Tessa now you are asking great questions! I don’t know why the exaggerated fear in Texas but I have my theory which I will share:
Texas started as an uncertain and untamed place with roaming plains Indians and a mostly absentee landlord (Mexico). Texas revolted against Mexico and suffered the Alamo before “overcoming” the Mexican army and becoming a country for a few years with tenuous stability. The whole time until the civil war and after often greatly exaggerated stories of Comanche and Apache acts of murder, kidnapping and terrorism were retold as cultural staple. During reconstruction (1866-76) Texas was on par with the worst atrocities of black lynching and intimidation of any southern state (forget the inaccurate assumption of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama being lynch capitals).
Texas is big and a lot of it remained unsettled. The Texas Ranger myths (often with truths that are amazing) leave out a lot of brutality. The oil boom came along and like the settlements preceding drew the transient and unsettled looking for opportunities (my ancestors included). Much of the oil field crowd was hard drinking, gambling and hard living. The families that followed tended to overcompensate with strict restrictions embodied by Protestant churches like Southern Baptist and Church of Christ.
Texas is a land of extremes—weather, politics, behaviors, ethics, myths, renegades and rebels. The term “Maverick” originated here.
Starting in the 1980s the demographics started to shift. Now something in the neighborhood of 40% of the population is Latino (Mexico has taken us back) and Houston is in contention for one of the most diverse (Asian, Arabic, African, Latino, other) cities in the USA. That frightens stereotype old guard patriarchy and white religion as a control and answer fundamentalists in no small degree.
I think Larry McMurtry tried to “de-myth” the simplified Texas story. Please let your daughter stay here. If she lives in DFW area stay at the AirBNB guesthouse we are finishing here on the ranch. We will see what happens, I believe we will swing back from this fear driven extremism because if we don’t it will hurt business growth which like football is a Texas priority.
In the meantime keep writing and bringing to light the wacko stuff going on in Texas. Your daughter can be your scout. Do you think it would be worth publishing my “Texas Fears Theory” as an article?
