A canceled speech from a controversial Texas state lawmaker at Texas Southern University has spurred confusion among the school’s administration, and a war of words between legislators. From the Dallas News:
‘Racist’ vs. ‘thuggish’: Canceled GOP speech at Houston HBCU turns into war of words
Cain responded to Miles’ statement late Wednesday, saying he disagreed with the senator “trying to play the victim.” “No one criticizing his actions are in any way racially-motivated,” Cain said in a text to The News. “They differ with his on the 1st Amendment.
James Douglas, interim dean of the Thurgood Marshall School of Law at TSU, told The Dallas Morning News he’s looking into why Deer Park Rep. Briscoe Cain’s appearance was suddenly canceled after protesters showed up at the event Monday in Houston. Douglas said the law school’s branch of the Federalist Society, a conservative legal organization with chapters across the county, cleared the event with him.
“We have a process here in the law school, and they went through our process,” Douglas said of the Federalist Society. “The speaker had a First Amendment right to be heard by the students that invited him.
TSU President Austin Lane said that the Federalist Society was not an official student organization, but that Rep. Cain has been invited back for an organized public dialog.
Meanwhile, supporters of Rep. Cain and State Sen. Borris Miles, who represents the district where Texas Southern is located, have exchanged words and statements.
Michael Q Sullivan on Twitter
Unbelievable. #TxLege conservative @BriscoeCain threatened on @TexasSouthern campus by students & employees, led by thuggish @BorrisLMiles.
“However, the leader of a right-wing group decided to take it a step further by referring to my actions as “thuggish.” He decided to use this racist, disrespectful and discriminatory rhetoric to create further divisions for his own personal gain. As a sitting state senator and a ten-year veteran of the Texas Legislature, I am appalled by anyone who would choose to use such loaded language, especially when our state and nation are in need of uniting, not dividing.”
