and
community driven events such as Fiesta. I mean,
that's a big scholarship fundraising event all
year long. So, Yvette, can you talk a little
bit about, you know, you were there in the audience
as we were advocating for that. And also, Tommy,
you came in, too. I mean, you really had some
great things to say and to talk about what's
going on. Yeah, I bet. I mean, you were there
for the history. I was so impressed how many
people came out to talk about it. And it's almost
a no brainer if you say, do you want to go vote
or do you want to go to Fiesta? Yeah. And Dolores
Huerta came, which was a wonderful surprise.
I couldn't believe that. It was like, is it the
real Dolores Huerta? And it was so impressive.
And I feel like, I think there was only one person
who said, no, let's not, let's not move it. Councilwoman
Spears did a poll the week before 70. This is
District 9 Councilwoman Missy Spears. And I think
it was 78 % of the people in District 9 said.
Move it to November. Yeah, she was, you know,
that was a complete shift, I think, from just
from the audience perspective. I don't think
a lot of people were expecting that. It was like
the last inning. You're like, wait, what? What
happened? And but you also spoke that afternoon,
that day, that afternoon was a long day for sure.
Yeah, no, it was important. You know, the mayor
had reached out and any time you can make democracy
more. easy for people to vote is important because
there are so many elections, the way they roll
out, this would give jurisdictions the opportunity
to consolidate their elections because people
in this city always are saying. oh, I just voted
for them or I have to go again. And the less
of that that you have going on with people, especially
nowadays being so busy, the better, right? And
so, yeah, there were some concerns about school
districts, but I think a lot of them are going
to join in on the November or move theirs in
conjunction with the other jurisdictions, college
districts and things like that. And I really
think that'll help with voter fatigue. So many
people are just like, oh, I've got to do this
again. I've got to do this again. And it's a
tough environment. So when I was in high school,
understand that now high schools no longer have
government uh required to be a government class
we used to have a half a semester of government
what is it civic engagements or yeah i hate to
hear that i'm not in the legislature so i'm not
surprised but that would that's terrible yeah
and then half a semester of economics right in
order to graduate you had to do a half and half
but you know what's so silly to me about that
is that government law policy and economics That's
like what you have to know for the rest of your
life. So why is it that first of all, now I was
thinking half a semester was silly, but now they
pulled it out of school. That's an easy answer.
I mean, we are living in an era where the Republicans
really don't want people to be educated about
how their government works because there is a
minority of billionaires and oligarchs who are
running everything. And as long as you are dumb
and unaware of how it works, they can. They can
just puppet those politicians to whatever goodies
that come out of the coffers of the governments
possess. Right. So that is I mean, that is that
is why they're doing it. I mean, they don't want
people to follow the money and pay attention.
So we've talked a little bit about following
the money and policy. But Shannon, I mean, you've
had 20 plus years in the courthouse, federal
and state. Like, what are your thoughts on this?
Absolutely. So. What real Democrats want is we
want more people to participate in our democracy.
That's really what we want. And so our ideas
attract voters. And so the more people that we
can get involved, the more likely it is that
our ideas will be successful. Because when people
hear our ideas, they like them. So that's basically
what happened. And to Tommy's point, we have
a growing pie, but a smaller minority of people
is taking more and more of that pie. If they
can keep us ignorant about economics, if they
can keep us ignorant about government, if they
can keep us ignorant about our rights, then they're
more likely to be able to push us around. And
at the end of the day, that's probably the...
the bigger story. And that's what's happening
right now. That is the culture and the climate
of our time and of our city. And now we're talking
about voter suppression. And when you talk about
it, and we've seen a little bit in the paper,
The Current did a wonderful job of covering some
of that. And I've heard from certain people that
have talked to the election department, and they
are very passionate about it as well. But it
doesn't make sense if you don't understand it.
And that's the idea. So today, if you could,
Tommy, just break it down just a little bit,
just so that we can understand it. Because we
don't know what it means. Voter suppression,
you hear that, it's like, oh, they're not letting
me vote. So high level, there were only two private
sector vendors for a voter registration system
that you could use as a jurisdiction in Texas.
So a county, a city, etc. One of those entities,
a California -based company, had gone belly up.
So it left us with one private sector vendor.
And then the Secretary of State, who administers
elections for the state, they have a system,
but it's largely been used for rural, smaller
counties. It has a slow uptake. It's got less
memory and all those kinds of things. So traditionally,
most of your big counties have not used the state
system. So fast forward, we had that November
election where Project Marvel and the state constitutional
amendments were on. And because we were on the
state system, we had a backlog of like 77 ,000
people's voter registrations. Now, just think
about that. That's a lot of votes that can change
a statewide election, particularly as it's very
close in some of these national... often the
prevailing wisdom of politics is that we're a
50 -50, almost 50 -50 country. I don't think
that's true anymore. I think that the pendulum
is coming much more towards Democrats. That worries
some of the Republicans at the state level. And
their goal is always to shave off some votes
so that they can maintain political and financial
power because people often miss that. The contracts,
the billions and billions of dollars in contracts
wind their way into campaign contributions and
the campaign coffers of Governor Abbott and his
cronies. And as a result, it not only proliferates
Texas politics, but it also proliferates the
national politics and the Trumpism that's going
on. So Texas is a very important location for
voting. That's unfortunately why. They sold out
to the Trump administration's DOJ and they sent
our 18 plus million voter registration records
to the Department of Justice. What's going to
happen, and I'll come back to the local thing
in a second. What's going to happen is the Department
of Justice, the Trump Justice Department, is
going to end up shaving off some people and saying,
Ms. Tello, you happen to be illegal. Or Mr. Calvert,
you committed some sort of felony and you are
not supposed to be. Even though you are legal
and even though I didn't commit a felony, you've
got a name that matches somebody. And oops, there's
a mistake. Oops, you wind up at the pole and
maybe you got to go to work and you can't fix
it. You know, the burden becomes on you and me
to get that fixed. Right. So that's where it's
important that these private sector vendors are
able to help us as much as we can in these kinds
of shenanigans. So early on, I found it very
strange that, you know, there was the folks in
the DA's office were saying that this. We didn't
need to do the VR systems because it was too
expensive. And I thought, that is way outside
of the lane of a district attorney's office to
advise the court, which is in charge of financial
matters, about the budgetary uses of the county.
Fast forward to September, the court does pass
VR systems as a private sector vendor. At that
time, the direction of the court was to look
at other counties that have done this and their
contracts because we needed to hurry this up.
We didn't need to reinvent the wheel because
the state has a cooperative buying ability that
we are part of in the Bexar County called the
Texas Buy Board. And that allows you to piggyback
off of the contracts that have already been.
written and negotiated. Like an approved vendor.
And it's beyond that. It's approved at a certain
price with certain contractual conditions, right?
So when you start to mess around with the contract
in the way that our local DA's office did, that
puts the whole thing in jeopardy because you
negotiate conditions at a certain price. If you
start saying it's a cloud -based system, then
they've got to rewrite programming to become.
a cloud -based system and that's not what is
negotiated at that price right is that what happened
yeah and and and and then some i mean i'm right
because we were just trying to save some money
um maybe well you know these things have as i
said a set price the county had already put into
uh the budget Over a million dollars for Boat
Tech. We've been doing this for decades. So I
have one question when it comes to that. So because
it was during, I think I read something where
commissioner's court, everybody approved. I think
there was only one person who did it. Commissioner
Moody didn't. So. They wanted to use the state
system. Right. And so, and maybe he didn't quite
understand how it worked and why he wanted that.
But wanted to know why then. Okay. And now the
DA said, no, we're going to order. teams, right?
Versus the VR. Well, he didn't say that. He said
that the county manager, the IT department and
the DA said they had to do staff due diligence.
So then the IT department was blamed for some
of the delay in terms of their computer check
of the congruency with our systems. I'm not at
liberty to tell you what I talked about in executive
session. What I can say is that I think the public
should be concerned about whether there were
real conversations between our IT department
and this vendor. Good. I mean, and we do need
to know that. So, Shannon, I mean, as you're
running for Bexar County District Attorney for
that seat in that role, you know, we've talked
about this. Can you kind of express your thoughts
and feelings on this particular situation? Because
this is clearly voter suppression. This is, I
mean, on a business professional level, you know,
MWBE contracts is a big deal near and dear to
my heart, supporting advocacy and legislation.
But from the DA standpoint, can you talk a little
bit about that? Sure. So what you're concerned
about or what I would be concerned about is clearly
you have a party. the Republican party and they
have adopted project 2025. One of the clear aims
of project 2025 is to make sure that people don't
get registered to vote. And so if you have, so
you need to make absolutely sure as the district
attorney, that as a, as a democratic district
attorney, that you're enfranchising as many people
as you possibly can. And so that has to be the
priority. And so what I would task my civil division
chief with would be, look, we need to make sure
every decision that we make is enfranchising,
getting people the right to vote and making that
as easy as possible, because that's absolutely
what a Democratic district attorney should be
doing. And so the concern that I would have is
that if you have somebody that is thwarting that,
then maybe they have a political agenda that
they're enacting that would be contrary to what
to getting as many people registered and on the
voting rolls as quickly as possible. So one question
real quick, Shannon. When you say Democratic
DA, you're talking about, you're not saying that
you're a voting Democrat, you're just saying
democracy. Well, I'm saying, well, party affiliated
with a Democratic district attorney is somebody
who should be encouraging people, but also somebody
who wants a... Democratic, like a Democratic.
Democracy, right. A strong democracy is strong.
Right, because the votes for Republicans and
Democrats are just as important. And the idea
is it's about all voters. Yes. And I just want
to make that really, really clear that everybody
understand that. So now, Commissioner, because
we don't understand what happens in Commissioner's
Court or City Council or who's responsible for
what. But clearly, the court, the commissioner's
court, it was voted. It was supposed to be the
VR system. The fact that that did not happen
and something else was not compatible to the
system we have now, we are now backlogged. They
just cleared up about 6 ,000, right? Hold on,
can I stop? What do you mean? How did we go from
backlog to all of a sudden things are okay? Well,
they did hire temporary workers, but that is
a unfunded mandate. The fact that we had to pay
people out of the Bexar County budget for what
the state of Texas should have done and doing
it right because the state of Texas system was
only uploading about eight. voter registrations,
whereas before it would be about 24 to 30 an
hour. I think we have to be very careful, though,
about being lulled to sleep. I think there are
some in the Project 2025 world, those folks who
do not want. people to get registered to vote,
who want to lull, to mow down the backlog so
that, well, they say, well, you know, we got
through it. You think we can use the state system?
Well, the public, from a media, public perception
standpoint, it comes off as, oh, we got a problem,
we have a solution in 24 hours. And you're like...
How did that happen? We still have the pothole
from 20 years ago. It's a manpower issue. But
here's part of the bigger picture. With those
70 ,000 voter registrations, we had people who
were very strained at the elections department,
having to work weekends, having to work really
long hours. I mean, I can't fault the elections
administrator for doing that because I would
have done the same thing, to be honest with you.
It would have been, I'm sorry, but we've got
to get people in the system. But it's the process.
But there were people who quit. There were people
who quit because of the work. It doesn't have
to be that way, though. No, it doesn't. I mean,
it's not only that it slowed down at the Texas
Secretary of State's team system, but the people
who get registered to vote at DPS, when you go
get your driver's license, the elections department
couldn't even see certain screens to enter people.
It was completely dysfunctional, right? So you
can't tell me. But that's just so coincidental.
Now, let me just make something clear. We've
always said that the Texas team system was kind
of for the rural, smaller counties. But guess
what's happening as we speak? The rural counties
are saying, hey, that system in state is so messed
up and jacked up, we want VR. So when the local
message machine. The Project 2025 people tries
to get you into complacency that we can use the
state system. Be advised. That's not what the
rural counties are saying. They're saying. And
the reason I'm bringing this up is because VR
systems has said they do one county at a time
for quality sake. So if we wait, we might become
behind these other smaller counties. And we've
got a lot more data and a lot more millions of
people to work with. Right. So. We have to stay
on this until it gets passed. So just in layman's
terms for me to understand, it means that not
everybody's vote counts. Well, there's a lot
of things that are happening with these systems.
The first thing is that if you register and your
registration is not processed, then of course,
yes, that means that you cannot be enfranchised
to vote. Is that legal? Um... I don't believe
it is. I don't believe it is. And I think that
is a whole other conversation for our civil rights
organizations who could look at lawsuits. Even
our district attorney's office could look at
lawsuits to hold the state accountable to be
compliant with the law that is passed by the
legislature. So, Shannon, do you think that that
would be something that any DA would actually
do? I don't know that any DA, but I think a right
DA would do it. That's a really big step. I can't
even believe that it's happening. Oh, this is
not a drill. This is fascism on the march. And
we have to be afraid of it. And I mean, I would
be definitely afraid of it because you would
have to come up against a very big machine. It's
very difficult. Yeah, absolutely. And it would
be a heavy lift. But it's certainly something.
So you have to have a district attorney that
really believes. Like, we want 100 % voter participation.
We want 100 % voter registration. Obviously,
that's ideal. You want to do everything you can
to push to get more people involved in the process.
Frankly, because we know that when our ideas
are tested by the people, those ideas are successful.
And so that's the goal, is that you want a district
attorney who is absolutely committed to getting
as many people involved in voting and in the
democracy and all of those things. How about
understanding, though? How about a district attorney
that understands? And I don't fault somebody
who didn't because, again, like I said at the
beginning, we were not educated on basic government
policy. Let me chime in there and I'm going to
let him answer. There are more proactive things
that elections departments and electeds in general
can do to empower people. And there are proactive
things to provide civic education that some.
elections officials do do. But certainly it can
be a passion of a district attorney to also make
sure that people do understand. I mean, I agree
with Shannon. Most of us in the Democratic Party,
and not all of us, most of us want a lot of people
to vote. Most of us want as many people and may
the chips. And believe me, I don't just want
Democrats to vote. I want Republicans to vote.
I want independents. I want Green Party. I want...
to the socialists. I want every party to be able
to have their voice heard in the election process.
But some people want to use the money of the
government to enrich big business billionaires
and oligarchs so that the treasury belongs not
to the people, but to the powerful. Well, that's
why we have so many parties, huh? So we can divide,
right? And not unite. Yeah, so you have to be
secure in your ideas. And that's what Commissioner
Calvert said. I mean, he's secure in his ideas,
so he's fine with as many people voting as possible.
I'm secure in my ideas, so I want lots of people
to vote and lots of people to hear the ideas.
So that's absolutely important. But additionally,
what you have to have as the district attorney
is you have to have a clear mandate. to your
people and say, listen, we're not going to be
obstructionist. We're not going to slow things
down. We really want to make it as easy as possible
for people to register and for people to vote
and get as many people on the rolls as possible.
And that's your clear mandate. And when you give
that clear mandate, then your civil division
chief, your assistant district attorneys know
what they're supposed to do to make that happen.
Let me, let me also make one point for you all
as, as those who are amplifying the public view
of this whole voting thing. Let's be clear. This
slowdown of the VR contract was an attack on
democracy and the voting system. So what you
have to understand is that this was planned by
some political forces in the state of Texas.
OK, from the capital, probably to the Washington,
D .C. So if I'm a watchdog organization, I say
San Antonio, like Tarrant County, needs to be
under a. heavier scrutiny of watch just like
we had the voting the the uh the uh voting rights
bill had certain southern states who were, because
of histories of discrimination and voting manipulation,
had to be pre -cleared for their decisions. We
once again, we don't have that same infrastructure,
but we do have civic groups, whether it's ACLU,
Common Cause, LULAC, MALDEF, NAACP, Disability
Rights, all of these coalition of organizations
need to come together to organize monitors on
the election system. So that is a call to action,
I think, for those civil rights organizations
that we cannot just rely upon the elected officials
to do this. It's just like the people in Minnesota
going into the streets and protesting. You know,
it has to be a combination of all of civic society
watching this closely. Yeah, I think you hit
the nail on the head. I mean, that actually takes
me into kind of our next topic because people
are watching. I hate to use the word finally,
but finally. I mean, as we speak, by the time
this is airing, whether it's on Apple, iTunes,
Spotify, YouTube, we would have already attended.
the Dilley rally. We would have already attended
Congressman Mr. Castro's rally. And so can we
talk about what people, it's not a popular topic
to talk about ICE. Because I think in general,
the masses assume when you talk about ICE, that
means, oh, you don't want public safety. When
in actuality, democracy, that's not it at all.
And so Shannon, I'm going to kick it off to you
because Of all eight, 10, 20 district attorney
candidates, you're actually the only one that
has come forward to really talk about ICE, really
talk about the penal code, really talk about
the statutory limitations and what can be done,
even though somebody may not want to do the work.
So can you talk a little bit about that? Yeah.
So it's always our hope that everybody always
follows the law. But really, public safety depends
on making sure that you don't have anybody who's
above the law. especially when the people that
might be above the law have a whole lot of governmental
power. So what you have to do and what we would
do as the district attorney is we would, if there
are violations of the penal code committed by
ICE agents, we would prosecute those people.
We would investigate them and prosecute them.
And there's about 10 district attorneys across
the country that have signed up. There's more
that are coming every day. You hear that, Democrats?
Yeah, I know. I mean, maybe you should name some,
like Philly. It's Krasner. It's Jose Garcia.
Who's, I think, in Austin. He's in Austin. And
so it's in Texas. It's in Minnesota. Wake up.
Exactly. And it was, having been to the debates,
you know, they started off, they said, well,
you can never do this. And then they said, well,
it's a waste of resources. So they're slowly
moving in our direction. But the reality is that
this is how it happens, is that a police officer,
a federal agent, is tasked with a specific duty
to investigate crime. And when they commit crime,
they're stepping outside of that duty. So they're
not supposed to, for instance, a raid that just
arrests everybody in a park. That's not legal.
OK, because they have to have a specific target
and say, OK, this person is removable for this
reason. So we can arrest them. They can't just
arrest everybody. OK, but I read this week that
they actually can. And now we're not even talking
about licensed police officers, former law enforcement.
They kind of it's not an official bounty hunter,
but that's kind of what they're contracted people.
that can go out and just... I think what you're
referring to, Yvette, is ICE is making up a rule
that another... Customs and Bureau or ICE person
can sign some sort of non -enforceable warrant.
You don't have to sign anything. That's not constitutional.
It's not constitutional. So you might want to
explain that. It's allowed, isn't it? No. So
it's not. Well, it's not legal. It's not supposed
to be happening, but it is. It is happening,
yes. And so the district attorney can then prosecute
those people if they commit a crime because they're
not tasked with committing a crime. So if they,
for instance, do a sweep and they begin arresting
everybody in a park, unless they have reasonable
suspicion to detain and probable cause to arrest,
they can't do that. So what we can do as the
district attorney's office is we can investigate
those folks. We can hold them accountable, take
their evidence to the grand jury. Once the evidence
is at the grand jury, if they decide there's
probable cause that an ICE agent committed a
crime, then a warrant goes out for the ICE agent's
arrest. And once that happens, the government
can decide whether or not they're going to assert
federal immunity or not. And let me give for
the audience who may not have gone to law school
or have a civic education because we're cutting
it from the schools. The proper procedure is
a judge's warrant. Yes. So you want to explain
a little bit more about what the proper way America
is supposed to work under the Constitution? There's
a difference between an administrative warrant
and a judicial warrant. And so a judicial warrant
is when... A police officer goes to a judge and
they swear out an affidavit about a place that
is supposed to be searched or a person that is
supposed to be seized. And then the judge signs
that. An administrative warrant is totally different
and it has less effect. But they can say, I've
got this administrative warrant and it's a way
to trick people into then complying. And so what
are their rights under an administrative warrant?
So an administrative warrant, they can demand
or they can... essentially demand that you get
a judicial warrant is certainly one of the rights
and you can certainly you know you don't have
to open the door you can refuse to open the door
you can assert your right to be free of an unlawful
search and seizure for an administrative warrant
So let me, if you don't mind, I just want to
give some really important high -level history,
because some of you may not know, my work was
in global human rights before I became a commissioner.
I used to run the first anti -human trafficking
organization in the United States, in Boston,
the American Anti -Slavery Group. I actually
helped write the law that Ghislaine Maxwell was
imprisoned on. I wrote in the 20 -year minimum
for children being sexually exploited in human
trafficking. Thank you. Well, it was an honor.
I just figured if I was in the same circumstance,
I'd want somebody to do it. So what we're witnessing
in this country is what all dictators do, whether
it's Russia or whether it's Nazi Germany. What
they do is they say, let's put the border everywhere.
Let's make the border in different cities all
over the country. And let's have illegal acts
of the secret militia, ICE, like the SS or others.
keep them doing illegal acts without accountability
from a DA or a federal authority so that you
get used to them doing illegal activity. And
once we take all of the Latinos, then we go after
the political people you don't like, or we go
after whoever we don't like. Okay. So it's, it's,
it's an intentional historical. fact that's not
Tommy Calvert's study. It's Yale University professor
Timothy Snyder on tyranny, you know, the loss
of freedom, all these documented historical realities
that we are actually walking through. And so
it demands the kind of conversation that Shannon
has brought to the Bexar County. district attorney's
race to say, just like the Philly district attorney
is saying, you will not get away with this. We
will get you. We will prosecute you. We will
be ready when the time comes. Let me give you
an example that I worked on. For decades, as
a head of the American Anti -Slavery Group, we
worked on a dictator named Omar al -Bashir, and
we documented the liability. I mean, even as
a college student, I was telling my university
professor, drop stock, invest it in Sudan and
this dictatorship because the liability is going
to come to him eventually. It was my first campaign
in 1999. And guess where he is going this year?
To the Hague, to the International Criminal Court.
His ass is being prosecuted today. It took us
26 years, but we got him. And let that be a lesson
to ICE. Yeah. So my thing is this now, because
we've seen where people are capturing on their
cameras, because... They don't have to have any
type of body cams. There's no accountability
of what happens. We heard last week about the
nurse that was murdered because a woman was being
beaten on the floor and he just... Alex. Alex
Freddie. And it felt horrible. I know the parents
came up speaking like they tried to, what the
media was portraying, like that's your fault
for getting involved in... in something that
you shouldn't have been involved in. But how
is humanity not something that we're supposed
to be involved in? But he was also a nurse. He
had a Hippocratic oath. He saw a woman being
pushed on the ice and slipping. He went to help
her up. He went to protect her. He, in essence,
was defensively shielding her and trying to get
her. Which is legal. He was filming. It's legal.
He also has a legal right to bear arms, which
Second Amendment groups have said. He had a permit
as well. You think about Kyle Rittenhouse, who
had an AR -15 in a protest, and he was given
a hero's welcome by, whether it was Turning Point
USA or any number of other right -wing groups,
all of a sudden. Okay, so what that is really
about is white supremacy. It's okay for white
people to bear arms, but it's not okay for those
who fight white supremacy to bear arms. And that's
what you're watching in that conversation. That's
exactly right. And to Commissioner Calvert's
point, the reaction to people that fight against
white supremacy is, oh, you're crazy. Oh, you
can't do that. You can't prosecute ICE agents.
That's crazy. It's not crazy. It's actually absolutely...
And it is absolutely essential. We have to do
it. So we've got to draw the line. Absolutely.
So if somebody witnessed something and this is
the agent and I'm willing to say this was wrong.
Yeah. What do I do? I wouldn't even know the
first place. Obviously you can't call the police
and you don't want to put a target on your own
back. What do you do? How do you do this? You
could call the police. And so that's one of the
reasons I think it's important for the district
attorney's office to be able to independently
investigate cases. So I think there is that kind
of nervousness right now that exists, especially
in our immigrant communities, where they are
concerned about if they call the police, what
will happen. And so that's one of the reasons
that I've been advocating for the district attorney's
office to initiate these investigations. And
again, my opponents are all saying that you can't
do that. The Texas statutes are very clear that
the district attorney's office can absolutely
initiate investigations. If it comes from law
enforcement, that's preferable. But in circumstances
like you're describing, where people are like,
well, I don't want to call the police. I'm not
sure what's going to happen. We can certainly
go to the district attorney's office and we can
begin the investigation there. And that's one
of the reasons the statute is there in case there
is a police organization that isn't willing to
investigate. And I do want to say that as far
as I know, SAPD and Bear County Sheriff, they're
in an outrage about what's going on as well.
So I'm not saying that you cannot go to the police.
saying that some people are not comfortable doing
that. And that's the only reason I'm bringing
that up. The other thing I want to stress is
that I know for a fact that we do believe in
an immigration system and that's why it's there.
And that's not what we're at this table saying
that nobody should be allowed. We're just saying
that the way it's being handled is wrong because
there is a process to get into the country. I
also want to share one thing with you guys as
a media piece. I remember I went to the inauguration
when President Biden was elected after the January
6th, and nobody was allowed to be there. There
was about three, maybe four, I think it was three.
It was us, and it was CNN International, and
I think it was Univision. And we were the only
three media pieces there. So La Prensa was essentially
giving all the feedback here to the local television
stations. And I found it so interesting because
I was physically there and saw. So I watched
the TV screen and it was what you were seeing,
but it wasn't like that. And it was like everybody
was so afraid for us. And it was a group of journalists
that I took with us young. It was about five
of us. And it was not what you saw, but you saw
it. And so there's always a narrative that wants
to be. They want us to believe. So it's not always
what you see on TV, right? It's a production.
Well, it's interesting. So speaking of production,
last week at City Hall, Mayor Jones and our city
council allowed for public comment. I think everybody
in general, they assumed that it was going to
be business as usual. You go, you can speak,
you sign up. And as soon as you arrive to City
Hall, the steps, right, you have protesters outside.
And then inside you have drums. And I'm Native
American. I'm upon Apache. And it was very emotional
sitting there. Shannon and I, we were there.
Also Judge Rosie, Speedlin Gonzalez was there.
And we were there for six to eight hours sitting
there. And as you're hearing people's responses
to everything happening with ICE, what's happening
in the community. It was a resounding sadness.
As much as everyone was so up in arms to express
themselves as they should, there was also a level
of sadness of just like, wow, this is where we're
at. Whether you're Republican, Democrat, it didn't
even matter. You're like, this is what's happening.
Grown adults are having these very... tough difficult
decisions and people just want what's right is
right and what's wrong is wrong there's a lot
of heartbreak in the community like having gone
out and and i it's probably been one of the things
that took me most by surprise is that there's
a lot of people that are just you know we believed
in this civic structure we believed in the civic
framework and the and the fabric that united
us and it's being torn apart uh for what uh you
know for cruelty and uh we we i think pride ourselves
in our community for being as as good and decent
people, and we see our government, which we have
trusted for so long, do cruel things in our name,
and I think people are absolutely heartbroken.
I think that it's just, it is one of the, one
of the things that has struck me is that people
are angry. They are angry, and they are angry
that they have been betrayed, is really what
that comes down to. In my experience. Yeah. And
they're also angry on both sides, though. Yeah.
Because I know I have a lot of readers that will
respond and say, get rid of these immigrants.
They're criminals. Right. And they're rapists.
And look what they've done. And they murdered
somebody. And they've done, you know, and they
do. They really highlight these things. And I
don't, by all means, say that they're wrong in
that sense. But, and they should have been. flagged
because i will say i did see there was somebody
that did like he killed actually it was a friend
of mine from high school and he was out on bond
like the second or third time right and so obviously
our system is broken in that sense but and i'm
not saying that there's anything wrong with that
but i think i did read like several studies that
there's less crime in immigrant uh societies
and neighborhoods versus where there's not so
many immigrants. Because they're here. They're
very grateful for being here. They're hard workers.
And they don't want to go back home. And they're
very grateful for the country we live in. I had
a friend of mine who told me, like, she used
to pay her taxes. Like, it was income tax time.
And she would pay thousands of dollars. I'm like,
what are you doing? You haven't even written
off anything, right? She's like, no, no, I don't
want to write anything off. Like, you don't understand.
Like, we have to pay taxes because it's so, you
don't have the blessing of having running water.
They're like, we have to boil our water. And
the water that they do have access to is yellow,
their laundry. One thing I will say is, Yvette,
we can't be fooled about the real thing that's
going on. And the Attorney General of the United
States actually said it. The governor, Governor
Walz of Minnesota and the attorney general were
having conversations to show you it's really
not about immigration. Immigration is being pimped
out as the issue. Look over here. What she said
was, well, if you will give us your state voter
registration list, we'll leave. We'll leave Minneapolis.
OK, so let's not let the weapon of mass distraction.
The goal for them is staying in power, enriching
themselves and their friends and using the government
to do so. And it's a distraction from the Epstein
files, which are going to come out. And I think.
Stop talking about that. Well, that's why I brought
it back. Yeah, that's right. For this election
year, you know, I'm going to have Epstein files
at the top of my. At the top of my tongue. To
keep you focused. And so you both of you have
discussed how these issues, and they're not very
popular, right, with the establishment. So how
do you feel about that? We're dealt a hand. We're
dealt a hand. And it's up to us to reframe. And
I think that... From my perspective, we have
a fight in the country over those who believe
that in order for you to get ahead, you have
to have your foot on someone else's neck. And
those of us who believe that you don't have to
do that, that we actually can all share resources
and harmony and peace and prosperity. And that
I want what's great for you and you and you and
that I'm not going to hold you down so I can
have mine. But but that is the. twisted mentality,
the twisted mind of white supremacists. And Biden
warned us when he was president. He came out
with a briefing and he said, the greatest threat
to America is the threat of white supremacy.
A pretty bold statement. And that's why he ran.
He said, I'm running for the soul of America's
at stake. So it's a spiritual. reckoning that
we are grappling with I mean some of us know
very clearly where we stand some of us know very
clearly what will win and I will say the fascist
takeover the dictatorship will not happen it
will not happen and the reason I know that is
the polling data and the elections that have
happened we've seen Democrats win in Republican
districts all over the place we wouldn't have
the VR system blockade if They were worried about
what's about to happen in November. And I believe
there are people in our military who swear the
oath of the Constitution. And I just think there
are too many of us. The group that is in the
fascist group is a 20 percent of the population,
maybe. OK, so we have to go through this for
people to see and to learn. We have I've had
to sharpen my old human rights talks. And I'm
even going to go through additional training
to educate people about the history of how dictators
do this, because Trump is a poor student of Lenin.
Bannon, his campaign manager in the Conservative
Political Action Committee meeting in 2017, said
he said who Trump and those guys are. He said
we are deconstructionist Leninist. You're like,
Tommy, what the hell are you talking about? Right.
What the hell? I ain't never heard of that. Well,
what that is, is they looked at Lenin in Russia
and Lenin came in under Russia first. Y 'all
heard this America first theme. Well, he borrowed
it from Lenin, Russia first. He came in saying,
I'm fighting for the workers. I want to make
sure those our people aren't taking your jobs.
Russians first, like the white man first in America
first. Right. We're going to we're going to come
in. And what they did. is they came in under
one political party and they flipped it and switched
it and they destroyed it and became a dictatorship.
And so they're saying with the deconstructionist
part, we are anarchists. We're anarchists. We
want to tear. He said this. This is Bannon. He
said, we want to tear down the entire administrative
state. What do you think is happening? It's happening.
Everything is being torn down. You can see it.
So, you know, it's unpopular. It's divisive.
And that's actually the silver lining is that
more Americans are we're not going to be Nazi
Germany. We are not. We have the streets, the
protests, the elections to prove Pharaoh Abbott
and Pharaoh Trump will not win. So be encouraged.
We've got to fight and we've got a lot of lessons.
You know, it's interesting you say that because
when we were prepping for this talk, Yvette had
asked me, what made you get involved in politics?
And I said, oh, easy. Somebody pissed me off
as a business owner. I said, I never wanted because
I grew up, went to Southwest High School, UTSA.
And I was always taught Democrats do for the
poor, Republicans do for the rich, but if you
don't have money, you don't get to play the game.
So I just never got involved. And it was until
I was in New York for many years with my business,
I had to understand what MWBE contracts are and
the impact and the significance of when you don't
have access, when you do have accessibility,
which is going to be another episode, which we'll
talk about because City Council, we're coming
right back to y 'all City Council. That's what
it's all about. That's what it's all about. And
that's exactly the contracts. And so Democrats
don't understand that. That's exactly it. And
so that just added fuel to my fire. And then
I got to learn through Judge Rosie that we both
attended the Yale campaign school, both Texas
and Antonio women representing the great state
of Texas. But that just goes to show that that
silver lining, that ambition and that courage
to stick up, which is very hard. But I want to
also commend you, Shannon. I mean, since we're
being very. You know, I've had people pull me
aside in parking lots and garages, which is really
scary. So don't do that. And I'm 5 '11", so I
can hold my own. But they're like, how are you
working with a white man? That's the conversation.
And I'm like, out of all the things that we could
talk about, I'm like. Try it. How about you try
it? You might like it. He's here for us, for
our community, for our humanity. And so it takes
a lot of courage to really put your best foot
forward to support your community. And, you know,
you've been doing it for decades. You posted
recently on your Facebook page. a photo of you
I think it was the first MLK March I saw you
in your little suit I was 14 it wasn't the first
one but I was in your little suit I loved it
but what I also loved was that your father Mr.
Tommy Calvert Sr. was standing there proud right
next to you and I thought to myself I can't wait
for my children to stand right next to me so
I just want to commend you and say you've been
I wasn't here when you were growing up as a young
child, but as a young man, I'm very proud to
sit next to you. It's been a tough road in San
Antonio. It's not easy to do what my father and
I have done. It's a lonely place. A lot of people
don't get it. You are persecuted. We lose money.
I have my, you know, tires have nails in them
two or three times a year. We've got to honor
our commitment to each other. And I don't wear
it on my sleeve, but it's out of a faith tradition
to help people. I love that. I love that. Well,
I think the humanity part is the most important
part, Commissioner. I think it's... It's very
difficult. It's very easy for us to keep our
heads down because that's what they taught us.
You know, my mom and my dad, mother was brought
up in Stonewall, Texas. So her adoptive parents
were the nannies. The nanny was for Linda B.
Johnson, President Linda B. Johnson. So mom grew
up very different right out in the country. And
then her adopted mother died. And then she came
over here. She met dad. So dad grew up in the
projects. And it was where the police would beat
you because you were out after seven. Do you
want a beating? Do you want to go to juvenile?
Sundown town. And my dad took the beating, so
my grandma didn't have to be involved in that.
So he had an issue with... with police officers.
He was during the riots, he was in Chicago, you
know, and that was a terrible place to be at
that time. He was a migrant worker. Um, so dad
was against everything and you keep your mouth
shut. Mother didn't understand why you would
keep your mouth shut. Right. So mother used to
say like, you threaten them with the media. You
tell them you're going to call the media. So
that's true. But when systems fail, I mean, silence.
hurts all of us. That's true. And so that's why
I also commend you, Yvette, for La Franza being
around for so many years and now jumping into
the digital age, but more than that, jumping
in 10 toes down of like... Here's what we're
going to talk about. And this conversation hasn't
happened on any other media social that I'm aware
of. Right. Yeah. And I think it's so surprising,
though, because this is this is such an easy
topic to talk about, whether you're on one side
or the other. But it should be talked about.
We need to talk about it. And I know I have the
column called Let's Talk About It in our paper.
And I love it. And it started like with the chancla,
the reign of the chancla. And, you know, so we
have some fun stuff. You have some other stuff,
right? And it's uncomfortable conversations to
have, but we have to have them. It's time. I
mean, there was a time, like I said, dad was
taught. He was told he went to high school. They
said. If you're a good kid, Ralph, if you just
sit in the back and keep your head down, you'll
be okay. And, you know, my grandparents were
divorced. And my grandma was a housewife. She
did laundry, you know, to make ends meet. And
that was what it was. And mother was like, no,
you don't keep your mouth shut. You better stay.
So she had me talking since I was like in fourth
grade, right? I used to wear a shirt that said
Chicana Power. Didn't even know what it meant.
I wore it and it did something because people
look at me. So I think it meant something. So
it had a lot of direction in the way that I think.
But I have seen that it's not popular to speak
and it is lonely at the top. And when you say
things that are not very popular. But they do
talk about it. This is the thing. When we're
behind closed doors. Yeah, we're talking. But
this is a platform that we can use, that we can
talk about. And then somebody said something
really, really insightful for me. Because I was
like, we need to talk about it. Let's talk about
it. And somebody said, I really enjoy your call.
I'm like, but you don't say anything, right?
Because I want to hear the comments. So I put
it on social media so they can comment. And then
she's like, I didn't know what to say. But it
was very thought provoking. And then I said,
you know what? I'm thinking, let's talk about
it. But they actually have to think about it
because we're not bringing it to the attention.
And again, the columns about there's no wrong
or right answers. And it's the same thing with
the podcast. Like when I when I ask you the questions
that I ask you, it's because you guys, you know,
the law, you know, policy. A lot of people that
I know of in city council, even they don't quite
know policy because I've had conversations. We've
attended city hall meetings that don't even make
sense. Like, what are they saying? Like, this
is okay. They approve this. It doesn't make any
sense. I'm trying not to laugh. It's a true story.
That's why. Because I'm like, come on, man. Read
the notes. What is happening? Let me say, let
me say, let me say. Did y 'all read the agenda
today? So, you know, in addition to being, you
know, a board member, but also starting San Antonio
Community Radio. When I started KROV, San Antonio
Community Radio, 18 years ago, I was in the Texas
Association of Broadcasters convention in Austin.
Don't take what I'm saying on white supremacy
as the wrong way. I mean, obviously, everybody
should be against white supremacy. So don't take
this as singling anybody out. But it was actually
the most white male. It was just where all the
owners are of the broadcast institutions, TV
and radio. It was the most white male room I've
ever been in. There weren't women. Very little
Latinos. I think we were the only black ones
there. Fast forward. We just went to the Texas
Hall of Fame for our dear friend, Hot Henrietta.
I love her. She worked at KRLB. Yep. And so we
were there. And we were the only Latina women.
I was like, what? She was the only woman being
honored. So my point in telling you that is that.
The lack of conversation is also by design because
the narrative that the oligarchs want to put
forward for us to hear or not hear, it's often
not what they print and write about. It's what
they leave out that you got to follow, what they
don't empower you with that you got to follow.
And so this is an important first inaugural platform
that you must continue because if you don't.
There's nobody else that's going to do it. So
keep it up. Thank you. I appreciate that. It's
an honor. It really is. And just to give a little
background about La Prensa. La Prensa is the
oldest bilingual newspaper in the United States.
Started in 1913 during the Mexican Revolution.
Amazing. And it was when they didn't have a voice.
So they'd send it over here and print it over
here. Eso. I love it. We need to continue to
do that. Tell our stories. But there's been such
a history of our people that were never told.
That's right. Even like the Indians. That's right.
And everything that we were. taught right so
now it is our time and this is the platform and
i thank y 'all both so much for being here and
helping us do this because i'm i know that this
isn't a popular conversation and and the things
that y 'all have to say i hope you understand
i'm not trying to put y 'all on the spot and
i have to say though i do love republicans so
my best friend and i love white people i'm my
best friend i'm so sorry my best friend i know
oh yeah definitely This isn't about politics.
This is about knowing that your vote counts.
When systems fail, silence helps no one. Voters
deserve better, and they're demanding it now.
Transparency and accountability protect democracy.
This is La Prensa, Texas, powered by JMT Media.
Thank you for joining us on Let's Talk About
It. We appreciate you being part of the conversation
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