A Politician's Mother

The mayor of San Antonio is the son of a political activist who doesn't mince words.  She let the world know she doesn't like the Alamo.  

While most people think the Alamo story is a cool historical event, there are also a good number who see it as a representation of some sad Texas history.

If you want to learn more about "both" sides of the Alamo story read Remembering the Alamo by Richard Flores.

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[San Antonio] Mayor's Mom Says She 'Hates' Alamo

Rosie Castro Quoted In The New York Times

Charles Gonzalez, KSAT 12 News Reporter

POSTED: Wednesday, May 12, 2010

UPDATED: 6:42 pm CDT May 12, 2010

SAN ANTONIO -- San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro was recently profiled in the New York Times, which referenced him as the next national Hispanic leader and perhaps president.

Watch Charles Gonzales' Report

"It's been a very promising response," said Castro. "It's a very flattering article."
But comments he didn't make could draw some strong opinions. His mother, Rosie Castro, had strong words when asked about her memories of the Alamo, a symbol of Texas independence.
"They used to take us there when we were school children," Perez told the Times. "They told us how glorious that battle was. When I grew up, I learned that the 'heroes' of the Alamo were a bunch of drunks and crooks and slaveholding imperialists who conquered land that didn't belong to them. link to complete article

8pm Central Time, PBS - "A Class Apart"

PBS American Experience is showing a documentary on the Mexican American Civil Rights struggle in Texas.  In Houston, the program will be at 8 pm Central Time on Channel 8 - KUHT.

Most of my younger students don't know anything about this part of Texas history.

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PBS looks at Mexican-Americans’ struggle
By DAVID BARRON Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
Feb. 22, 2009, 11:41PM


February is Black History Month, and it seems each February offers a supplement to the vast record of civil rights documentaries that reached its peak with Eyes on the Prize, the landmark 14-hour film that traced the movement from the Montgomery bus boycott into the mid-1980s.

By comparison, films about Mexican-Americans and other Latinos who struggled and prevailed against segregation and discrimination are few and far between. That scarcity emphasizes the significance of documentaries such as A Class Apart, which premieres at 8 p.m. Monday on KUHT (Channel 8) as part of PBS’ American Experience series.

Produced by New York filmmakers Carlos Sandoval and Peter Miller, A Class Apart concerns the landmark 1954 Supreme Court case Hernandez v. Texas, which established Mexican-Americans as a protected class under the 14th Amendment.

It’s only one hour in a saga that deserves a multi-part vehicle to rival Eyes on the Prize in scope. But, especially for Texans, it is a critical starting point.

“Eyes on the Prize was a huge landmark achievement, the product of a generation of dedicated filmmakers and activists,” Miller said. “We’re fortunate now to be at a moment where PBS is showing more programs about the Latino civil rights struggle. This is one story among many, and it would be nice if someday down the line there could be a series devoted to these stories.”

Hernandez v. Texas stemmed from the case of Pete Hernandez, a farmworker accused of killing a man in a bar fight in the Jackson County town of Edna in 1951. His case drew the attention of a group of San Antonio and Houston attorneys, who saw the case as a vehicle to break down the Jim Crow-style laws and customs that oppressed Mexican-Americans in the same fashion as African-Americans.

The attorneys argued that Hernandez could not receive a fair trial because Jackson County had systematically eliminated Mexican-Americans from juries. The state countered that Mexican-Americans were lumped in with Anglos under the law and thus were not entitled to special treatment under the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause.

The case, the first to be argued by Mexican-American lawyers before the Supreme Court, was heard during the same term as the Brown v. Board of Education case seeking to outlaw segregation in public schools. In a decision that was overshadowed nationwide by the Brown decision a week later, the court ruled that Mexican-Americans were a distinct group entitled to the same constitutional protection as other minority groups.  more

Confused ...?

It is very interesting that some of the opinions in a town next to Houston (League City) could be so extreme. I always feel bound to hear all sides of the immigration issue- especially in Houston, since that is where I live. This is a big city where almost all people come from other states or countries, and is common to see many ethnicities gather in one place. But with all the diversity that exists in a big city, the surrounding communities are still in the dark about what ‘America’ is today.

To some the theory of ‘illegal is illegal’ is plain and simple. One has to realize that even though words are easy to read, the real circumstances of people can’t be as easy as words. Now League City is dealing with a Mayoral election- while one candidate is cut and clear about his view, stating the police department should be ordered to call ICE when an undocumented resident is arrested. The other candidate has not taken a firm stand on League City being a ‘sanctuary city’.

The mentality that all ‘immigrants’ are criminals is incredibly incorrect, makes it seem that these people are not reading the right statistics of what this country is going through. But then again the media does show the most controversial and at times wrong information. Sometimes certain people like to find a scapegoat or just be stupid and not want or care if they know the truth.

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'Sanctuary city' issue surfaces in race for League City Mayor
Candidate wants to address how illegal immigrants are handled by police

June 2, 2008, 4:16PM

By THAYER EVANS
Houston Chronicle Correspondent

With less than two weeks remaining until League City's mayoral runoff, the focus of the race has shifted to the city's stance on illegal immigration.

When an illegal immigrant is arrested in League City for a Class B misdemeanor or above, the police department contacts U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the person is then transported to the Galveston County jail, assistant police chief Gary Ratliff said. The city also contacts immigration officials for illegal immigrants arrested on a Class C misdemeanor, but if they don't have an outstanding warrant, they are released after the charge has been resolved, he said.

The practice is standard procedure, but is not a written policy, Ratliff said.

If elected, Chris Mallios said he would push for an ordinance that establishes that League City is not a "sanctuary city." He would like it to address how the city's police department should handle the arrests of illegal immigrants.

"There is not any clear path right now," said Mallios, 48, a retired Galveston County employee. "That's why I want to establish an ordinance so that we have guidelines."

Although there is no universal definition for "sanctuary city," most cities considered to be such have adopted "a don't ask-don't tell" policy that doesn't require their employees, such as police officers, to report illegal immigrants to federal officials, according to a report by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.

During the city's June 14 runoff, voters will decide between Mallios and Toni Randall, 45, owner of a Kemah hardware store, for a three-year term.

Randall received 533 more votes than Mallios in the city's May 10 election, but did not receive the majority of votes cast, which is required to win.

Current first-term Mayor Jerry Shults failed to make the runoff after finishing last in the three-candidate race.

Randall declined to say whether the city should take an official stance on the "sanctuary city" debate.

"I'm not going to feel comfortable answering that, because I feel 'sanctuary city' is a term that is used lightly," she said. "I think a lot of the citizens don't know what 'sanctuary city' means. That's where my concern comes in."

Mallios said he believes that all illegal immigrants who are arrested in League City should be deported.

"If they are not here legally, then they need to go through the process to be expelled or deported or tried and then deported or whatever that process would be," he said.

Mallios said the city's police department, however, shouldn't specifically target illegal immigrants.

"I'm not for wholesale rounding people up just because they look like they could be illegal," he said.

Randall said the "sanctuary city" debate is "a federal issue."

"Illegal immigrants are here," she said. "They're not just from Mexico. They're from all over the world and the federal government is having a hard time dealing with this."

If all of the illegal immigrants that are arrested in League City were deported, the city's crime rate would decrease, Mallios said.

It also would help reduce employers' hiring of illegal immigrants, he said.

"It affords the teenager who wants to cut grass to be able to cut grass," Mallios said. "It helps the community all the way around."

Randall said she does not condone employers' hiring of illegal immigrants.

"They ought to have proper documentation definitely," she said. "It's just the right thing to do."

Texas History: A Story from 1844

There seemed to some interest in dreamacttexas posts on Texas /Mexican American History. See previous posts on Sgt. Macario Garcia and the 1978 Moody Park Riot in Houston.


Below is a short narrative Simon Gonzalez, who was a soldier in the Texas Revolution. Gonzalez was part of the 3rd Company of Rangers for the Texas Republic, enlistment from March 10, 1836 to August 23, 1836. This excerpt is from my book Cemeteries of Ambivalent Desire:

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He was eligible for a land bounty through the Republic of Texas, and ultimately held patent to over 2,100 acres in east Texas Wood County. Gonzales also had a family. A document from 1851 (from the Texas Archives) stated that his heirs were requesting a patent for his land in Wood County. Martin Varner was his neighbor. Simon and Martin had possibly some contact before their last encounter in 1844. Simon had been to Brazoria County in the late 1830s, where Martin had his previous land patent. They were both in the Texas Army in April, 1836.13
In 1844, the two men argued over a debt. Simon shot Martin. In an article written in October 2000, an East Texas historian explains that Martin’s son came to help, and that Simon shot and killed the boy. In retaliation, Varner, then seriously wounded, proceeded to:

…cut the tendons in Gonzales' legs…Gonzales pleaded with Varner to kill him quickly, but Varner refused, reasoning that a quick death would not be commensurate with the crime he had committed…Gonzales was thrown into a hog pen where the animals began to chew on his body. When he finally died the next morning, his remains were hauled to a remote part of his own farm and buried in a shallow grave.(Bowman, 2000)

A Little More on Texas History

It seems like a good time to announce my forthcoming book - to be released in February 2008. It's a social history of Texas - not necessarily about the ruling class, but the history of Mexicans and Blacks as they dealt with the "Southern" way of life.

The title is "Cemeteries of Ambivalent Desire: Unearthing Narratives of the Deep South in a Texas Graveyard"
published by Texas A&M Press.