WACO — Standing in front of a massive state flag on Saturday, Claver Kamau-Imani outlined his utopian vision of a Nation of Texas that he believes is just on the horizon.
No taxes or Faucis, no speed zones or toll roads. No liberals, no gun laws. No windmills, no poor people. A separate currency, stock market and gold depository. “Complete control of our own immigration policy.” World-class college football, a farewell to regulators. And unthinkable, unimaginable wealth.
“We are going to be so rich,” he chanted. “We’re gonna be rich. We are gonna be rich. We. Are. Going. To Be. Rich! … As soon as we declare independence, we're going to be wealthy. I personally believe that our personal GDP will double in five to seven years.”
“The independence of Texas is good for humanity as a whole,” he added to cheers.
Kamau-Imani, a Houston-based preacher, was among 100 or so people who spent the weekend at the Waco Convention Center for the first conference of the Texas Nationalist Movement, which since 2005 has advocated for the Lone Star State to break away from the United States — a “TEXIT,” as they call it.
Supporters of the movement said they are more energized and optimistic than ever about the prospect of an independent Texas, and pointed to appearances or support from current and former lawmakers — including state Sen. Bob Hall, R-Edgewood, who spoke at the event — as evidence that their movement is far from fringe. The get-together also came as TEXIT supporters celebrated what they believe is crucial momentum: Days before the meeting, the Texas Nationalist Movement announced that it was more than halfway to the roughly 100,000 signatures needed to put a non-binding secession referendum on the Texas Republican primary ballot.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
WACO — Standing in front of a massive state flag on Saturday, Claver Kamau-Imani outlined his utopian vision of a Nation of Texas that he believes is just on the horizon.
For years, experts have thrown cold water on Miller’s movement, saying that secession is patently illegal and unconstitutional, and would be economically catastrophic for the United States and Texas alike.
(Miller vociferously disagrees, arguing that there is no constitutional ban on secession and that the post-Civil War court case often cited by experts — Texas v. White — is also unclear on the issue).
And the event's lineup included Hall, the Edgewood senator, who discussed “securing” Texas’ elections and power grid, and Kyle Biedermann, a former state representative who in 2021 proposed putting a referendum on secession to voters.
Packed in a small exhibit hall between amateur knife traders, book publishers and essential oil sellers, they commiserated in their intense distrust of government – a sentiment that they said has become more normalized since the COVID-19 pandemic, to the boon of their movement.
Beyond grievances about federal overreach and corporate welfare, though, few attendees offered concrete details on what a new Texas nation would look like, or how it would operate or confront the many intractable economic, cultural or political problems that could follow.
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