Since last week’s winter storm and subsequent power outages, we’ve been hearing the tragic news coming out of Texas, and wished to express our sympathy as an editorial team. We know there are many members of the Knox community with connections to the state, and we hope those affected feel supported by the rest of Knox.
What partially motivated us to express this support is some of the statements we’ve come across on social media, which have essentially laughed off the crisis because of Texas’s status as a red state.
These comments are obviously ignorant on multiple counts. One, because they imagine red states as conservative monoliths when, in reality, there are millions of people in Texas who have never voted for a Republican, and are in no way responsible for the failures of their state’s government. Of course, being a conservative voter doesn’t mean you deserved to have this happen to you either. Anyone suffering because of the mistakes of their leaders deserves human decency, regardless of who they have supported.
We do believe our state and national leaders bear responsibility for these events, because, like many, we see this extreme weather occurrence as another sign of the growing climate crisis that remains unaddressed after decades of scientific evidence. The climate crisis is expected to continue to create atypical weather events in places unprepared to deal with such unusual conditions. This means we must continue to demand action on climate from our government and push for the infrastructure improvements needed to protect those who will be vulnerable to climate disasters in the years to come.
The reality of the climate crisis is why it’s especially important that we are not apathetic towards those impacted by events like what has happened in Texas. Certain places may be hit harder by climate change than others, but this is an ongoing global event. Ultimately, anyone could end up being affected by climate abnormalities.
In light of this belief that we must be invested in caring for each other, we’d like to encourage those financially able to take the chance to donate to help those impacted by the weather conditions. One recommended outlet is Austin Mutual Aid’s “Kick the Cold” fundraising, which can be found here. An extensive list of places to donate and ways to help can also be found here.
