A small article in today's Dallas Managed News was buried on an inside page ("Texans set to celebrate their independence"). Burying the article is illustrative of what's left of Texas Independence Day. Heck, there's not even a special sale at Whataburger! But -- you can buy a Texas Calendar where the year starts on March 2nd.
This is mostly a non-holiday where no banks are closed, the mail gets delivered, there are few parades and few people bat an eye. Back in 1836 (during the siege of The Alamo) a group of 59 Texans met at Washington-on-the-Brazos (northwest of Houston) to declare Texas an independent country (from Mexico). A few years later, we were annexed by the USA and the rest is history. The town of Washington, Texas (in Washington County) still exists as a wide spot in the road - population 262 - between Conroe and Austin.
The article talked about an Austin-based group called Celebrate Texas that encourages us to play Texas music, eat barbecue, drink "swee-tea" and watch a parade.
169 years after Texas Independence Day, a rising percentage of our residents are Mexican nationals who waded across the Rio Grande to work as non-English speaking cheap laborers -- roofers, gardeners, car wash attendants, maids, restaurant cooks. Both (Mexican General) Santa Anna and (Texas President) Sam Houston would be rolling over in their graves.
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