Yolanda Begum for Justice of the Peace, District 2-2 Gaining Momentum

Blockwalking for a candidate gives you a quick perception of how a community views your candidate. It is the nuts and bolts of a political race. Do the residents know your candidate? Do they respect his or her priorities? Do they know the opponent? Last year when Nena and I blockwalked the neighborhood of Charlie Atkinson and Pat Ahumada we quickly surmised they were not going to be re-elected. As a neighbor on Charlie's street told us back then: "I would vote for a mesquite tree living in this district before I would vote for Charlie."

Nena and I felt somewhat nostalgic going door to door on Villa Verde and Blanche Streets, just off of McDavitt Road. We lived in that neighborhood 43 years ago, shopped at the Villa Verde Grocery(Now Lopez Supermarket). Occasionally, Nena sent me to the Oasis Drive In on Boca Chica for a hamburger and fries, always greasy, but good. I worked at the H.E.B. on Boca Chica. Mr. Allen was the manager. It's amazing but the homes in this neighborhood look better now than they did back then. Many have been remodeled with skill. The St. Augustine grass and landscaping is mature.

We spoke with the Hinojosa girls standing in front of the family car. Both were over 18 and registered voters. Yolanda Begum had just convinced Mr. Taco to display a campaign sign and joined us. "I don't need this job", Yolanda started. "I just want to help our community. I worked helping teenagers who skipped school learn art. They were assigned to me as part of their punishment. At first, they hesitated to participate, but I won them over. We helped them to get back up to speed so they could rejoin their classes. It's so important that our county deal with truancy because these kids are being recruited by the gangs and now the cartels. I want to institute a similar program as your Justice of the Peace."

Nena and I then visited with Eddie, longtime postmaster at the downtown post office. He recognized us from the gadzillion packages we had mailed when we used to sell on Ebay. Eddie knew who Begum was, but wanted to know why we were so involved in the campaign. "We respect her and what she wants to do for our community, but we also oppose the consistent opportunistic leeching of our city by Ernie Hernandez. We don't want another generation of that despicable family to be elected to political office and continue the corruption." At that point, Eddie opened the screen door and extended his hand. He agreed to a Begum campaign sign being attached to his chain link fence.

Mrs. Rodriguez answered the door of a small home with wrought iron protection on each window and door. Our information sheet listed 5 registered voters at that address. She listened to our description of Begum's platform, but hesitated at placing a sign in her front yard. "We have so many cars that we park on the front lawn." "What about placing a campaign sign on the tree?" I asked. She said that would be ok.

Ms. Begum has several more creative campaign events planned, but mainly she wants to reach out to the citizens of Brownsville one door at a time. As Mrs. Garza told us.: "Oh yes, I saw her at the pulga," referring to the Highway 77 Flea Market. She also agreed to a sign in her yard.