Visiting Texas: My Thoughts on the Councilman Dwight Boykins Situation

Butterflies, if you’re in the Houston area you’ve probably heard about all the backlash Councilman and Mayoral candidate Dwight Boykins is receiving following a speech he gave at the 2019 Youth Advocacy Summit hosted by Mi Familia Vota Education Fund. My kid attended the summit and she, as well as a lot of the other young ladies that were present were very unsettled by Mr. Boykin's message. Apparently Mr. Boykins was asked a question by the young ladies about women’s rights and somewhere along the line his response to the question morphed into an entirely different discussion. My daughter showed me the video when she got home and we talked about it.

Personally, I grew up with those kind of warning/wisdom speeches from elders all the time and honestly most of what he said was the truth. Guys can definitely be jerks at times and we (men and women) definitely have different views on sex and relationships. For those reasons, I always try to talk about life and sex as openly as possible with my daughter in hopes that she will not have to experience any of the mistakes and struggles that I had to journey through.

I think the speech didn’t go as planned for several reasons: 1) the background of the people that were present at this event probably aren’t accustomed to those kind of blunt discussions, 2) it’s a different generation of youth, and 3) the world is in the middle of a #MeToo Movement that no one and nothing is safe from. Though it was innocent, he probably shouldn’t have put his hand on her shoulder and I didn’t agree with the part about no one is going to want you after you’ve been had, that part was very belittling and also very far from the truth.

I admire the young ladies for speaking up and letting it be known that they were uncomfortable with the interactions and choice of words from Mr. Boykins. We still have a long way to go but our voices are definitely being heard. Women are amazing! 🥰