Brother turned Texan on me

My brother David turned Texan on me.

Of my three brothers, I was closest to Dave. He and I were both red headed when young and seemed to be more like our Norwegian mother than like our father.

Shortly after he returned from serving in the air force in World War II, he moved to Texas.

I visited him in Houston a number of times, but not just recently. He passed on a number of years ago.

When I visited Texas it was always a relief when I left the state and entered into New Mexico. New Mexico never looked so good.

I’ve heard it said that the U.S. offered to return Texas to Mexico but they turned it down saying they had enough problems the way it was.

Of the 35 states I have visited, Texas is the most racist state I have ever been in.

While visiting once, I went to Galveston with my brother to attend an auction only to hear the auctioneer make a string of racist comments. The crowd had great fun.

I determined early on that a week’s visit was too long.

Texas has been in the news a lot lately.

First it had to do with the pandemic where the governor did, and continues to do, everything he can to let the spread of the virus kill off as many Texans as he can.

No remorse here, he’s speaking to his base.

Then a bunch of legislators, mostly men, gathered in darkened rooms to make decisions on what women can do with their lives. Their decision on abortion takes us back to the dark ages.

More recently a Texan school administrator let it be known that Texas schools teaching anything about the holocaust had to give similar time to those who contend that the holocaust never happened.

That bunch has more than their heads buried in the sand.

The only way to deal with such thinking is to vote them out of office.

It is thought that Texas’ governor has his eyes on running for president.

We have already experienced the damage that can happen when a person with that type of thinking occupies the White House.

Hundreds of thousands of pandemic deaths could have been avoided, except for far-right philosophy.

Now get back to my brother. He was a really a nice guy. He would drive to Seattle every year to see us and was a large contributor to our mother’s welfare. He always thought of family first.

But he had this flaw, influenced by life in Texas.

Texan’s take such pride in not having very many restrictions. That’s why you find blocks with high rises next to single-family houses.

Well, Texas has seen the last of me, and vice versa.

I only hope that enough educated people have moved into the state’s suburbs to make a difference in the next election.