Texas Raids Polygamists

On April 3, the Great State of Texas raided the ranch home of a polygamist sect and put 440 of their children into Children’s Protective Services.

Every day since then, the battle has raged through the courts and the news reports. Sometimes they only comment on the “Texas Prairie” long dress styles that the women wear, but they find something to talk about in every newscast.

Detractors of the raid say that the splitoff Morman group was just practicing its religion and should have been protected by the U.S. Constitution. Advocates say that the state has a responsibility to protect all children against any kind of abuse. The abuse usually alleged is forcing the young women into marriage and/or pregnancy at an early age (16). Supporters of the raid rarely mention that polygamy is illegal in Texas, and they reply to accusations of religious intolerance. There are Texans on both sides.

Pictures tell a lot of the story. The quaintly dressed women and children look healthy and well fed. The news reports sometimes mention that the ranch was an economic success.

On May 22, a definitive legal step occurred when the Third Court of Appeals ruled that the state hadn’t shown that the children were in immediate danger, which would have been the only legal basis for seizing them. All the children were ordered back to their parents. It won’t be that easy, since the state has been trying all along to find out which of the communally-raised children belong to which parents. DNA tests haven’t come back yet, the kids apparently don’t know their parents, and the mothers aren’t saying.

The Great State of Texas appealed their legal setback to the Texas Supreme Court, so don’t think this is over. They may be crazy, but they’re not quitters.

In trying to make heads or tails of the entire phenomenon, Texas progressives can be certain of one thing: the State of Texas has no credibility in its claim to be acting on the behalf of children’s welfare and happiness. The right-wing legislature is infamous for having cut the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIPS), the Texas Youth Commission has an ongoing scandal over sexual and other forms of abuse in the young people’s prison system, and there is an ongoing effort, taking many forms, to destroy the public school system here.

Another thing we can be sure of is that children would be better off if they lived in a society where these issues pass outside the hands of hysterics and under the control of thought.

--Jim Lane flittle7@yahoo.com