Dear City Commissioners
Many cities from the old South are removing statues/memorials and are also renaming major roads that honored Confederate leaders. UT Austin also moved a Jefferson Davis statue to a museum. What are your views on this? 
Brownsville has had numerous racist incidents in the past. Our biggest one happened in 1906. Feel free to Google "Brownsville Black Raid". The newspaper was very biased in its reporting. The soldiers involved were later pardoned by President Nixon.
We also had a bridge known as "N" bridge and it appeared in local maps with the racist slur. We can only imagine what took place on that bridge. Yes, we are a city full of history and we're proud of it. We can't deny that we were part of the Confederacy. But, what is the purpose of keeping the Jefferson Davis Memorial at Washington Park?
It was originally on the corner of Elizabeth Street and Palm Blvd. It marked the Jeff Davis Memorial Highway which never really took off. I'm glad that the highway was never successful. It was then moved to Washington Park (not sure when). Hundreds of families enjoy this park, especially during big community events like Sombrero Festival and Cyclobia.
What do you think the monument tells families when they are enjoying the park? My wife is African-American, so my children are of mixed heritage. We have a growing population of African-Americans in this community. This monument does not welcome the descendants of those who've been enslaved and oppressed in the past.
Our nation fought to unify our country during the Civil War. Sadly, many people did not obtain full rights until the 1960s. We don't need reminders of a bygone era in a space that should be welcoming. We need to stop kissing up to the Sons and Daughters of the Confederacy! They claim that it is heritage. Well, their heritage thought that it was a God-given right to own people. This is not right.
I urge you to remove this monument. Move it to a museum, replace the plaque with a respectable historical figure, or even add an Abraham Lincoln plaque to it. We can honor history without being racist. Let's welcome all Americans to Brownsville. A response is appreciated.
Thank you
It was originally on the corner of Elizabeth Street and Palm Blvd. It marked the Jeff Davis Memorial Highway which never really took off. I'm glad that the highway was never successful. It was then moved to Washington Park (not sure when). Hundreds of families enjoy this park, especially during big community events like Sombrero Festival and Cyclobia.
What do you think the monument tells families when they are enjoying the park? My wife is African-American, so my children are of mixed heritage. We have a growing population of African-Americans in this community. This monument does not welcome the descendants of those who've been enslaved and oppressed in the past.
I urge you to remove this monument. Move it to a museum, replace the plaque with a respectable historical figure, or even add an Abraham Lincoln plaque to it. We can honor history without being racist. Let's welcome all Americans to Brownsville. A response is appreciated.
Thank you
Antonio Castillo and Numerous Brownsville Residents
To sign an opnline petition, click on link: : https://www.change.org/p/
To sign an opnline petition, click on link: : https://www.change.org/p/
11 comments:
This just in:
Alicia Baskette, Brownsville Herald
Jim Barton has closed his blog today because he has accepted the offer to run for County Judge as a Libertarian.
Both the Republicans and the Libertarians tried to tap Barton for this prestigious position but Barton ultimately followed his heart and decided to run Libertarian. "I cannot run with a racist president." Barton said. "Donald Trump has turned the Republican Party into a clan rally."
It remains unseen whether he will legalize pot in Cameron County or indict Gilberto Hinojosa on Federal corruption charges.
The local move to remove the Jefferson Davis Memorial is stupid. It is part of our history and we can't start picking and choosing things to be eliminated from that history...because its impossible. The monument is merely a symbol of the past...should we tear down the Washington Monument, the Jefferson Memorial?? Should we do away with the FDR Memorial because he put Japanese-Americans in detention centers during WWII. This effort in Brownsville is pithy and reflective of the ignorance of the local populace. Get a life.
Did you even graduate from high school? You're quick to call college graduates stupid. Nobody is eliminating history. Those racist reminders can still be found in history books and museums. Ignorance is keeping a memorial of a traitor who thought it was OK to own human beings.
They should replace it with a statue of Michael Jordan or Ralph Ellison
Leave it alone! It has been a part of Brownsville for generations. Taking it away would be like taking away a piece of Brownsville. No one has ever complained about it! All of a sudden we have a group of cry babies and whiners that wanna look like heroes cause they did away with a rock that never hurt anyone. Taking it away will not change history, it will just please a group of whiners. Stop whining America! These new generations complain too much about everything!
The slaves were just as important to the North as they were to the South. Why was there slave trade in Philly, Boston, etc.? Slaves picked cotton in the South because of the weather and it was shipped up North to textile mills. This is what made northern cities thrive. Once the North abolished slavery, cotton costs skyrocketed. This is just one example... there are plenty more. I think people need to do a little more reading to find out that most discrimination came from bigots FROM EVERY PART OF OUR COUNTRY. It still goes on today. What's funny is that this guy that wrote this had no problem with the stone monuments until it became a movement. Probably didn't even know about it. This monument is at the far end of the park and kids do not play there. They could care less about that stone. Find something else to bitch about.
Sure, add a plaque to Abraham Lincoln, why not and be certain to list his accomplishments.
He threaded the United State Constitution.
He started a war that killed over 600,000 Americans both North and South.
He was a racist, who believed that black people had no place in American and was trying to negotiate deals to send them all back to Africa when he was killed. He makes Donald Trump look like a reasonable loving man.
If like racist butchers who were tyrants, than Lincoln is your man.
Am in total agreement. Yes, there are many things we need to change here, and we need to get rid of all the dead weight of the racist, imperialist past of this god-forsaken place. But let's also get the city to change the name of Paredes Line Road. That one has bugged me for years. Paredes was a monarchist who would have liked nothing better than to undo the first Mexican Revolution, replacing the republic with an absolute Spanish monarch and, presumably, returning Texas to an inferior position in the Spanish Empire. Dad gum it! He was far worse than the racist scumbag Jefferson Davis!
Barton shut down his old blog, Mean Mister Brownsville, because he started a new one, the Brownsville Observer.
brownsvilleobserver@blogspot.com
Did you? In case you didn't know, Texas would still be part of Mexico if not for brave men like Davis....regardless of what he did for the Confederacy, his contribution to TEXAS history should be honored.
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