Murdock's comments, laced with statistical insight and delivered with staccato precision, proved provocative. Texas is becoming a more segregated state as Anglos settle in the suburbs and outer-city areas, leaving central cities to become predominantly minority. How Texas performs in 25 years, Murdock said, depends on how Texas responds now. I walked away from the session convinced that unless the state's leaders of today deal with these issues now, Texas could self-destruct. My thoughts immediately shifted to Bryan and College Station and the outlook for our region.
Timing is everything.
A few days ago, Murdock spoke at a meeting of the Society of Professional Journalists in Bryan. He charted statistics applicable to our back yard and in the process painted a portrait of the emerging face of College Station and Bryan, a landscape no less fascinating with its own set of challenges for each town. That in turn led me to wonder if we have the visionaries who will put both cities on the leading edge of change, or leave Brazos County behind the curve in a state that also refuses to act. The political campaign that ended Saturday with the election of new leaders in both communities yielded little, if any, discussion about the emerging faces of Bryan and College Station and their far-reaching political and social implications. How each city's new leadership deals with its changing face will say more about its collective vision and how it effectively deals with extremely serious issues than how each dealt with a golf course or a smoking ban.