You can find a copy of the live event here.

READ FOR DEMOCRACY is our anti-fascist book club! We read a new book every month, then take coordinated action to defend democracy ✊

Purchase Online: Thriftbooks, Better World Books… or check out from your local library, including digitally with the Libby app

After you're done reading it, we recommend giving it to a friend or donating it to Inside Books Project, a local Austin nonprofit that sends books to incarcerated Texans.

Host your own book club in conjunction with our monthly live stream: Watch our 20 minute live-stream for a short discussion (we always invite the author but we can’t promise they’ll attend!) + suggested DEFEND DEMOCRACY action items, then discuss the book with your own crew at your home, coffee shop, or local library!

Learn more about hosting you book club on this page.

If you would like to donate to support our ability to organize resistance events like this monthly book club, we would love your support! Thank you - donate here.

Join the next Austin DSA canvass for the No ALPRs campaign!

We'll be informing our neighbors about Automated License Plate Readers, mass surveillance, and the dangers of bringing this technology back to Austin as the City Manager wants to do. New canvassers and folks new to the issue welcome! We'll have training, coffee, and snacks.

We'll be meeting at the covered pavilion at the end of the cul-de-sac off E Yager Ln.

Join the No ALPRs coalition for a postcard writing party hosted by Austin DSA!

We'll be writing to Austin City Council and asking our council members to oppose ALPRs when they come back up for a vote in December.

If you're new to the issue, we'll be sharing lots of talking points and information you can use, and we'll be sharing about other ways you can support this campaign. Join us for some food, drinks, and camaraderie and help protect our community.

Postcard writing parties are super fun, if you’ve never been to one before we hope you’ll join us for this great event hosted by Austin DSA!

Find out more about ALPRs and HOCTX’s work fighting mass survelliance at the City of Austin.

We’re taking to the Capitol on 9/20 to say: “Respect the constitution or expect prosecution.”

Speakers will include Texas lawyer and politician Wendy Davis, Texas Senator Sarah Eckhardt, Austin Justice Coalition Executive Director Chas Moore, Students Engaged in Advancing Texas (SEAT) organizer Cameron Samuels, trans activist Anna Nguyen, Texas Attorney and politician Pooja Sethi, youth organizer Vienna Esson, and HOCTX President Sophia Mirto

We will have a lady liberty costume contest during the event... MC'd by beloved local drag queen Maxine LaQueene!

Language + Accessibility Requests due by 8/15: Fill out the form HERE

Por favor, envíe su solicitud al menos siete días antes del evento para que podamos atenderle de la mejor manera. Complete este formulario

Please consider the heat! Bring a hat, sunscreen, umbrella, fan. etc. Emergency water will be available on-site but please bring your own.

We are a 100% nonviolent movement aiming to create an environment to empower the passionate resistance of Texans. We do not conflate the 1st amendment right of free speech with violence, and we do not endorse interpersonal or state violence.

We have a team of volunteer protest monitors, legal observers, and street medics coming to this event. If you would like to volunteer for any of these teams, please use this form to contact us!

Please consider the heat! Bring a hat, sunscreen, umbrella, fan. etc. Emergency water will be available on-site but please bring your own.

CAPITOL RULES:

1. No sticks over 12 inches (including flag poles). Stilts are OK. No fire. Poi light spinning is fine! Flags are encouraged! Feel free to bring camp chairs, blankets, snacks and water. Alcohol is not permitted.

2. Soliciting donations and selling products is not allowed on Capitol grounds. We respect the DPS rules so we can continue to have impactful mass mobilization efforts on OUR Capitol grounds! If you would like to fund the resistance, please consider donating to the cost of this massive event. Every dollar counts!

IMMIGRATION: Everyone is welcome at all of our events, but we want you to be aware of heightened immigration risk on federal property including TX Capitol grounds. This officially permitted event is on Capitol grounds, which is policed by DPS. It is DPS policy to work with ICE. It is not APD policy to coordinate with ICE, but they also do not interfere in ICE arrests.

TRANSPORTATION & PARKING: We are expecting a large turnout. Please carpool! CAPMETRO lines 1, 10, 103, 20, and 3 drop off near the Capitol: plan your trip. Parking at the Capitol Visitors Parking Garage (free for the first 2 hours) may fill quickly. You can also park on Red River or in the neighborhoods west of the TX Capitol using the Park ATX app with discount codes: FREE15ATX1, FREE15ATX2

BATHROOMS: TX Capitol bathrooms are ADA accessible, but do require you to pass through a DPS security checkpoint to enter the building.

Media disclaimer: There will be media and photos/videos of this event taken and shared on the internet by participants and journalists. Feel free to wear a mask for wellness or privacy reasons, and feel free to take your own photos and videos! Tag us: @handsoffcentraltx #handsofftx

Nonviolent Protest Disclaimer: HOCTX and official coalition partners are committed to nonviolent civic resistance. We are utilizing our First Amendment constitutional right to protest and our right to lobby our representative government.

By attending our events, you are implicitly agreeing that while you attend our event, you will respect the laws and constitution of the United States and State of Texas and not create or contribute to a safety issue for our attendees and neighbors. We protect our community and defend democracy - we do not put people at risk or threaten violence.

Veteran? Freedom’s Shield is the veterans arm of HOCTX. Plug in on-site to defend democracy, the constitution, and our first amendment rights. Email your interest and questions to veterans@handsoffcentraltx.org

If your organization would like to partner with us to defend democracy, please email president@handsoffcentraltx.org

For journalist or influencer media inquiries please email president@handsoffcentraltx.org

Join the next Austin DSA canvass for the No ALPRs campaign!

We'll be informing our neighbors about Automated License Plate Readers, mass surveillance, and the dangers of bringing this technology back to Austin as the City Manager wants to do. New canvassers and folks new to the issue welcome! We'll have training, coffee, and snacks.

Update 9/6: Postponed because the item is officially pulled from the agenda! (Good News) Please send emails and make phone calls to KEEP IT OFF future agendas (see below)

Join us at Austin City Hall on Thursday, September 11 to testify against Item 32 on the agenda!

This is our last chance to stop the city from spending $250k (during a budget crisis) on NOT housing the homeless.

Item 32 would spend $250k (in the middle of a budget crisis) to give Austin-based ai company Valkyrie Intelligence access to a *tremendous amount of very personal data* about Austinites without their consent, ultimately aiming at building a predictive AI modeling tool used to anticipate who in Austin may become homeless in the future.

The Austin Council Meeting starts at 10 am. The last chance to sign up is 9:10 am the day of the meeting at the kiosk at Austin City Hall.

PARKING: Parking is free under city hall if you get validation! Get your ticket validated at the front desk.

> If you need language interpretation services at City Hall, including American Sign Language, you must email your request to City.Clerk@austintexas.gov 48 hours in advance of the meeting.

> Not sure who represents you? Find your Austin City Council Member here: https://maps.austintexas.gov/GIS/CouncilDistrictMap/

Whether or not you can make it on Thursday to testify, please send an email to all the decision makers! It's as easy as BCC - full list of emails and talking points. Emails and phone calls got this pulled off the agenda last week - this stuff works!!

More info about Item 32:

The predictive model being suggested is emulating Los Angeles’s prevention program, the results of which will not be available until 2027. Los Angeles is working with California Policy Lab, a nonprofit housed at UC, who are public about their values and expertise in privacy protecting data-sharing and focused on supporting local governments with progressive programs.

Austin is proposing to give our sensitive data to Valkyrie Intelligence, a company with deep ties to the military industrial complex, who has never had a contract with a municipality before. Their privacy policy explicitly acknowledges that they may disclose personal information to public authorities for national security or law enforcement purposes. Their sister product Andromeda comes out of the CEO's work with U.S defense/intelligence agencies, alongside other corporations like Palantir.

Turning over sensitive data records without our consent and integrating them into a large database of personal profiles (LA's model relies on ER visits, crisis care, substance use, arrests, other individual records) handled by a for-profit corporation is irresponsible and violates our individual privacy rights. To be clear: This is not an opt-in program, this data would be collected and profiled without the consent of our residents.

HOCTX wonders why the city can’t just use $250k to pay for housing for our folks already sleeping on the streets.

To be clear, Item 32 is not the contract that would build and deploy the database, this is a contract to do a research project to see if we want to build the database. Actually building the database would be much more expensive contract signed in the future.

Important note: If we can stop Item 32 now, we save ourselves all this money, and we can prevent the future contract that would spend $$$$ to build an ai-assisted mass surveillance database.

More info about Valkyrie Intelligence: Valkyrie claims the data they collect doesn’t feed into their own systems, but the company has a troubling lack of expertise in their privacy policies. Their website states that Valkyrie “complies with the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework,” a defunct policy that was invalidated in 2020. They also claim they rely on a federal security standard, NIST standard 800171 revision 2, however the NIST standard doesn’t cover most of the data at issue and is more related to security protocols than privacy policies.

Find out more here.

>>> Still want to help? Send a BCC email with your thoughts to the following decision makers:

Include in the subject line: Item 32 on 9/11

Need help with what to say? Speak from the heart! Personal messages, even short ones, make a much bigger impact then pre-written mass emails and petitions.

Feel free to tell them:

You do not consent to your data being used to anticipate whether you may become homeless in the future

You would prefer they spend the $250k on directly housing the homeless Austinities we already know about

You do not want to give taxpayer money to an ai tech company with ties to the military industrial complex

Even if they came up with a shared privacy agreement with the vendor, the vendor cannot totally guarantee that our highly sensitive data will never be leaked or hacked by bad actors

Maybe they should just open up a google form for Austinities to request aid with their rent, if they are worried about possibly-future-homeless Austinities

We could just wait until 2027 to see how successful the Los Angeles model is before we pour money into a research project to not actually solve a problem

We're in the middle of a budget crisis and the city is trying to raise our taxes

We already have done research projects on the causes of homelessness yet we don't have adequate services for those who are already unhoused.

The city has services to support Austinities that people just don't know about. Let's focus on education about the services we already have

Full list of emails (BCC recommended): Jesus.Aguirre@austintexas.gov; Jason.Lopez@austintexas.gov; Sharon.Mays@austintexas.gov; guillermo.balderrama@austintexas.gov; Solomon.Ortiz@austintexas.gov; Lizette.Melendez@austintexas.gov; Ben.Leffler@austintexas.gov; carrie.smith@austintexas.gov; Colleen.Pate@austintexas.gov; sara.barge@austintexas.gov; zo.qadri@austintexas.gov; Mike.Siegel@austintexas.gov; marc.duchen@austintexas.gov; district10@austintexas.gov; ryan.alter@austintexas.gov; Jose.Velasquez@austintexas.gov; district4@austintexas.gov; Paige.Ellis@austintexas.gov; Krista.Laine@austintexas.gov; natasha.madison@austintexas.gov; Vanessa.Fuentes@austintexas.gov; TC.Broadnax@austintexas.gov; Genesis.Gavino@austintexas.gov; louisa.brinsmade@austintexas.gov; max.lars@austintexas.gov; kirk.watson@austintexas.gov; Melissa.Beeler@austintexas.gov

>>> Still want to help? Find make a call to the offices of your council member and the mayor! Find phone numbers here: tinyurl.com/atxcitydata

Update 9/6: postponed because the item was be pulled from the agenda! (Good News)

Join HOCTX and the NO ALPRs coalition for a press conference raising awareness about Item 32 and showing our opposition to mass surveillance. We’ll be on the front steps of City Hall at noon on Monday, September 8!

Item 32 would spend $250k (in the middle of a budget crisis) to give Austin-based ai company Valkyrie Intelligence access to a *tremendous amount of very personal data* about Austinites without their consent, ultimately aiming at building a predictive AI modeling tool used to anticipate who in Austin may become homeless in the future.

We call on Austin City Council to, in a budget crisis, prioritize our neighbors already sleeping on the streets.

More info about Item 32:

The predictive model being suggested is emulating Los Angeles’ prevention program, the results of which will not be available until 2027. Los Angeles is working with California Policy Lab, a nonprofit housed at UC, who are public about their values and expertise in privacy protecting data-sharing and focused on supporting local governments with progressive programs.

Austin is proposing to give our sensitive data to Valkyrie Intelligence, a company with deep ties to the military industrial complex, who has never had a contract with a municipality before. Their privacy policy explicitly acknowledges that they may disclose personal information to public authorities for national security or law enforcement purposes. Their sister product Andromeda comes out of the CEO's work with U.S defense/intelligence agencies, alongside other corporations like Palantir.

Turning over sensitive data records without our consent and integrating them into a large database of personal profiles (LA's model relies on ER visits, crisis care, substance use, arrests, other individual records) handled by a for-profit corporation is irresponsible and violates our individual privacy rights. To be clear: This is not an opt-in program, this data would be collected and profiled without the consent of our residents.

More info about Valkyrie Intelligence: Valkyrie claims the data they collect doesn’t feed into their own systems, but the company has a troubling lack of expertise in their privacy policies. Their website states that Valkyrie “complies with the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework,” a defunct policy that was invalidated in 2020. They also claim they rely on a federal security standard, NIST standard 800171 revision 2, however the NIST standard doesn’t cover most of the data at issue and is more related to security protocols than privacy policies.

Find out more and take action here.

HOCTX wonders why the city can’t just use $250k to pay for housing for our folks already sleeping on the streets.

We’re a WORKforce to be reckoned with!

Join our coalition partner Indivisible 1431 for a rally on August 30!

RESOLUTION:

Indivisible 1431 is urging local jurisdictions to adopt humane-treatment resolutions, like those passed by the City of Austin, and Hays and Travis Counties. These resolutions affirm that all residents have a right to be treated like human beings, regardless of immigration status.

Link to generic model RESOLUTION: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QbW7uqSMJrIpx70gPLOOvjgUVrMHDPdM/view?usp=sharing

Our goal is to persuade Williamson County and the cities along and around the FM 1431 corridor to pass similar resolutions.

PETITION:

For our proposals to have impact before the governing bodies, we need the community behind us. To show the people’s representatives that their constituents care, we have launched a petition drive for the resolution. We hope the rally will provide synergy that will drive petition signatures and awareness.

Link to PETITION: https://secure.everyaction.com/dixmGOk5EkuiHUahL95bxQ2

Update 8/27: This action is cancelled bc we have succeeded in getting Items 33 & 67 removed from the council agenda!

Learn more about the details and impacts of both items and take action to help protect privacy and safety in Austin!

Join HOCTX, Austin Justice Coalition, Move Texas Civic Fund, League of Women Voters Austin, 50501 Austin, and local Indivisible groups to protest the absurd and dangerous deployment of DPS to control the movements of our elected representatives and the detainment of Rep Nicole Collier inside House Chambers.

“I refuse to sign away my dignity as a duly elected representative just so Republicans can control my movements and monitor me with police escorts,” Collier stated in a news release.

KEEP IN MIND: To attend you will be passing through Capitol Security checkpoint metal detectors. Eating and drinking in the rotunda or hallways is OKAY! Eating and drinking inside Committee rooms and the Senate or House chambers or galleries is not allowed by DPS. Soliciting or taking donations on TX Capitol grounds is not allowed by DPS. See a full list of prohibited items.

TRANSPORTATION & PARKING: CAPMETRO bus lines 1, 10, 103, 20, and 3 drop off near the Capitol but buses may stop running before the end of the protest. Plan your trip ahead of time. Please park at the Capitol Visitors Parking Garage (free for the first 2 hours), or park on the street in the neighborhoods west of the TX Capitol using the Park ATX app with discount codes: FREE15ATX1, FREE15ATX2

HOCTX denounces all violations of the constitution and the erosion of our legislative norms regardless of the individuals participating or perpetuating. We expect all elected representatives, local, state, and federal employees and law enforcement who take an oath to the constitution to obey their oath and defend the tenants of our representative democracy.

This is a highly nuanced moment, where different elected officials in Texas are illustrating how committed they are to their oaths and to the tenants of our democracy - ranging from fully fascist to fully engaged in the civil rights moment of our era.

HOCTX decries these attempts to pass unconstitutional, racist redistricting maps that seek to disenfranchise the voting power of Black and Hispanic communities in Texas.

HOCTX protests the decision by quorum-breaking House Representatives to re-enter Texas and give the House a quorum to pass this and other civil rights rollbacks. And we stand with Rep Collier and representatives who have not re-entered Texas.

We call on all Texas elected representatives to do everything in their power to stop this unconstitutional attempt to disenfranchise, silence, and erase the voices and votes of Texans.

Media disclaimer: There will be media and photos/videos of this event taken and shared on the internet, feel free to wear a mask for wellness or privacy reasons, and feel free to take your own photos and videos! Tag us: @handsoffcentraltx #handsofftx #handsoffcentraltx

Languages Disclaimer: ASL interpretation will not be guaranteed at this event. Language interpretation for languages other than English will not be guaranteed at this event.

Nonviolent Protest Disclaimer: Nobody from our organization will be provocative and we are not planning civil disobedience. We are utilizing our First Amendment right to protest and our right to lobby our representative government.

By attending our events, you are implicitly agreeing that while you attend our event, you will respect the laws and constitution of the United States and State of Texas and not create or contribute to a safety issue or lawlessness for our attendees and neighbors. We protect our community and defend democracy - we do not put people at risk or threaten violence.

Join us on the second day of the special session for DIRECT ACTION - visiting the offices of TX lege reps.

Please join TARA (Texas Alliance for Retired Americans) and the HOCTX coalition for a Social Security Birthday Party featuring a performance by the Raging Grannies and BIRTHDAY CAKE!

Self-govern at the county level with TeslaTakedownAustin!

Check your proposed travis county tax hike.

Contact the court at any time via email at commissioners-court@traviscountytx.gov

Email or call individual elected officials at Travis County using our excel spreadsheet.

TeslaTakedownATX is offering a training to get YOU ready to testify at Travis County Commissioners Court!

Check your proposed travis county tax hike.

Contact the court at any time via email at commissioners-court@traviscountytx.gov

Email or call individual elected officials at Travis County using our excel spreadsheet.

Join our coalition partners Indivisible 1421 for a movie screening of No Other Land, an Oscar winner about the horrors being inflicted by the Israeli military on the West Bank. 

Join us on Saturday, August 2 for a knock-down concert benefitting the HOCTX flood mutual aid fund!

Join us Monday, July 28 at 8 PM for an in-person training on how to use your civic power.

Join us for a virtual training on using your civic power and first amendment rights to lobby YOUR representative government to reflect the will of the people.

This event has been postponed because of redistricting madness!

We have a team of volunteer protest monitors, legal observers, and street medics coming to this event. If you would like to volunteer for any of these teams in the future, please use this form to contact us!

CAPITOL RULES:

1. No sticks over 12 inches (including flag poles). Stilts are OK. No fire. Poi light spinning is fine! Flags are encouraged! Feel free to bring camp chairs, blankets, snacks and water. Alcohol is not permitted.

2. Soliciting donations and selling products is not allowed on Capitol grounds. We respect the DPS rules so we can continue to have impactful mass mobilization efforts on OUR Capitol grounds! If you would like to fund the resistance, please consider donating to the cost of this massive effort. Every dollar counts… and all donations are tax-deductible!

Please consider the heat! Bring a hat, sunscreen, umbrella, fan. etc. Emergency water will be available on-site but please bring your own.

LAW ENFORCEMENT: This is an officially permitted event on State Capitol grounds, under the law enforcement jurisdiction of Texas DPS. Outside of Capitol grounds is under the jurisdiction of APD. APD and DPS have a working relationship. ***Our event does not have an official permit to march and NO MARCH IS PLANNED. ***

IMMIGRATION: Everyone is welcome at all of our events, but we want everyone to be aware of heightened immigration risk on federal property including TX Capitol grounds. This officially permitted event is on Capitol grounds, which is policed by DPS. It is DPS policy to work with ICE. It is not APD policy to coordinate with ICE, but they also do not interfere in ICE arrests.

TRANSPORTATION & PARKING: CAPMETRO will be running extra buses for the hours surrounding our event. Lines 1, 10, 103, 20, and 3 drop off near the Capitol: plan your trip. We expect parking at the Capitol Visitors Parking Garage (free for the first 2 hours) to fill quickly. You can also park on Red River or in the neighborhoods west of the TX Capitol using the Park ATX app with discount codes: FREE15ATX1, FREE15ATX2

BATHROOMS: Inside the Capitol, ADA bathrooms are available. You must pass through a DPS security checkpoint.

Media disclaimer: There will be media and photos/videos of this event taken and shared on the internet by participants and journalists. Feel free to wear a mask for wellness or privacy reasons, and feel free to take your own photos and videos! Tag us: @handsoffcentraltx #familiesfirst #carenotcuts #resist

Languages Disclaimer: Language interpretation for languages other than English will not be guaranteed at this event.

Nonviolent Protest Disclaimer: HOCTX and official coalition partners are committed to nonviolent civic resistance. We are utilizing our First Amendment constitutional right to protest and our right to lobby our representative government. We do everything in our power to protect the civil rights and physical safety of everyone at our events.

By attending our events, you are implicitly agreeing that while you attend our event, you will respect the laws and constitution of the United States and State of Texas and not create or contribute to a safety issue for our attendees and neighbors. We protect our community and defend democracy - we do not put people at risk or threaten violence.

Veteran? Freedom’s Shield is the veterans arm of HOCTX. Plug in on-site to defend democracy, the constitution, and our first amendment rights. Email your interest and questions to veterans@handsoffcentraltx.org

If your organization would like to partner with us to defend democracy, please email president@handsoffcentraltx.org

For journalist or influencer media inquiries please email president@handsoffcentraltx.org

TX Lege 101: Flood Advocacy Training!

Join us Tuesday, July 23 at 8 PM for an online training on how to use your civic power. Please RSVP - we only have 100 seats!

League of Women Voters Austin will give us the essential info about advocating for flood relief at the Texas Capitol on Wednesday, July 23,. Disaster Prevention hearing starts at 9 am at the Capitol.

☎️ Contact the committee members with your thoughts about flooding ASAP. Calls are highly recommended because it can take weeks for someone to read your email.

🥾 If you can take time off work and come to the Capitol, this WEDNESDAY we need to PACK THE HOUSE during the first hearing on flood relief and disaster prevention. Public testimony will *not be available on Wednesday, the committee will only be hearing from invited speakers.

Senate committee: Charles Perry (Chair), Pete Flores (Vice Chair) Paul Bettencourt, Cesar Blanco, Donna Campbell, Adam Hinojosa, Lois Kolkhorst, Jose Menendez, Charles Schweitzer

House committee: Ken King (Chair, original author of HB13 from last session and the author of the bill this session also called HB13 but not about flood sirens. It’s confusing) Armando Martinez (Vice Chair), Greg Bonnen, Drew Darby, Ann Johnson, AJ Louderback, Joe Moody, Wes Virdell, Terry Wilson

-- HB 13 flood siren bill advocacy --

Sign the HB13 petition: TinyUrl.com/TXHB13

Submit a house public comment asking for last session's HB 13 bill to be added to the schedule and passed ASAP so counties can get grants to start installing flood early warning systems: https://comments.house.texas.gov/home

!! Public comment important info !! Public comments go into a Public Record do NOT share you home address or personal details about your children, trans folks, undocumented folks, etc. Don't doxx yourself! “Self” for job is OK. Write minimum 1 sentence, you can write more but it’s not necessary. It’s a numbers game.

> If you write an eloquent public comment please copy and email it to yourself so you can have it for later (letters to the editor, emailing it to your direct representative +)

Join us on Monday, July 21 - the first day of the TX Legislative season - to tell our representatives that we want FLOOD WARNING SYSTEMS NOW!

The tragic floods in Central Texas in July 2025 have killed over one hundred people and with many still missing. Flood sirens  and coordinated alerts were inefficient and in some places entirely unavailable. Local officials reported that with even a few minutes of warning, lives could have been saved. Many rural and suburban areas lack basic disaster warning infrastructure like said flood sirens or interoperable emergency radios.

When: Monday, July 21 from 12 - 2 PM

Schedule: 12:20 - 1:30 speakers, 1:30 crash course in office visits & the TX Lege, 2 PM OPTIONAL OFFICE VISITS!

Speaker Lineup: Senator Sarah Eckhardt, Texas Senate District 14 Rep. Vikki Goodwin, Texas House District 47 Alexandra Haddix, 50501 Austin lead organizer Brigitte Bandit, Advocate and Drag Performer Chas Moore, Executive Director, Austin Justice Coalition Melody Tremallo, Vice President, HOCTX Nancy Thompson, Mothers For Democracy Cynthia Millonzi, Veteran and volunteer with Kerrville and Austin Pets Alive Salvador Espinoza, Central Texas Flood Volunteer Ian Crowl, Sunrise Movement Sophia Mirto, President, HOCTX

Central Texas Handmaidens has an open invitation to all anti-fascist organization to network and meet their fellow #resistance Texans!

Good Trouble Lives On is a national day of nonviolent action to respond to the attacks posed on our civil and human rights by the Trump administration and to remind them that in America, the power lies with the people. 

From felony disenfranchisement to voter suppression bills like the SAVE Act, anti-democracy forces are working overtime to silence our voices. We can’t wait. We need Good Trouble now!

On July 17th, the anniversary of Rep. John Lewis’ passing, we’re mobilizing across the country to demand that Congress protect our rights and ensure free and fair elections for all.

We’re sending a clear message:

In the United States, the power lies in the hands of the people. We demand an end to: 

• The extreme crackdown on our civil rights, from our right to vote to our right to protest and free speech.. 

• The attacks on black and brown Americans, immigrants, trans people, and other communities.

• The slashing of programs that working people rely on, including Medicaid, SNAP, and Social Security.
  

  Languages Disclaimer: Language interpretation for languages other than English will not be guaranteed at this event. ASL volunteers are scheduled to attend and will be translating for the speakers.

  Veteran? Freedom’s Shield is the veterans arm of HOCTX. Plug in on-site to defend democracy, the constitution, and our first amendment rights. Email your interest and questions to veterans@handsoffcentraltx.org

  If your organization would like to partner with us to defend democracy, please email president@handsoffcentraltx.org

  For journalist or influencer media inquiries please email president@handsoffcentraltx.org

  Media disclaimer: There will be media and photos/videos of this event taken and shared on the internet, feel free to wear a mask for wellness or privacy reasons, and feel free to take your own photos and videos! Tag us: @handsoffcentraltx #handsofftx #handsoffcentraltx #goodtrouble

  Nonviolent Protest Disclaimer: Nobody from our organization will be provocative and we are not planning civil disobedience. We are utilizing our First Amendment right to protest and our right to lobby our representative government. We do everything in our power to protect the civil rights and physical safety of everyone at our events. We have yet to have any significant incidents of safety issues at any of our events.

  By attending our events, you are implicitly agreeing that while you attend our event, you will respect the laws and constitution of the United States and State of Texas and not create or contribute to a safety issue or lawlessness for our attendees and neighbors. We protect our community and defend democracy - we do not put people at risk or threaten violence.

Join us for a free live-streamed Rest & Release yoga class to support Texans impacted by the July floods.

Watch the livestream on the front page of our website: HandsOffCentralTX.org

Join us for our monthly Know Your Rights Training - July Edition!

FREEDOM FEST - NOW ONLINE

Due to flash flood warnings in Central Texas, Freedom Fest is now a LIVE-STREAMED FUNDRAISER SHOW for our July 4 Flood Victims Relief Fund. Support the fund.

Watch the livestream on the front page of our website at 5PM!

The American Revolution was a stand against tyranny and kings. That same spirit has lived on—from the Boston Tea Party to the Underground Railroad, from Stonewall to the Civil Rights Movement. Join the civil rights movement of our generation. Freedom for EVERY TEXAN.

Organizations that were planning to table:

League of Women Voters Austin (voter reg & civics)

Resist Austin (tesla takedowns fame!)

Freedom’s Shield (veterans defend democracy)

Aura (transportation)

EFF Austin (digital defense)

Grassroots Leadership (people power)

Undoing White Supremacy Austin (civics direct action)

Texas Alliance for Retired Americans (TARA)

Progress Texas (progressive rapid response)

Austin Justice Coalition

NO ALPRs Coalition

Languages Disclaimer: Language interpretation for languages other than English will not be guaranteed at this event.

Nonviolent Protest Disclaimer: HOCTX and official coalition partners are committed to nonviolent civic resistance. We are utilizing our First Amendment constitutional right to protest and our right to lobby our representative government. We emphasize protecting the civil rights and physical safety of everyone at our events.

By attending our events, you are implicitly agreeing that while you attend our event, you will respect the laws and constitution of the United States and State of Texas and not create or contribute to a safety issue for our attendees and neighbors. We protect our community and defend democracy - we do not put people at risk or threaten violence. This is an all-ages, family-friendly event. Please be considerate of our community and especially children’s safety.

Veteran? Freedom’s Shield is the veterans arm of HOCTX. Plug in on-site to defend democracy, the constitution, and our first amendment rights. Email your interest and questions to veterans@handsoffcentraltx.org

If your organization would like to partner with us to defend democracy, please email president@handsoffcentraltx.org

For journalist or influencer media inquiries please email president@handsoffcentraltx.org

Join us for a rapid response protest - The Big Bad Budget Bill HR1 will decimate the American way of life.

Join us for a comprehensive afternoon of protest training.