I want to use my five-thousandth tweet (!!!) today to kick off a thread about moral leadership, and civic courage, and about what real power looks like in the conscience of an American city. 1/
The use of family-separation techniques to apply leverage against those who are seeking political asylum in the United States has, appropriately, provoked moral outrage across the country and around the world. 2/
I was among the clergy and civic leaders at City Hall today when Mayor Sylvester Turner addressed the issue of family separations and the recent revelation that a warehouse space near downtown had been contracted as a detention center for minors (as young as infants/toddlers). 3/
In his remarks, Mayor Turner said: “I’ve done my best to try to stay clear of the national dialogue on many issues. … This one is different. There comes a time when Americans…have to say to those higher than ourselves: This is wrong. This is just wrong.” 4/
His vision for this city is that Houston will stand for those who are vulnerable – but his pro-business sensibility will not allow him to interfere with the right of a private business owner to enter into a contractual relationship as a contractor to a federal agency. 5/
But, he shrewdly pointed out, this detention center *will* require inspections from the Fire Marshal, building code enforcement, the agencies that oversee childcare, and food-safety, and public health, and so on. 6/
The City of Houston refuses to act in complicity with family separations. And so these city services will use their power and leverage to restrain the permitting process from moving forward. 7/
Mayor Turner was joined by Houston’s Police Chief, the Archbishop of the Catholic Church, and a number of elected public officials – not exactly a group of radical leftist activists. 8/
But, one by one, they all took their place at the podium and emphasized that our city stands unified in moral alignment against separating human families as a way to exert political or legal leverage. 9/
Everyone repeated their conviction that the dignity and protection of human bodies, and human families, are paramount. “As any first-year theology student will tell you,” the Lutheran Bishop said, “‘legal’ doesn’t necessarily mean ‘moral’.” 10/
This is a perfect example of how civic diversity strengthens and enriches a modern city – in real, tangible, quantifiable ways. This is what moral leadership looks like. This is what power looks like. I am so proud of this city. 11/
Thanks for listening. (Please also read @mmorris011's coverage of today's presser. Local coverage of these events is vital - and it helps preserve the contextual nuance that is so very important.) houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-t… 12/12
