Last weeks: Historical Series
Undeserving of the Name Hero
A few weeks ago someone asked me why Mexican Americans and Blacks don’t commemorate the fall of the Alamo. This individual was an African American from a northern state, and was at a loss as to why in the month of March a bunch of actors paraded in front of the Alamo in a reenactment of the Battle of the Alamo, and there were few if any minorities present. The answer is quite simple though some would rather not hear it. The Battle of the Alamo was a land grab for the purpose of setting up a slave state. The Daughters of the Republic of Texas, the caretakers of the Alamo, definitely don’t want to hear that the “shrine” they have been taking care of is in fact a monument to slavery and injustice. Let’s look at the facts.
Many of the Alamo defenders believed in slavery, some owned slaves, while others played in the murky waters of the slave trade. This author has pointed out on several occasions that Jim Bowie and his family was some of the biggest slave traders in Louisiana. David Crockett fought in the genocidal war against the American Indians and the Seminoles in particular, while William Travis provided legal advice to slavers. The fact that Afro-Mexican president Vincente Guerrero abolished slavery in Mexico is ignored by some Texas historians who are attempting to continue the myth of these so-called heroes.
The history of the leadership of the Alamo defenders is filled with injustice and leads one to conclude that these men and their actions were despicable at least and questionable heroes in anyone’s book. It was my contention that the founders of the Republic of Texas had less than honorable intentions toward the Mexicans and the Canary Islanders that they later betrayed. The Canary Islanders were not without fault themselves as they too had a history of slavery when these two slave owning cultures met in San Antonio. Jose Antonio Navarro and Juan Sequin were both defenders of slavery against the wishes of the Mexican constitution. This was part of the reason why they supported the Anglo slavers in their efforts to rob Mexico of its land north of the Rio Grande.
After my discussion with this gentleman about the true history of the Alamo he was puzzled as to how such a racist commemoration could have continued on for so long. I reminded him of the “Rebel” flag and schools still named after slavers, and of the statue in Travis Park, in downtown San Antonio dedicated to the racist confederacy. I told him about the Middle School named S.J. Davis, on the Eastside, which used to be Jeff Davis, one of the worst racists that the south ever produced. I reminded him that people forget what historical figures really stood for, but those who celebrate evil men never forget what they really were. Custom and tradition often produces shades of history that are distorted and bent by those who want to configure evil men into good men.
We have listened to these celebrations about the Alamo for years without ever really considering what the battle really represented. After the conversation, the gentleman looked intellectually sober and departed with these words, “Why do we let people celebrate such gross injustices?” “Why is there no voice telling the truth?” I responded that there is, but is in academic circles, where it is not being heard with the same degree of loudness that proclaims heroism where it is doubtful. Perhaps there are enough people out there that know that the depiction of the Alamo defenders as heroes is myth, maybe this was the reason why the recent movie was a flop. Someday, someone will make a more accurate version, showing the slaver mentality of the so-called Alamo heroes. Maybe that version is the hit we are all waiting for.

Mario Marcel Salas was a City Councilman for the City of San Antonio from 1997-2001. Mario Salas was a member of SNCC in the late 1960s and was the leader of the last SNCC chapter in the country in 1976. He currently teaches American Government at Northwest Vista College and is an educator for SAISD. mariomsalas@cs.com