In a story commemorating the death of former Texas congressman Mickey Leland in a 1989 plane crash, the Houston Chronicle reporter demonstrates the brainwashed mentality of many in the press.
The reporter wrote:
“Leland was born in Lubbock in 1944 in impoverished circumstances in a town recognized for its strong racial conflict and few opportunities for black advancement. Lubbock is home to the largest contiguous cotton-growing region in the world and a history of slavery that is unique to West Texas. (Slave society was stronger in East Texas.)
Leland’s mother escaped the midsize West Texas city for the metropolis of Houston, taking Leland and his brother with him.”
Dear agenda-driven, and ignorant writer:
There were no people permanently on the High Plains during the slavery era, that includes American-Indians. It was decades after the Civil War before the first Anglo settlers came to this area, and they were ranchers. Lubbock was not even incorporated until 1909 and cotton was not a major industry until the 1930’s! There is no “history of slavery that is unique to West Texas,” you buffoon.
By the way, you might benefit from knowing that the FIRST BLACK REPUBLICAN ELECTED TO THE TEXAS HOUSE since Reconstruction is from Lubbock and it was Lubbockites who elected him. His name is Ron Givens and he’s a friend of mine. (He was treated as trash by other minority legislators when he went to Austin showing who the real bigots were.)
Try and get it right. And while you are at it, why don’t you mention that Segregation and other racial policies were conceived of, written and passed, and enforced by a strong government run completely by DEMOCRATS in Texas!
Robert Pratt is host of the top rated Pratt on Texas radio program which can be heard at www.PrattonTexas.</i?com.
