America’s surging politics of victimhood and identitarian division did not emerge organically or inevitably, as many believe. Nor are these practices the result of irrepressible demands by minorities for recognition, or for redress of past wrongs, as we are constantly told. Those explanations are myths, spread by the activists, intellectuals, and philanthropists who set out deliberately, beginning at mid-century, to redefine our country. Their goal was mass mobilization for political ends, and one of their earliest targets was the Mexican-American community.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles said it had made “procedural errors” when it issued a recommendation that Mr. Floyd be posthumously pardoned for a 2004 drug conviction.
Clemency for trafficking survivors
One year ago this weekend, Gov. Greg Abbott announced the establishment of a “customized clemency application specifically for survivors of human trafficking or domestic violence.”
Created in coordination with the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, the application included a new section allowing applicants to “provide a statement to BPP about their human trafficking or domestic violence victimization.”
We applauded the governor’s initiative then, as we do now. At that time, we’d been calling on Abbott and the parole board to create such a process, what the governor has rightly called “a true path to redemption and restoration,” for more than a year.