Don't Mess With The Alamo

[Mike]

please explain to non-Texans why someone is pi$$ed about the Alamo?

I wish I could. I'm not sure what group has threatened it, but I suspect it is just a continuation of the current insanity that has protestors tearing down statues that are unrelated to their protests. It's happening on a global scale.

[Sandman]

I understand the issue with Confederate memorials (in the middle of that one).. and the Conquestadors.. not so much Columbus.. but have no clue about the Alamo..

[CactusCurt]

While I was "assigned" to a tribal enterprise, we were acquired by who were essentially Italian New Yorkers. One of their first official acts was to try to standardize holidays - and to include Columbus Day. The Indians were appalled and seriously wanted to scalp me. I had to explain to the Italians that here Columbus Day is for protesting. Thay never did understand.

[Truckman]

I understand the issue with Confederate memorials (in the middle of that one).. and the Conquestadors.. not so much Columbus.. but have no clue about the Alamo..

Like the statues, the Alamo is a symbol of a hard fought battle over the issue of freedom...An unknown author once wrote:

The destruction of historical monuments does not destroy the history it was intended to preserve...Rather it emphasizes the impact and significance of that history by recalling its importance and influence on the present day...History is never destroyed, only created...

...Ben

[wacojoe]

I understand the issue with Confederate memorials (in the middle of that one).. and the Conquestadors.. not so much Columbus.. but have no clue about the Alamo..

These things are symbols now days, but they were real. To Texans the Alamo is top of the pyramid of symbols representing the struggle to steal the state from the Mexicans who stole it from the Spanish who had stolen it from the Indians (oops, Native Americans), who stolen it from each other, and was a huge defeat in which the entire garrison of 250 men, save for a couple of women, their children & a slave and freedman, were massacred. The defeat did not find recompense until the Texians (aka “Texicans, later to be known as Texans) caught the Mexican Army sleeping at San Jacinto 6 weeks after the fall of the Alamo and fell upon that army with shouts of “Remember the Alamo,” and “Remember Goliad” (where the Mexicans had executed ~230 Texians who had surrendered), where upon they commenced to butcher the Mexicans as they pleaded, “Me no Alamo, Me no Goliad.” That battle has been described as the single most one-sided battle in history.

Personal note: My great, great, great (not sure how many greats here) grandfather was a soldier at the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836, and I regret that his recollections have not survived the ages in my family.

If some of this wastrel scum posing as “protestors” try to mark or vandalize the Alamo, do not be surprised if there is blood.

On the lighter side of things, this version of the song “The Yellow Rose Of Texas” by Stan Freberg, a title honoring the perhaps mythical, perhaps not, black woman alleged to have been “entertaining” Gen. Santa Anna, when the Texian Army surprised him and his army at San Jacinto illustrates comically how Texans feels about its symbols—

https://youtu.be/Tv1gorVSXaM

[FredK]

I would get upset too about the Alamo. After all it once stood for a symbol of freedom and the people that fought and died there. Now it's just a memory of to those since the original was hacked into what we see today.

[wacojoe]

What we see today is the original mission sans the out buildings and perimeter walls, the remains of which they are in the process of unearthing, while they clear away the unseemly tourist shops in the immediate area. When they finish the project the Alamo will be quite different and a better representation of the 1836 version of the original.

Incidentally, Puffster, I left out France in the list of those who settled this land because the others named stole it fair & square and I’m not sure a Frenchman ever even set foot here besides occasionally being washed up on shore in a storm.

[Truckman]

I’m not sure a Frenchman ever even set foot here besides occasionally being washed up on shore in a storm.

I'm sure if he did, he was carrying a white flag in one hand and a jug of cheap wine in the other as his stinking feet first fouled our shoreline......Ben

[Sandman]

While I was "assigned" to a tribal enterprise, we were acquired by who were essentially Italian New Yorkers. One of their first official acts was to try to standardize holidays - and to include Columbus Day. The Indians were appalled and seriously wanted to scalp me. I had to explain to the Italians that here Columbus Day is for protesting. Thay never did understand.

Senior year in High School I moved.. From Virginia to Hawaii.. I went from a high School that had just been officially de-segregated to being the only person with blue eyes in any of my classes McKinley High School, Honolulu.. I learned that one can not define what offends another, one must just accept that someone is offended and try and do the right thing/ be a good person.. I was in a predominately Japanese American HS.. I was offended daily by fellow students trying to be nice..

[UTAH]

I was offended daily by fellow students trying to be nice.

Yep - my Hawaii experiences have led me to believe the "locals" are the most racist people I've met. And, blood locals have many specific rights most USA minorities don't have.

To Topic: Texas history is fascinating - one of the most vibrant in the USA. Since my Father is a Texan, I hear about it often (he's 84 and still tickin).

Hunter

[wacojoe]

If your father grew up and was educated in a Texas public school, he, like me, was treated in primary grades to a little cartoon booklet of the official Texas history. I remember distinctly the frame in which we were shown Colonel Travis drew a line in the sand in the Alamo, and all the defenders were given the choice to stay or go by stepping over the line. Only one chose to go. We believed it happened just that way, after all, who can question cartoon history...especially when you are 9 years old?

[Truckman]

If your father grew up and was educated in a Texas public school, he, like me, was treated in primary grades to a little cartoon booklet of the official Texas history.

I remember that one...I wonder what my Mom did with it since she never threw out anything except my baseball cards...I'll probably find it some day in a US Keds shoebox along with my Webelos camping handbook and my genuine imitation pigskin zippered Cub Scout wallet where I kept my emergency quarter......Ben

[wacojoe]

^^^

David Crockett (he despised the name “Davy”) died gloriously in the cartoon version (as he did in the movies) rather than being run threw with a sword tied up as a prisoner executed in front of Santa Anna, as related by diaries of a Mexican officer in attendance revealed a couple of years ago.

[Truckman]

^^^

David Crockett (he despised the name “Davy”) died gloriously in the cartoon version (as he did in the movies) rather than being run threw with a sword tied up as a prisoner executed in front of Santa Anna, as related by diaries of a Mexican officer in attendance revealed a couple of years ago.

Like many others before and after him, he wasn't born in Texas, but he got here as quick as he could, and did his duty when called upon...As for me, I'm American by birth and Texan by the Grace of God......Ben

[Sandman]

Yep - my Hawaii experiences have led me to believe the "locals" are the most racist people I've met. And, blood locals have many specific rights most USA minorities don't have.

To Topic: Texas history is fascinating - one of the most vibrant in the USA. Since my Father is a Texan, I hear about it often (he's 84 and still tickin).

Hunter

The racist part came the second semester of senior year we moved across the Pali to Kailua.. now the locals there were rough nasty racist. October - January In Honolulu was “Tokyo High” .. majority Japanese American.. great bunch of kids.. educated.. classy.. but I was not going to get into the “inner circle “.. went through 25 anniversary of Pearl Harbor in a Japanese American school.. most enlightening.. the 442nd Regimental combat team, go for broke, was McKinley graduates ..
Grew up with Virginia History in school.. just as intense as Texas History.. we were taught that Virginia paved the way to allow the rest of the US to develop.. without Virginia there would be nothing west of the Blue Ridge..