Greetings from Fort Worth, seat of Tarrant County, recently the most strongly Republican county of its size in the United States. I'm a lifelong resident of 41 years, having seen this blue collar town accept desegregation with relative ease but then slowly, inexorably, slide to the right ever since. Today, though, I saw something that frankly shocked me: war protesters at the city's most hightone public high school, Arlington Heights.
I'm a Heights grad, circa 1983. Even then, when Jim Wright represented our district as Majority Leader, Heights kids were predominantly conservative and Republican, practically worshiping at the altar of Ronald Reagan. The neighborhood AHHS serves has been a Republican stronghold ever since. But that may be about to change.
Driving past the school on busy Hulen Street today at lunchtime, I saw about two dozen kids marching the sidewalk with signs:
"Out of Iraq NOW!"
"No War for Oil!"
"Honk if You Want to Impeach!"
I honked. The kids jumped up and down with excitement. They were engaged, passionate, and involved. I just couldn't have been prouder of them, demonstrating for peace and for truth, at this campus of all campuses, in this city of all cities.
...and as I kept driving, I heard the sound of more horns behind me.