LBJ MUSEUM OF SAN MARCOS
There is nothing better than a night filled with community, food, philanthropy and an uplifting speech by a famous and knowledgeable individual, and the LBJ Museum of San Marcos’ annual benefit gala hit all the marks to make for an incredible night, as it does each year. The keynote speaker for the event was Beto O’Rourke who has served as a U.S. Representative for Texas’ 16th Congressional District and also ran for Texas Governor and even President of the U.S.
Wayne Kraemer, LBJ Museum board president, believes that museums are “guardians of time” that allow people to respect, remember and treasure that which feeds the soul.
“I believe we created a space that honors Lyndon [Baynes Johnson] in that way, it also makes us mindful of the matters that were important to Lyndon’s soul that are still being debated today — poverty, education, civil rights, voting rights and other components of the Great Society are now being tested and challenged like never before,” Kraemer said “We need to stand here as guardians on their behalf, and an individual who is continually standing as a guardian for these programs is our speaker tonight.”
O’Rourke runs a group called Powered By People that went to all of the Texas college campuses during the presidential election, signing students up to vote.
“[Powered By People] was here doing this work with volunteers, students, faculty, staff, just folks in San Marcos who wanted to contribute to something good,” he said. “It is really nice to be back here on this occasion.”
O’Rourke told a story about a recent trip to Spain with his family and used the Sagrada Familia, the famous temple designed by Antoni Gaudí, as an example of the human condition and a metaphor for the beautiful but messy world we live in. He cited peoples’ fears of nuclear war, climate change, AI and pandemics as well as the “fact that we just cannot get our act together in this country to meet the existential threats that our kids and grandkids face” as reasons many could succumb to despair.
“There is a temptation to [fall into] despair, to give in, to give up, to say, ‘We’re screwed. … We human beings are incapable of not f***ing this place up and not hurting each other … when we have the capacity and power to do otherwise,’” O’Rourke said. “Or there’s Gaudí’s take on the human condition: Yes, we’re imperfect, and that Cathedral is really almost a monument to imperfection. It’s not the straight lines that we’re used to. … It’s really a reflection of the beautiful mess of humanity and nature and the world in which we live.”
O’Rourke segued into a tale about a Civil Rights figure that did not let the “messy world we live in” force him to give up. Lawrence Aaron Nixon was a Black man born in Marshall, Texas at the end of the 19th century. Nixon got a medical degree and found his way to El Paso.
“He becomes as civically and politically engaged as a Black man could be at the time in Texas,” O’Rourke said. “In fact, he founds the first chapter of the NAACP anywhere in the state of Texas in 1914; He does it in El Paso. He helps the mayor and the city council prepare bond issues for his fellow citizens. He never misses an election. He’s absolutely religious about it. So imagine what it felt like for him when, in 1923, … the Texas Legislature bans voting by African Americans in the state of Texas.”
In 1924, Nixon paid his poll tax, which was required to vote in Texas at that time, and walked into Fire Station #5 in El Paso and tried to vote.
“[He] puts his poll tax receipt down on the table and says, ‘I would like to vote,’” O’Rourke said. “The poll worker knows Nixon by sight because Nixon has never missed an election before. They say, ‘Dr Nixon, you know we can’t let you do this.’ And Nixon says, ‘I know you can’t, but I’ve got to try.’” Nixon did this every single election and was turned down every time. He took his case to the local court then lost. He proceeded to take it all the way up to the Supreme Court where he was victorious. However, the Texas Legislature removed voting rights for African Americans in the state once again. He goes through the same song and dance a second time with the exact same outcome but doesn’t give up.
“Throughout all of this, he makes it to every single election, pays his poll tax, tries to vote and is turned back,” O’Rourke said. “He’s a doctor. He’s successful. He can move to California, New York or Illinois — some place where he will be treated fully as a man with full constitutional protections and rights, including the right to vote — but he chooses to stay in Texas and to be part of this fight.”
In 1944, another Black physician that was inspired by Nixon named Lonnie Smith took a similar case to the Supreme Court and won, which led to the integration of elections in Texas.
“Nixon and his wife go into Fire Station #5, wait in line, present their poll tax and this time they voted,” O’Rouke said.
He rounded off the speech by discussing LBJs Civil Rights and Voting Rights legislation and the life events that could have driven their inception.
“We famously know about … [LBJ’s] time teaching school in Cotulla, the Welhausen School, and how that informed legislation that he brought to Congress as a Senator and then as a President,” O’Rourke said. “I’ve got to think that Nixon’s story in some way wore off on him.”
The LBJ Museum of San Marcos is located at 131 N Guadalupe Street. The hours of operation are Thursday to Saturday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
