Is Gov. Abbott ‘touched or just cruel and unusual’?

By Aswad Walker

During my last visit to the barbershop, when the conversation turned to “racism in America” (a never-ending Black barbershop topic), a 60-ish looking brother who was getting his bald fade tightened up asked anyone in earshot, “Is Abbott ‘touched’ or is that ni**a just cruel and unusual”?

In full transparency, the brother who asked the question about Texas Governor Greg Abbott didn’t use the term “touched,” but rather something else. I’ll just say, for folk in the Black community, “touched” is the politically correct version of the descriptor brotherman actually used. Another barbershop patron involved in the “touched or cruel” conversation, declared Abbott was trying to position himself as the “white supremacist wonderbread; I mean wunderkind, since we all know he’s gunning for the White House.”

In even more transparency, other not so endearing terms were used to describe Abbott–terms that would get people in the public eye canceled immediately. But to be fair, Black barbershop conversations are meant for that space only. The brothers at this particular establishment agreed to have most of their opinions shared so long as the name of the shop and those making the comments were either omitted or changed.

And in my experience, Black people bend over backwards to show respect for the humanity of people outside the Black circle, whether they agree with them politically or not. But when the question was asked about Abbott being “touched or just cruel,” very little deference was being given to the state’s CEO because those gathered on that particular day felt, almost to a man, that Abbott’s actions have shown little deference or respect for Blackfolk in Texas—or anywhere else, for that matter.

The brother who asked to be identified as “NoneYa Bidness,” who wondered if Abbott was “touched or just cruel and unusual,” was referring to some specific, recent moves by Texas’s governor.

Like Abbott’s sickle cell response.

As State Rep. Jarvis Johnson pointed out in a letter dated June 17, 2023, and shared with his constituents, “Today, Governor Greg Abbott vetoed HB 181, an effort pushed for years by statewide and national sickle cell disease advocates, which would have established a sickle cell registry in Texas.”

HB 181, was a bipartisan bill, passed by both the Texas House and Senate with a supermajority—an almost unheard of accomplishment these days. Over 20 individuals and organizations testified in support of the bill.

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Abbott, however, hit it with the veto.

“It is completely outrageous that Governor Abbott vetoed HB 181, for many reasons,” said Johnson. “Texas was poised to receive federal funding from the Centers for Disease Control to establish a sickle cell registry. This much-needed funding almost certainly will not be available in the next legislative session two years from now.

“Although anyone can have the genetic disease, it predominantly impacts African Americans. Without a data sickle cell registry, we don’t have an accurate picture of how many people with sickle cell disease there are, and what their health outcomes are,” added Johnson.

Texas has one of the highest populations of people living with sickle cell disease (SCD), one of them being the wife of one of the barbers, “Willie Pete.”

“That little man has no heart,” said Pete. “It’s sickle cell, man. Why would you trash something that could help so many people? But what should you expect from someone who seems to be giving away guns in Texas even when schools are getting shot up left and right.”

Bidness reminded barbershop patrons that an unofficial survey of Abbott’s poll numbers with Blackfolk had him teetering somewhere between “Donald Trump” and satan (almost even with Massa Mo’ from “Roots”). Bidness then explained, with such horrible numbers with Black Texans, supporting a sickle cell registry backed by state Republicans and Democrats, could have been an easy PR victory for Abbott, affording him a head nod of recognition from the bruhs, at least.

Still, Abbott vetoed it.

Outside of Blackworld, others too were standing in stark amazement at Abbott’s mad veto spree.

Abbott vetoed a bill (House Bill 3159) that would have expanded voting access to Texans with disabilities; a move that a more cynical person might find quite ironic. But Jessica Anacker, president of Texas Democrats with Disabilities, failed to see the humor.

“Greg Abbott will stop at nothing – no matter what – to deny as many Texans as possible the ability to express their basic right to vote,” said Anacker. “I hear all the time about how polling locations are not accessible, or that folks with disabilities can’t get the needed assistance at the polling locations. If Greg Abbott truly cared about the lives of Texans, then he would work to protect the right to vote. This is not what freedom and democracy is. No eligible Texan – no matter their party – should be denied the right to vote because of a disability or pregnancy.”

Still, Abbott gave it the thump’s down.

Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa released a statement on Abbott’s veto binge.

“Greg Abbott has vetoed 76 bills from the 88th Legislative Session – the majority of which are bipartisan, narrowly-focused bills that would have otherwise helped Texans who are currently being failed by the system he created, or bills to help establish programs that would have a positive impact on the residents of our state,” said Hinojosa.

Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee was upset at an Abbott action that didn’t involve a veto—technically.

Abbott signed Senate Bill 1750, which abolishes the Harris County Elections Administrator’s Office, and Senate Bill 1933, which allows the Secretary of State to oversee, manage, and even take steps to remove county elections officials in only Harris County. Many view this as a big government hostile takeover of local government affairs—even though Republicans have for decades positioned themselves as anti-big government and pro-local government control.

And though not technically a veto, those two signed bills potentially “veto” Black and Brown and college-aged Texans’ voting power.

“I’m gearing up to sue the state over these bills and I expect to be in the courts in the next couple weeks. We won’t sit back and allow Republicans in Austin to target Harris County officials and disrupt our elections,” said Menefee. “The Texas Constitution makes clear that Texas legislators should not be abusing their power by singling out a county to address political vendettas instead of doing what’s right for all Texans.”

Bidness and his fellow barbershop attendees discussed these moves and wondered aloud if Abbott was “touched in the head” (mentally impaired) or just “mean as all-da-be damned.”

They leaned heavily towards “mean as all-da-be damned,” or in Bidness’s words, “cruel and unusual.”

Asked by a certain Defender reporter if he had ever read award-winning writer from The Atlantic, Adam Serwer’s book, “The Cruelty is the Point,” Bidness said he hadn’t, but the title sounded a lot like “Abbott, Trump, the Klan and all them January 6 insurrectionist MFs.”

Serwer, like many economists, theorized self-identified MAGA supporters were voting against their own self-interests by supporting GOP policies that denied expanded access to healthcare, higher education, and student loan forgiveness, and pushed for improved workers’ rights.

However, when Serwer asked his MAGA interview subjects about their voting habits, and how their support of certain political stances would do them harm, he discovered that the vast majority of them didn’t mind the hardship of GOP policies as long as those policies kept benefits from reaching Blacks and Latinx communities. Serwer dug deeper, and found that the driving force behind his MAGA-heavy interview subjects’ willingness to accept political policies detrimental to themselves, was the joy and satisfaction they felt knowing that their votes kept benefits from “the undeserving.”

After the Defender reporter shared this information with all in the barbershop, one brother, we’ll call him “Michael C. Jordan,” said, “Man, you could’a just said they get off on our pain, and left it at that.”

To which Bidness replied, “Cruel and unusual… and a bit touched.”