Video News Clips: In Their Own Words

Another Texas Dem Equates Fleeing Votes To Escaping Slavery And Holocaust

[Screenshot/Texas House of Representatives]

Democratic Texas state Rep. Nicole Collier on Thursday compared Texas Democrats intentionally fleeing a redistricting vote to escaping slavery and the Holocaust.

Collier claimed that she and other Democrats in the Texas state Legislature were fleeing their “oppressor” in the same way that slaves and Jews during the Holocaust once did. Texas Democrats broke quorum in early August by fleeing to Illinois and other blue states to intentionally avoid voting on the state’s new redistricting map that would add five additional Republican congressional seats, which eventually got approved in the House Wednesday night.

“Chairman, are you aware that during slavery, blacks fled? Are you aware that during the slavery times, blacks fled? They ran away,” Collier said on the state House floor. “Are you aware that when there were slavery times, blacks fled? During the Nazi times, Jewish people fled. They fled their oppressor.”

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Jolanda Jones, another Democrat state lawmaker, also compared the Texas Republicans’ redistricting to the Holocaust, stating on “The Don Lemon Show” on Aug. 5 that black Americans would have the same fate as Jews in Nazi Germany.

A total of 51 Democrats in the Texas state Legislature traveled to Illinois on Aug. 4 to prevent their Republican colleagues from moving forward with their redistricting efforts. The Texas House then passed a motion to issue arrest warrants for all of the runaway Democrats who failed to appear on the House floor for the initial vote on the new map.

The lawmakers racked up thousands of dollars in fines for breaking quorum and Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott took legal action in an attempt to remove some of them from office. After a two-week standoff, they finally returned home on Aug. 18 to continue their fight against the so-called “racist gerrymander.”

The Texas House of Representatives approved the map in a 88-52 vote on Wednesday. Some Democrats claimed that the move was an attempt by President Donald Trump to distract the public from the files surrounding sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Abbott told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that he expects the new maps to reach his desk by Friday.