I want to tell you a little about south Texas, because it bleeds.

I was not raised in south Texas but it is where I am from. It is my roots. At least two of my ancestors received porciones under José de Escandón and we have been there in the three hundred years since. It is not an easy land. It is hot and hostile. But it is ours. We arrived at nearly the exact same moment in history as the Comanches — and we were exploring the land long before the Comanches possessed a meaningful existence — and so the claim and the antiquity are ours.