See it to believe it

A PSA gone wrong? Houston's dramatic how to survive a shooter video raisesquestions — and coffee pots

The Mayor’s Office of Public Safety and Homeland Security recently released a Department of Homeland Security-funded PSA campaign video entitled "RUN. HIDE. FIGHT. Surviving an Active Shooter Event." And it's drawing plenty of national attention.

The six-minute-long video, also available in Spanish, looks to have been filmed at the LEED-certified Houston Permitting Center. It features employees reacting — by running away, hiding in closets or fighting back with improvised weapons — following the appearance of a black-clad gunman in the otherwise idyllic office.

A solemn voiceover enumerates tips on survival as employees block doorways with copier machines, dodge behind dumpsters and arm themselves with coffee pots, office chairs and fire extinguishers.

The acting is amusing and the music dramatic, while the voiceover makes trite remarks about life feeling like an action movie, about how "sometimes bad people do bad things." You want to laugh, but you can't.

Though the video was completed months ago, it was released last Friday — just one week after the horrific movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colo., that has left everyone feeling unsafe.

Does this seem like a joke, considering the circumstances? Or is the seemingly obvious information all the more important in the wake of that disaster?

Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Beyonce Super Bowl

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

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Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”

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