Democratizing Texas Politics: Race, Identity, and Mexican American Empowerment, 1945-2002

3. The Dilemmas of Ethnic Solidarity

ChAPTER 3 The Dilemmas of Ethnic Solidarity An Anglo Democratic activist on La Raza Unida Party, “. . . those dumb bastards! Why don’t they realize? They can’t win, but they were willing to screw us up. How could they?” molly ivins, 1972 BOYCOTT GRAPES, eat watermelon; BOYCOTT Lettuce, eat celery; BOYCOTT SAFEW AY. Go somewhere else. Harris county democrats, 1973 The Texas Democratic Party of the 1950s was a formidable barrier to racial progress. Minorities, labor, and liberals had few representatives on the State Democratic Executive Committee (SDEC) (Davidson 1990: 165– 166). Conservatives dominated the party structure and liberals were so excluded that Democratic leaders even in places like San Antonio were “leery of anything pro labor or pro-Negro” (“Texas Liberals Argue” 1955). The party strongly supported the principle of state’s rights and opposition to racial integration, urging the state’s national representatives to restrict the power of the Supreme Court. Early in the decade the SDEC did not require loyalty pledges to vote in Democratic primaries or participate in Democratic Party conventions (Texas Democratic Party 1952a). SDEC members like John Peace invited greater participation by all Democrats but in practice squelched dissent and enforced conformity. Governor Price Daniel and other conservative leaders threatened the liberal Democrats of Texas with legal action for unauthorized use of the name “Democrats ” (Texas Democratic Party 1958b). In the face of this political repression , and to the dismay of Mexican American activists, liberal Anglos in The Dilemmas of Ethnic Solidarity 57 the besieged Democrats of Texas still hesitated to embrace their minority allies openly. As late as 1959 the caucus still scheduled its meetings in racially segregated facilities and “Whites Only” hotels (Peña 1959). Racial incorporation proceeded at a slow pace, but ethnic organizing received a boost from the 1960 presidential campaign and rule changes within the Democratic Party later in the decade that increased minority representation. The close 1960 presidential election energized activists because of the important role that they played in winning Texas for the Democrats (“The Harris County PASO” ca. 1962). As South Texas attorney Tony Bonilla recalled, Mexican Americans were galvanized by Kennedy ’s election and subsequent willingness to appoint civil rights leaders to positions in his administration. Bonilla called the election an incredible achievement that “generated the kind of enthusiasm for expanding our political base, getting more people involved in politics, more people to pay their poll tax, and more people to go out and vote” (T. Bonilla 2007). Along with this movement came a growing realization by white liberals that aligning the state party’s politics with those of the national party would not happen without the minority vote. In 1961 leaders from black, Mexican American, and labor organizations began meeting with Anglo Democratic activists to formulate a strategy to unite the liberal base of the Democratic Party in Texas. Two years later their work resulted in the formation of a new liberal group, the Democratic Coalition (DC). The DC was used as a vehicle to evaluate candidates for office and conduct polltax and get-out-the-vote drives (A. Draper 1994: 101). The Texas Observer claimed that “Texas Latin Americans, Negroes, union people and independent liberals have hooked together a four-group ‘Democratic Coalition ’ that is like nothing that has been tried seriously in the South since Populism in the eighteen nineties” (Dugger 1963: 24). Anglo activists worked with Albert Peña and black civil rights leader Arthur DeWitty to assemble a new multiracial alliance (Goodwyn 1963c). Albert Peña insisted that the new organization avoid the DOT’s mistakes and adopt a strong antiracism, pro–civil rights agenda from its inception (Democratic Coalition 1963). This time Anglo liberals, long relegated to the margins of the Texas Democratic Party, found the argument of mutual interest among Anglos, poor whites, and Mexican American more compelling (Goodwyn 1963e). Instead of shunning association with minority voters, some Anglo liberals believed that it was time to rework theircaucus and include minorities in all the deal making and to respond to candidates for public office “without regard to their race” (Dugger 1963: 112). Larry Goodwyn, who managed the day-to-day operations of the new group, 58 Democratizing Texas Politics vowed to mobilize “200,000 to 500,000 new Negro and Latin-American votes” for the 1964 presidential election (Goodwyn 1963a, 1963b). In his words, the natural coalition among liberals of all races and creeds would finally...