Houston organizations sign letter demanding Mayor Whitmire apologize for ‘deeply offensive’ comments from Gulfton residents – Houston Public Media

Patricia Ortiz/Houston Public Media

Two dozen local organizations signed and sent a letter to Houston Mayor John Whitmire this morning asking him to apologize for comments he made about Gulfton residents that they say were “deeply offensive”.

The mayor said Houston landing last month, Houstonians in Gulfton are “largely undocumented immigrants. They just want basic services. They don’t want to be part of the Galleria. Do you think they’ll be welcome in the Galleria?”

Metro has worked to get rapid bus lines through Gulfton to areas such as the BakerRipley Center. The transportation agency also plans a route to the Galleria.

Gulfton is a neighborhood in west Houston that is one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the city. The main language here is Spanish, according to American Community Survey estimates in 2019, the latest data available for the area. About 40 percent of Gulfton residents live below the poverty line.

The letter, signed by organizations including United We Dream, the Texas Civil Rights Project and Black Lives Matter Houston, calls Whitmire’s comments “not only deeply offensive, but also reveals a shocking level of ignorance and bias.”

He added that his statement “is a blatant distortion that smacks of xenophobia and a worrying detachment from the community you claim to serve.”

Maria Hernández is the executive director of Mothers of the Park which works to protect the city’s community parks, including Gulfton. She lives in Sharpstown, another diverse Houston neighborhood, and is one of 26 people who signed the letter. She also says that she is also “a proud migrant”.

“I just want him to realize that we are as human as they are,” Hernandez said of Whitmire, “that we are part of this community, this country, this area of ​​Houston — that we seek to improve our lives. “.

The mayor’s office commented on the issue to Houston Public Media, but did not issue an apology to Gulfton residents, which the letter requested.

“My support for Gulfton as a senator and now as mayor is well established. I work in partnership with Harris County Commissioner Briones and other stakeholders,” Whitmire’s office wrote. “We are listening to residents and will make a positive difference in Gulfton. Metro has a plan for the region. It is designing a data-driven strategy to improve mobility, giving people better access to services of BakerRipley and Legacy Clinic.

Karthik Soora, who wrote the letter and is a developer of renewable energy projects, told Houston Public Media that “the mayor’s implication that they and other Houstonians should limit themselves only to their neighborhood to determining their living conditions was like a slap in the face.”

Daniel Cohen chairs Houston indivisible, a local progressive grassroots organization, and also signed the letter. He said, “There are a lot of people who have been dissatisfied with the first six months of the mayor’s term,” but that Whitmire’s comments about Gulfton stood out “because it was an incident that very clearly marked many stereotypes about what different people in Houston are like, who they look like, who they like to associate with.”

Additionally, Cohen said the mayor’s comment could mean he views undocumented people “as not wanting to go to Galleria and do things that Houstonians typically do.” Cohen added that Whitmire “also stereotyped the people at the Galleria as unwelcoming people who would come from Gulfton.”

“It’s just not the kind of voice we want to hear, you know, it’s not the kind of statement we want to hear,” he added.

Cohen’s sentiments echoed those of City Council member Edward Pollard whose district includes Gulfton. Tadpole confronted the mayor during a town hall meeting last month saying “What hurts me is that we are making generalizations about a particular community that is extremely diverse.”

Soora said he hoped the mayor would apologize for his remarks.

“Since he is my elected leader and I want Houston to prosper,” Soora wrote. “I encourage him to change course, apologize, listen a lot more, put the interests of working class Houston first, and be the leader this city deserves.”

But he warned that if Whitmire doesn’t do so, “if the mayor continues to move forward in this manner, opposition will increase.”