• DauntingFlamingo@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    What’s the historical reason it wasn’t included in one of the other states?

    When Texas sought to enter the Union in 1845 as a slave state, federal law in the United States, based on the Missouri Compromise, prohibited slavery north of 36°30’ parallel north. Under the Compromise of 1850, Texas surrendered its lands north of 36°30’ latitude.

  • Vitaly_Chernobyl@sopuli.xyz
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    1 year ago

    Oklahoman here! I’ve personally haven’t spent much time in this part of the state. It’s was historically referred to as “No Man’s Land” if that gives you any idea. The panhandle has a much more arid, high plains type climate than other parts of the state. I believe there are literal sand dunes out that way. Oklahoma’s highest point, Black Mesa, is in the panhandle. Im told Black Mesa is a great camping spot for star-gazing, but I’ve never been. As far as I’m aware it’s mostly right-wing but jobs living in that area. I seem to recall a few local news stories about people in that part of the state making a big stink about trans kids trying to use the bathroom and so forth.

      • NielsBohron@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Black Mesa is the organization, IIRC. I had it in my head that the research facility was near Los Alamos, NM, but that might just be because I associate any theoretical physics research in a desert with Los Alamos.

    • aseriesoftubes@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      As far as I’m aware it’s mostly right-wing (nut) jobs living in that area.

      This is different from the rest of Oklahoma how?

      • Vitaly_Chernobyl@sopuli.xyz
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        1 year ago

        Well, not really. Oklahoma is a deeply red state, but it is more liberal in areas like Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and the university towns. I’ve always gotten the impression that people living in the panhandle were a different breed of conservative psycho though.

      • TimeSquirrel@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        Like all states, there is a gradient of political leanings, especially around cities. For instance, northern Virginia is nothing like the rest of Virginia at all. I imagine it’s similar in Oklahoma, where the major population centers don’t reflect the rest of the state at all.

  • lhx@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Former Texan here: slavery is why that exists. They ceded the land so they could enter the union as a slave state.

    • niktemadur@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Then the terrible roads must somehow be the fault of "those libruls’, when there’s not a liberal in sight as far as the crow flies for a couple of days at least.

      • BallShapedMan@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        The Trump sign, flag, or bulletin board per square mile is unreal. I’ve driven through there a few times and I legit don’t feel safe.

        • niktemadur@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          They are incapable of understanding that it is the lack of progressive policies that keep their region a neglected backwater.

          • The_v@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            There are way too many big words in that sentence for them to have any hope of understanding. You’ve got to use little words and one concept at a time.

          • iamdanno@lemmy.zip
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            1 year ago

            They are not upset that it is neglected. They’d rather they were left alone to do their thing. They feel like they are being attacked, because everyone else is trying to drag them into the 21st century.

    • hactar42@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      After driving around south east Oklahoma this weekend, it scares me to know that there are worse roads in the state.

  • BigNote@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    It’s pretty much the heart of where the dust bowl of the 1930s was. Most of the people who lived there left and never came back. They moved to places like Bakersfield, California, which is a big part of how you get the “Bakersfield Sound” in country music with guys like Buck Owens and Merle Haggard.

    • laivindil@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      The Oklahoma high point is right near the border so you can see each state, the marker for the border is like a two minute drive from the parking lot for the highpoint trailhead.

  • zelifcam@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    That’s where people drive when they want to avoid Texas’ draconian laws. Think of it as a neutral zone.