Texas draws criticism over plan to lure tourists to sites where indigenous peoples have been banned | Texas

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This story was published in partnership with the Texas Observer.

Texas, which exterminated or displaced most of the state’s native people, now wants to take advantage of them.

As lawmakers back legislation that could further restrict how Indigenous history is taught in schools, a state agency appointed by Governor Greg Abbott is trying to make money by luring tourists to historic sites and indigenous cultures. The Texas Historical Commission hopes to work with Indigenous nations to expand states’ multibillion-dollar tourism programs, even though nearly all of the original nations were forced out of the state or destroyed decades ago and may not. not financially benefit from tourism.

The violence and colonization that led to the displacement of Native Americans is unlikely to be taught in textbooks either. Abbott and the Republican-controlled legislature supported bills banning the teaching of Critical Race Theory, an academic discipline that examines how racism operates in American law and society, and effectively prohibits teachers discuss racism and the history of racial violence. . Lawmakers also approved a patriotic education initiative called Project 1836, named after the year Texas gained independence from Mexico and a rebuke to Project 1619, the New York Times series that examined the legacy. of slavery in the United States.

In June, dozens of representatives from indigenous nations with ties to Texas gathered virtually for the monthly meeting of the tribal chiefs of the Texas Historical Commissions, which a member of the commission’s heritage tourism program asked them to. help diversify the program by identifying places that are historically or culturally important.

We were trying to be more inclusive and tribal history is part of that, and we want to include your story in this guide, said Theresa Caldwell, state coordinator of the Texas Heritage Commissions program, according to a recording of the meeting. obtained by the Texas Observer. .

Teaching of Native history is superficial in Texas schools, so few students learn about Native contributions or the horrific story of their extermination. Photograph: Bettmann / Archives Bettmann

A majority of the native representatives at the meeting joined from outside of Texas. Only three federally recognized tribes, the Alabama-Coushatta tribe of Texas, the traditional Kickapoo tribe of Texas, and the Ysleta del sur Pueblo, live within state borders, while nearly two dozen in neighboring states such as Oklahoma maintains ties inherited from decades of war, land theft and state-sponsored genocide that wiped out entire tribes or drove indigenous communities across state lines.

I don’t really understand the approach: for us volunteering, or an opportunity to share our non-profit heritage in tourism? said an indigenous representative at the end of Caldwells’ presentation. That being said, how would the tribes that are not in Texas benefit?

The Texas Heritage Trails Program is a $ 7.3 billion industry and offers tourists 10 different regions to explore, including the Southeast, home to the Alamo, where mostly Anglo settlers lost. a battle for independence from the Mexican army, and the west, where explorers and borderers clashed with land and Native Americans, the program’s website says. Independent, nonprofit volunteer councils oversee each region with little state oversight. Chris Florance, spokesperson for the commission, said tribes that don’t offer site suggestions might not be included in travel guides.

With the passage of anti-criticism racial theory legislation and the 1836 Project, heritage trail stories are unlikely to collide with a patriotic narrative from the state, said Jeffrey Shepherd, chairman of the department. of History from the University of Texas at El Paso. . It is this notion of curating acceptable stories that silences the atrocities and then offers this vague narrative in which the natives find themselves elsewhere, like Oklahoma or Mexico. It’s a hypocritical story. It freezes indigenous peoples in the past.

Education about Indigenous peoples in Texas public schools is already caricaturedly limited. The Texas Education Agency, which oversees public elementary and secondary education, asks fourth-graders to describe how the early American Indians of Texas and North America met their basic economic needs, explain the possible origins of American Indian groups in Texas and to interpret a repertoire. songs, movements and musical games of the Amerindians. Grade 5 students are to identify the challenges, opportunities, and contributions of people from diverse groups of American Indians and immigrants such as the colonization of the border and the construction of the transcontinental railroad.

Texas officials have already started cracking down on accounts that look too closely at the state’s history. In early July, a promotional event for New York Times bestseller Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of an American Myth was scheduled to take place at the State History Museum in Austin, the state capital. Just hours before the event, Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick shut it down, with Patrick saying the book was a no-fact rewrite of Texas history. The book examines the role of slavery before Texas independence and the Battle of Alamo. Abbott and Patrick are both members of the State Preservation Board, which oversees the museum.

What happens when cultural resource departments, historic preservation offices, tribal historic preservers, say These are the sites we want people to know about, and these are sites of violence or resistance? said the shepherd. If it is a site of resistance or a history of resistance, the question is: resistance to what?

Sign outside the Alabama-Coushutta Tribe Village in East Texas. Photograph: Bob Daemmrich / Alamy

According to the Texas Historical Commission, there is no established process for how tribes will interact with the agency, but Florence said regional volunteer councils will determine partnerships with tribes. I think these trails would be happy to partner and support organizations across the state of many different interest groups, said Florance. They have this common mission to enhance these sites and places.

With so many indigenous communities displaced from the state, there is almost no way for the tribes participating in the program to receive tourism dollars. Florance says regional councils will make the final decisions about funding, grants or any revenue sharing.

It pays to tell stories that have never been told before and to raise awareness, says Valerie Grussing, executive director of the National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers. This results in sports teams changing mascots and humanizing people who have been dehumanized for a long time. But to provide economic benefits to everyone except them? I can understand why there would be some reluctance there.

Shepherd said there is precedent in Texas for indigenous people trying to use tourism to advocate for their rights. In 1936, the Tiguas of Ysleta del Sur Pueblo, one of the three federally recognized tribes in the state (but which were not recognized at the time), participated in the centenary fair of the state of Texas. It was a very Wild West show, kind of a carnival performance, he said. While they were at this centenary, many tribal chiefs tried to explain, Well, we had a 17,000 acre Spanish land grant from the 1750s, and now we have no land at all, and they have tried to respond in this cultural context. heritage, tourist area. Of course, the governor rejected their requests.

Republican lawmakers continue to draft bills that would limit teaching about racism, and Gov. Abbott identified opposition to critical race theory as a priority during the state’s second special session that started on Saturday.

The 15-member board of the Texas Historical Commission, which is predominantly white, could help develop materials for the 1836 project, pending the formation of a project advisory committee, says Florance.

The line between tourism and exploitation is fine and shifting, said Grussing. [The tourism program] should not proceed without clear benefits for the people whose stories they are. Otherwise, it turns into a new form of colonialism.

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