Every time I visit the Alamo or see Houstonians don cowboy garb for “Go Texan Day,” I wonder how much longer the long-tall Texan schtick of blazing guns, big hats, high boots and ethnic warfare will work as a state brand.

The adoption of the Western identity, after all, was an intentional rebranding of the state. In my book about my family’s five generations in Texas, "Tomlinson Hill," I describe how state leaders wanted to slough off the Southern, white supremacist identity that dominated until the 1940s when state leaders made Big Tex the new icon.

As Americans reassess our creation myths and tear down Confederate statues, Texans must also rethink our “national” brand.

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Should San Antonio spend $450 million to make the Battle of the Alamo its centerpiece? The whites who died were defending slavery as much as fighting for liberty. The Spanish mission has a 300-year history, so why should all the emphasis focus on 13 days that ended with a massacre that wasn’t much of a battle?

Does anyone still think the Texas Rangers’ genocide against Native Americans or massacres of Hispanics are things to take pride in? Cowboys are such a small part of Texas history. Dressing up as a slave overseer or a sharecropper would be a more honest statement about our economic history on the Houston Rodeo’s “Go Texan Day.”

Many Texans don’t realize the Alamo and the cowboy are losing their appeal as the proportion of Anglo Texans shrinks from 42 percent last year to a forecast 36 percent in 2030. And a Hispanic majority will undoubtedly demand a revision of our more race-based myths, and for good reason.

A community’s brand is vital for economic development. If a city cannot attract growing businesses and young workers because it appears stodgy, backward and bigoted, it will stagnate and die.

Many native Texans may want to deny it, but our state already suffers from a bad reputation. Employers and economic development offices continuously complain about how young professionals and innovative companies won’t come here because they think it is a hot, regressive, cultural wasteland.

Those perceptions, which include only a sliver of truth, hurt local businesses. But think about the number of visitors who say Texas wildly exceeded their expectations for culture and graciousness. Or how surprised they are to find San Antonio is a fundamentally Hispanic city, and Houston is arguably the most diverse in the U.S. with a globalized culture second to none.

Here is the opportunity, because most authentic brands are based on truth, not public-relations exercises. They bubble up from residents, entrepreneurs and companies, said Hajj Flemings, founder of Rebrand Cities, a technology firm focused on boosting economic development.

“We believe a city’s brand is best told through its people, and not just the people who can go buy a skyscraper, but the Main Street people who live, work and play in these cities,” he told me.

Flemings’ company works across the U.S. helping small businesses establish an online presence that promotes their enterprise and community. The firm currently operates in San Marcos, plans to enter San Antonio and wants to expand in Houston.

The biggest challenge, though, exists between residents who want a dynamic community and those who oppose change.

“There are people who will never let you change something, even if it benefits them, because of nostalgia,” Flemings said. “You are always going to have that built-in resistance.”

Flemings answers them with a quote from retired U.S. Army Gen. Eric Shinseki: If you dislike change, you’re going to dislike irrelevance even more.

Embracing change means accepting that the future will not look like the past, physically or demographically. This is especially true for a fast-changing state like Texas.

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“It’s important for us to be really introspective and ask, how do we create a place for everybody and not just homogenous communities?” Flemings asked. “We have to have more people at the table that bring different perspectives.”

Birthrates and immigration are changing the demographics in every corner of our state. But the political and business leadership looks like Texas from 40 years ago, and they remain infatuated with tall tales invented 100 years ago.

I understand; I grew up in Texas, studied the ridiculously inaccurate history books in Dallas schools and listened to my grandfather’s one-sided, racist versions of my family’s history. I know many people are heavily invested in Texas myths and bristle at anyone challenging them.

The future of the state, though, requires honesty. Our growing multicultural, multiethnic society and economy must include other perspectives to thrive. When we do that, the old brands appear stale at best, and offensive at worst.

Chris Tomlinson writes commentary about business, economics and policy.