Before over 180,000 people, the Texas Senate has decided to
force cruel and unusual rules on an individual member of their body—a woman—and
then turn around and break their own rules last minute for their own benefit.
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| Sen. Wendy Davis during her filibuster |
Davis was not allowed to drift off-topic, pause in her
speech, drink, eat, sit down, or even lean on her bench for support. This was
to go on for 13 hours. If the bill was not voted on my midnight, the bill would
be killed and the Senator’s pain would be worth it.
Numerous Senators called out unreasonable pauses to try and
cut down Davis’s filibuster. She virtually had no one on her side; the rules of
the Senate were so strict, Senator Davis received two strikes on her record:
One for being assisted by a fellow senate member in adjusting her back-brace,
and another for speaking about Planned Parenthood’s budget cuts, said to be
off-topic.
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| Davis standing before the world |
To compare this to other filibusters, we have literally had
men read out of phonebooths and the constitution or just whatever came to mind
to bore the living daylights out of their peers until the bills were finally
dropped. We’ve has people lean on podiums all the time, and even pee using
buckets in the middle of the United States Senate.
This moment has been immortalized by the internet: with the
great help of Texas Tribune, the entire Senate session was streamed out live to
billions around the world, tuning in and out the entirety of the night.
The words of Senator Putte have been plastered onto something
as good as Bronze as this image circulates social media sites. The images of Wendy freeze
her struggle in time, as many across the globe demand this not only become a
moment in feminism, but a moment in the US History books effective immediately!
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| Putte's famous quote started the "citizen filibuster" |
"Parliamentary inquiry, Mr. President." Has become
a new catchphrase.
Detailed videos of the Senate Theater making a ruckus to disrupt
voting and expressing their opinions. Photographs and videos sent out through
tweets showed the condition of Davis throughout the night; on top of
documenting in detail the lack of humanity in this issue, has also documented
the blunders of the Senate, including its’ own Jonas attitude towards its’
rules:
Two minutes after midnight, the Senate voted on the bill.
After forcing Senator Davis to jump through hoops for 13
hours, the Senate decided to vote on the bill. In front of over 18,000
live-streamers, a completely filled theater and an untold number of social
network users, the Senate decided to vote on the bill.
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| People being escorted out by the crowd |
The Theater lost it, a woman shouting “bullshit!” at the top
of her lungs. Another shouted “Enjoy watching the poverty rate increase as
well. Remember your constituents.” Still one more claimed “We are your constituents!
Listen to us!” A plethora of angry YouTube comments exploded the page, forcing
the website to lag for 10 minutes at a time on updates. The last 10 minutes of
the live-stream were muted due to the screaming crowd. And as people were
escorted by the police out of the theater in multiple occasions, people were
arrested for passive resistance, including an elderly woman.
The end result of the votes are still unclear.
 |
| An elderly woman being arrested |
With the halls of the Senate building flooded with hundreds
of people, Senator Watson came forward to speak to the crowd on Davis’s behalf,
saying “What we saw today was the power of the people scaring those who know
they’re doing wrong!”
Some senators claimed that they were unsure of whether they
were voting for the bill or to end the filibuster.
More police escorts happened, with roughly 400 people, with
500-600 people on the outside, and a peak of over 35,000 views waiting for the
Senators to exit the cabnet with the results after the Lt. Governor of Texas
came out to address the crowd, saying “If you haven’t left yet, don’t leave
now!”
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| The sheer number of people protesting in person! |
The worldwide support for the straggler protestors became so
large they began to order food for people to stay and continue the fight. The
DPS refused food to be delivered, claiming no more people were allowed inside, at one point passing them right along with water believed to have been sent to them by a live-stream viewer of the stragglers.
Throughout this entire endeavor, millions online have
contributed to the moment, putting up digital statues and holding widespread
files of the words of Senate members, along with their grave blunders!
This picture was screencapped by an angry viewer, before the site changed the date.
Need more proof to ease your photoshop fears? A picture of both official copies being held side-by-side is available in the notes section.
Outraged, the world over began in mass to produce gag
images, share opinions, and summarize the night in tweets, posts, and reblogs.
And everything spread like wildfire. A man named Christopher Dido was made
famous as he ustreamed* the entire night for thousands, even waiting for Wendy
to appear.
Later on, a text message from Wendy Davis was read out,
claiming “First of all, I love you guys.” Then followed “The Senate body has
agreed that the bill SB-5 is dead. The official voting began at 12:03.” The
crowd erupted into cheers, calling out Wendy’s name as the entire planet
enjoyed a victory for human rights!
The representative’s closing words were simple: “This fight
isn’t over, but we have started something here they cannot stop,” as the crowd
erupted one more time, cheering “The people united will never be defeated!”
Hours passed, before a representative from Planned Parenthood announced Senator Davis would indeed come down! The people were also greeted by Senator Putt,calling the theater a "citizen filibuster" she has "never seen before". With a great amount of pride, the crowd cheered as she claimed that despite the disregard for the rules the Senate had, "your [the crowd's] power is greater".
Finally, the woman of the hour came out. She was greeted by the roaring of the crowds and the lights of cameras. After thanking the people of her caucus. And very anti-climatically, the feed on Dido's channel died. :\
As cliche as the phrase "Tonight we've seen history in the making is", I'll be using it, because tonight truly was historical. Amist a wave of terrible rulings, including the repealing of the Voting Rights Act and the placing of Trans people into concentration camps in Greece, the rest of the planet has backed the great state of Texas in putting her foot down. Today, Texas said 'No! Not here!" Among the Senate's blatant disregard for its own rules, the people of the Theater, the people of the United States, and the people of Planet earth put their foots down and screamed no, at the very tops of their lungs, until the fear of the collective was put into the hearts of those who thought themselves better!
Today, we have said "Enough."
Hopefully this excitement can last.
With lots of love (and yawns)
Nikola Strange
Nikola Strange
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Notes:
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| Told you. If you can't click on it, tell me in a comment and I'll change the size. |
*Ustream's a website for live streaming.
NOT A SINGLE PHOTO USED IS MINE! Some are tweets, some are news photos. Everything I have, I got from Tumblr.
NOT A SINGLE PHOTO USED IS MINE! Some are tweets, some are news photos. Everything I have, I got from Tumblr.
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