AUSTIN — Dozens from around Texas marched to the Texas State Capitol building Tuesday in Downtown Austin to support progressive and criminal justice reform.
The march, which was organized by the Austin Justice Coalition, took place on the first day of the 2019 legislative session. The Austin Justice Coalition is a grassroots and activists-led organization that seeks to address criminal justice reform and social justice reform. Other organizations came in support as well, including people from Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Longview.
The march began at 10 a.m. at the Austin City Hall and ended at the Texas State Capitol building.
Chas Moore is the executive director of the Austin Justice Coalition. He said this is a day every year that is important to his organization.
"It's just a reminder for our legislators to know that we appreciate all the pomp and circumstance that's going to go on today like them getting sworn in and taking cookies," Moore said. "But you were also elected and sworn into those offices to do some work."
In connection to criminal justice reform, Moore said he wants the age of being tried as an adult to go from 17 to 18.
"Anything that is harmful in the daily lives of black, brown and poor Texans, we want to try to mitigate those things as much as we can," Moore said.
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Chase Moore also said Tuesday was "a day of action, a day of solidarity, a day of accountability as we tell our elected officials what we want tos ee come out of this legislative session."
The march was intended to "bring about the much-needed changes here on a local and state level," said Moore.