When Brownsville Historical Association member Craig Stone was quoted in the Brownsville Herald, he defended the monument at Washington Park as a tribute to a man who was – aside from being the president of the rebellious Confederate States of America – a statesman and a "martyr."
As far as we know, Davis, who many wanted to tried for treason after the Civil War, died of old age in his home. How he was a martyr is never explained.
It's a little like Frank Yturria naming the boon about the original Francisco Yturria as "The Patriarch" since he and his wife never had any children. The two children they raised were adopted. In fact, the first child was the illegitimate child of an Anglo railroad worker and a Mexican border woman.And talk about historical revisionism. To Stone, the rebellious slave-owning states were not involved in a Civil War, they were involved in a "American War for Southern Independence."
Stone, by the way, has started a counter petition to persuade the city commissioners not to remove the Davis monument.In his petition he overlooks the fact that the South was defending a way of life and heritage that among its tents was the belief that black people were an inferior race and that the South was correct in sacrificing roughly 2 percent of the nation's population.
An estimated 620,000 men, lost their lives in the line of duty on both sides. Taken as a percentage of today's population, the toll would have risen as high as 6 million souls.
Still, Stone and his neo-confederates (what else can you call the person, one Zac Stuart?) whose graphic was posted by Stone in his website (see graphic) are calling for another separation.
In his petition to the city, Stone says that the Davis monument "was originally bought and paid for by the Magruder-Ford Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and erected in 1926 in honor of their ancestors from Brownsville on Palm Boulevard. These women wanted to assure that American History was taught in and out of the public schools and encouraged the erecting of monuments throughout the south for for the benefit of younger generations."
So far, he claims on his website, about 940 people have signed the petition (most, if you will notice, with Anglo names).
These people act as if they hadn't lost the war. And they gloss over the fact that Davis was an unmitigated white supremacist who believed Blacks and mestizos (me and you) were inferior human beings. If this is the kind of history that the Daughters (and Sons) of the Confederacy want to preserve, a pox on both their houses..
This is what Davis said: "African slavery, as it exists in the United States, is a moral, a social, and a political blessing."
In turn, his counterpart for the Union, and the man who vanquished this racist said:
"Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said “the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”
--Abraham Lincoln, 2nd Inaugural Address
21 comments:
Everybody has a prism through which the see history, even you. Your "fuck them" comments sounds like those who say "fuck the meskins". Both of those comments are ignorant and biggoted.
Worry about the unemployment in our city. Worry about the dilapidated buildings and drug problem our city has. Worry about corruption running wild in Cameron county! Worry about LNG destroying our beaches. Put some effort into things that DO matter. Have more class and stop fighting over nonsense. It's in the past!!!! Forget about the fucking rock and focus on the serious issues that plague our city!! FOOLS!!! ALL OF YOU!!! Grow up!!!!
History is just that....history! It won't change with the removal of a few rocks. What's next....removal of monuments and historical markers because somewhere, somehow..they are offensive to someone? Hey, let's bulldoze the Saban Palms Sanctuary!
I grew up with this memorial on Palm Blvd. and it is a part of my memories of Brownsville and I would like it to be preserved in some form because it is a part of our shared history. I recognize that it is a symbol of racism but it should be preserved such as we preserve "whites only" signs and other symbols of racism. Display it with an interpretive sign explaining the significance of the monument and what it means.
I honor the memory of my Confederate ancestors, but at the same time I know full well the horrors that war inflicted on this nation and on my family. To say that I am a neo-Confederate is a terribly low blow. And the use of the f-word in your article is merely demonstrates the nastiness to which the PC bullies are willing to employ on their way to enforcing ideological conformity. Shame on you. As stated by a previous commentator, we have far more important things to consider in the US. Please grow up and get over it.
Much is made of the fact that Davis believed in slavery. Hell, the vast majority of the people in the country north and south, did in those days. Was it racism? Sure it was, but Lincoln was one of the biggest racist of them all. At the time of his death, Sec. of State Seward was negotiating with other countries to set up places in Africa, where all the free slaves could be sent. Lincoln, as did most of the Union leaders, did not believe that Blacks, freed or slave had any place in American society. They thought having a bunch of freed blacks running around the country was bad for the country. They wanted to send them back to Africa. Jeeze, how did Abe get to be the black man's hero? It sure was not because he loved them dearly and thought they were equal to white people.
You are going to have to erase most of United States history to get ride of the history of racism in this country. But don't stop there, erase most of world history as well for racism and slavery goes back as far as humankind reaches. It is still practiced in Muslim countries and places in Asia.
If a fellow is going to be offended by historical reminder of past racism, he is in a hell of a fix. If a fellow wants to be offended, be offended by today, not what dead people did hundreds of years ago.
You chaps who are trying to get rid of this silly rock are, as they say in West Texas, "gobbled up with the dumb ass".
Must you criticize everything, you never have anything good to say about anyone or anything you must have an ugly heart to only see the ugly and not the good.
History is sometimes glorious and sometimes sad, for it is a record of human activity. Human activity is often a mixture of bad and good. If we erase any part of it, we removed valuable learning tools for future generations to look backwards and learn.
Some of the Nazi death camps in Europe are preserved, much as they were when they were gassing and burning millions of Jews, Gypsy, Gays and other people the Nazi regime considered undesirable. These camps are grisly reminders of what horrible things human can do to other people and they are preserved to remind all of what took place there. They are very difficult to visit, but each years ten of thousands of descents of the people who perished there, return with their children, so newer generations will know, remember and learn.
Brownsville is a very historic small city that played an important part in many events that shaped this state and nation. Folks who care about such things seek to preserve all of it, not to glorify it all, but to remember and learn from it all. Trying to erase any part of it diminishes the whole. Everybody looses when any part of it is destroyed.
There are parts of Brownsville history and culture that I find offensive in the extreme, but I am not making war on that which offends me. I want it all to be preserved for all to see and learn from.
The gentleman who wants the rock removed so his bi-racial kids won't be exposed to some dark part of their history, is doing his kids a great disservice. If the kids ask about the meaning of the monument, this provides a great opportunity to sit down and have a conversation with the children about the history of this country and slavery. These kids can't be shielded from the fact of black slavery in this country and the sooner they come to grips with it, the better they will be to proceed into adulthood.
Making war on this rock is a fools errand. It is part of history and Brownsville past. A few folks with a far left political agenda should not be allowed to rip out a page of valuable history for the lessons to be learned go with it.
@Jan 22 5:39 PM...Well said!! Seventy-five percent of the Rio Grande
Delta needs the government to feed them due to their sub-human existence as human cockroaches. That's right, the majority of the "valley" are TAKERS and not MAKERS. What's my point...leave things alone MEXICANS AND GO GET A FUCKING JOB AND QUIT WORRYING ABOUT A ROCK THAT IS'NT GOING ANYWHERE.
Thanks Juan for writing history as it really was. I was amazed to see those clowns in front of the rock that actually has no historical value. I sure didn’t see anyone complain when they moved the rock from Palm Blvd. to Washington Park. To me it meant that the location of that rock is insignificant. My suggestion would be to move the rock right next to the Stillman House of Ill Repute. Maybe it could be moved to the Palo Alto Battlefield where probably more people would stop and look at it. I bet that 99% of the Brownsville residents have yet to stop and look at it. Would the above anonymous person be in favor of erecting a monument of Juan N. Cortinas? He was actually a true Brownsville hero.
Brownsville was a Confederate city and supported the Confederacy during the Civil War. Should we write this connection out of our history?? Then what is our history.....one of bigotry for the way the Buffalo Soldiers were treated by local citizens....both white and hispanic. Our history is our history...good, bad or ugly.
Juan Cortina was a thief, bandit and murderer and not a hero.
Charles Stillman was a thief and a smuggler. He used to steal land from the rightful owners the white collar way, that is with the use of the Texas Rangers. The Texas Rangers were the Stillman’s killing machine. He was a smuggler and profiting from it. Juan Cortinas was a protector of the rightful property owners. This should be taught in our local schools. This is the real history.
Well, the La Raza version of history is not the real history, but neither is the Gringo version either.
As in all history, but Stillman and Cortina were real people, neither totally good or totally evil. Pure good and pure evil is only found in comic books.
If this marker doesn't offend you, remember that swastikas don't offend white supremacists either.
You can't stay neutral on a moving train. So, many of you would rather put in effort to save the marker, than put in effort to have it moved to a museum?? I'm sure it has nothing to do that maybe you don't mind revering racists & traitors b/c that's exactly what you're doing. Saying that this marker doesn't mean anything is like saying swastikas don't represent the Holocaust & should be displayed on public property.
So a Mexican man shacking up with a negro woman wants to feel important in his black lives matter world by attempting to start a meaningless petition? Nobody cares . Rock stays. Fuck off and move to chicago. You do not belong in the great state of Texas.
Theresa... You are living in some kind of bubble where you think you know what others think that disagree with you. You seem to think that folks who don't see the issue like you, just must be some kind of evil racist people. Of course this just is not true.
Life gets easier, if you can see things and people as they really are, not as you want them to be. You will find out that there are good people on both sides of this issue and this marker is not the dividing line between good and evil, darkness and light.
If you want folks to be tolerate of your opinions, then try a little harder to be tolerant of their and not ascribe the worse kind of motivations to them. Such polarizing, judgmentalism is of no help to anybody.
Anonymous historian: Men like King & Kenedy feared for their lives if they ventured without Texas Rangers (or bodyguards) while traveling. Stillman on the other hand was here years before those men, had friends on either side of river and could travel without having to hire gunmen. Yes he was a smuggler. He had to do what he had to do dealing with corrupt officials all the time and dishonest or incompetent people working for him. If you want Cortinas to be remembered honestly, you should not only try to be honest yourself, but know what you're talking about. As for running people off "his" land - that wasn't his style. He would simply charge rent to "squatters." Words in quotations are emphasized because I cannot say without proof how he handled a situation like that if person refused to pay rent. But if I find out I wont be afraid to tell the truth about it. ~ Javier R Garcia
Stillman was a man of his time. He went to Mexico with family money from Connecticut at age 19 and built up a sizable business empire there. After this part of the world became a part of the US, he sensed opportunity and came here to set up camp bringing capital with him. He made a killing here in some dealings, some shady and some straight up.
When the Civil War came along, he again sense opportunity. He bought Confederate cotton for pennies with some going to his mills in Monterrey but much of it shipped to New York and sold to the Union Army for a great profit. He made millions profiting by the war.
After the war, he lit out for Europe until he felt it was safe to come back. He then sold out and moved to New York as one of the richest men in America.
Charles Stillman had no permanent loyalty to any place or any cause. He followed the profit where it went. As a man, I detest him, but I understand that way of things back in those days of great capitalism. If Stillman had not seized the opportunity here, somebody else would have. More than others, he called this place called Brownsville into being, and those of us who call it home, own him some measure of thanks for doing that.
Most of the first families of Brownsville also came here looking for opportunity. They came from America, France, Italy, Spain and Mexico. This was truly a global cross roads, where people seeking opportunity came at a particular time. I am thankful for them all.
I do get a little miffed when today's Mexican or Mexican American think of this place as theirs. These folks came here long after the hard work of development was done and simply moved in and claim it as something that belonged to them, without the blood, sweat and tears to build the place. It is not theirs because they did not pay for it.
The people of Brownsville today are a fine, serious, hard working, moral bunch of people for the most part. There are a few who find bits and pieces of history, not to their liking, but that is their tough luck.
I would rather live in a shithole like brownsville Texas rather than a bigger shithole like detroit or chicago .
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