Don’t Water Down the Alamo: The Fight Over Texas History in the Classroom

Daniel Miller opened a day-late edition of Late Night Coffee Talk with a warning about a fight unfolding quietly inside the State Board of Education. A draft proposal circulating ahead of an August 1 meeting would eliminate the dedicated fourth-grade Texas history unit, chop the same material into pieces, and smear it thinly across the K-6 grades while mixing it in with U.S. and world history. Proponents like SBOE member Georgina Perez insist this is teaching more Texas history, not less. Miller was not buying it. Spread the same jar of peanut butter across a football field, he argued, and you do not magically have more peanut butter. You have a coating so thin it barely registers. He drew a straight line from this proposal to the 2009 push to strip the word hero from references to Travis and Houston, and to the Reimagine the Alamo effort to bury the battle inside a 10,000-year context.

The TNM’s answer, he explained, is to flood the board with calls now, while the proposal is still in draft and well before any vote. He read a supportive reply from SBOE member Audrey Young, pointed to advisory board member Dr. Matt Robinson on the inside, and laid out the strategy. Build relationships with every member, demand more classroom time for Texas history at every grade level, and do not wait for a testimony window that may never open if the proposal dies first.

From there Miller introduced the Catalyst Campaign, the largest fundraiser the movement has ever launched, framing it around a hard truth. Texas independence already polls at 66 percent of likely voters, but support sitting on a couch wins nothing. With a referendum targeted for November 2023 and a billion-dollar Project Fear campaign waiting to claim companies will flee and grandma will be thrown in a ditch, the movement has to be ready to run one of the largest get-out-the-vote operations in state history. He also announced the show is moving 30 minutes earlier, to 9 p.m. on Wednesdays.

Questions answered in this episode

• Where did the State Board of Education proposal come from, and if we are playing defense, shouldn’t we just pass TEXIT and eliminate the SBOE?
• If Texas got rid of all politicians and parties, what form of government would it become. Would it be a direct democracy where the people make every law?
• Will an independent Texas have a vice president, and will it field a strong military force in North America?
• When and how will the phone-calling campaign get started for volunteers who are ready to work?
• What is Texas going to do about the southern border and the invasion coming up from the south?
• Why do people claim the United States would completely fall apart if Texas were to leave?
• What currency would an independent Texas use, and shouldn’t it just stay the same as it is now?
• How do we keep the same kind of entrenched politicians and bureaucrats out of public office?
• How can I prove to people that Texas pays more to the federal government than it gets back, when other sources claim Texas is a net-taker state?
• Has the TNM selected a director of communications yet?
• What is the actual name of the TNM app, and how do I log into it?
• How do I create a new local group for the area I just moved to?
• Will Daniel be speaking in the Tyler, Lindale, or Longview area soon?