The Interview
Texas Observer Founding Editor Ronnie Dugger Reflects on 65 Years of Publication
The Interview: Mass Resistance
Rebel priest Roy Snipes discusses his fight to save a historic chapel from Trump’s wall.
On a foggy February morning, just south of the border town of Mission, the parking lot behind the La Lomita chapel is full. It’s the eighth week of a novena ...Read More
Meet Jim Allison, Texas’ Newest Nobel Laureate (and Three-Time Cancer Survivor)
The Houston immunologist talks about growing up in small-town Texas, creationism in public schools and what it means to talk about a cure.
Just a few years ago, Jim Allison was considered something of a “snake oil salesman” by other cancer researchers. The ruddy-faced, scraggly-haired scientist...Read More
Dolores Huerta is Still Knocking on Doors and Registering Voters at 88
The iconic labor activist talks about the Latino vote, Howard Zinn and the ‘year of the woman.’
At 88, Dolores Huerta is still making you look bad. In 1962, Huerta and César Chávez co-founded the organization that would become the United Farm Workers, th...Read More
The Interview: Veronica Escobar is Poised to Make History
The Latina would be the first woman to represent Texas' largest border city in Washington, D.C.
While all eyes are on Beto O’Rourke’s bid to unseat Senator Ted Cruz, the race to take over O’Rourke’s El Paso congressional seat has gotten much less a...Read More
Redistricting Guru Michael Li on Texas’ Gerrymandered Maps
Li, who grew up in Texas, has followed Texas’ seven-year legal fight to dilute minority voting power from the beginning.
The Texas Legislature is racist. Specifically, Texas lawmakers knowingly and intentionally pass voting laws that disproportionately harm minorities. Nine federa...Read More
Senfronia Thompson Says #MeToo: Texas Lawmaker on 45 Years of Sexism, Racism at the Capitol
"I tell God all the time, 'These sons of bitches make me so mad. I want to cuss ’em out, ooh Jesus.'"
As the longest-serving woman and African American in the Texas Legislature, state Representative Senfronia Thompson, or Ms. T as she is affectionately known, ha...Read More
Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo on Sanctuary Cities, Police Unions and Tommy Guns
Houston's police chief rose to the top of Texas' largest police force while inserting himself in thorny political debates.
As I enter Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo’s downtown office, he’s just wrapped up a TV interview, and the moment we finish talking, he’ll rush downstair...Read More
Meet Nueces County’s New DA, a Self-Professed ‘Mexican Biker Lawyer Covered in Tattoos’
Mark Gonzalez is listed as a gang member in police databases, has "not guilty" tattooed on his chest and is hoping to bring reform to Corpus Christi.
Early this year, border agents ran a name-check and wound up briefly detaining Mark Gonzalez as he traveled home to Corpus Christi after a vacation in Mexico. T...Read More
The Interview: Joaquin Castro Says Texas Democrats are Poised for a Comeback
A Q&A with Congressman Joaquin Castro on the future of the Democratic Party in Texas, Trump, Ted Cruz and tacos.
A Q&A with Congressman Joaquin Castro on the future of the Democratic Party in Texas, Trump, Ted Cruz and tacos....Read More
