THE PERSUADERS by Anand Giridharadas (@AnandWrites): Last night I learned Cecilia Abbott, Texas’ anti-choice first lady and wife of anti-choice Gov. @GregAbbott_TX, was at my speech on @PersuadersBook at the Texas Book Festival.
So I asked her to carry a message from the room to her husband:
“Leave other women’s bodies alone.” https://twitter.com/AnandWrites/status/1588970767311511552/video/1
THE PERSUADERS by Anand Giridharadas (@AnandWrites): Then it got wild. A big donor who had invited Cecilia Abbott came up and berated me in front of a crowd for five minutes, even as virtually everyone else was so nice about it.
The donor said she was pulling her donations to the festival. And that I was therefore hurting kids.
THE PERSUADERS by Anand Giridharadas (@AnandWrites): I suggested that, since she was pulling her donations, she was the one deciding whether to hurt kids or not.
But she insisted I was hurting kids by giving a political speech.
She said one isn’t supposed to be political at galas and literacy events.
I said I’m always political.
THE PERSUADERS by Anand Giridharadas (@AnandWrites): I want to thank each and every Texan who came up to me afterward last night and said, No one does this in polite society in Texas, but we need to.
There were more than I can remember.
More aging white guys than I can count thanked me for standing up for women.
THE PERSUADERS by Anand Giridharadas (@AnandWrites): I know I put @texasbookfest in a hard spot, because they may lose donations for no fault of their own. To their credit, they never asked what I was going to say, and afterward told me that I did exactly what a writer is supposed to do.
Maybe pro-freedom donors will step in.
THE PERSUADERS by Anand Giridharadas (@AnandWrites): But there were several who suggested that, while I may not be wrong, I broke a code of civility. You don’t do this HERE. At a GALA.
I want to say clearly: I reject that code.
If you’re more offended by a speech than by the theft of fundamental rights from women, that’s on you.
THE PERSUADERS by Anand Giridharadas (@AnandWrites): Above all, thank you to the women in the room, and the men who love them, who stood and made me not alone as I sent my message to @GregAbbott_TX.
None of us is alone. So if you see something, say something, even if it wasn’t in your original script. https://twitter.com/AnandWrites/status/1588975901219307521/photo/1