(Ed.'s Note: Harlingen resident Jack Ayoub wrote a letter to the Valley Morning Star taking local anti-NeoConfederate instructor Antonio Castillo to task for wanting to remove Jefferson Davis Boulder in Washington Park moved and renaming the Robert E. Lee Learning Center. He says his – and members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans – research shows some Castillos served in the confederate army in Laredo. Castillo's defenders replies are included.)
Is Antonio Castillo up to another cheap publicity stunt by wanting to move the Jefferson Davis Boulder in Washington Park moved and renaming the Robert E. Lee Learning Center?
Because these names offend him, Antonio wants to have them erased or removed from the general public.
If he truly finds these names offensive, then his family name, Castillo, should be equally offensive to him.
My research combined with help from the Harlingen chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans have discovered that 13 Castillos fought for the confederacy, including three from Laredo, such as Pvt. Cristobal Castillo, age 25, Pvt. Serapio Castillo, 22, and Pvt. Severiano Castillo, 19, under command of Col Santos Benavides of the 33rd Texas Calvary.
One of these Castillos could have been one of your relatives from Laredo that you told me about.
These Castillos were a part of the 42 man Regiment who fought off 200 Union troups at the Battle of Laredo on March 18, 1864 that kept the only major cotton pipeline open from Laredo to Brownsville/Matamorous to Bagdad (Mexican seaport).
The Rio Grande Valley/Laredo played a very important part in the Civil War that included 15 skirmishes, mostly along the river, as well as two major battles: the Battle of Laredo and the last battle of the Civil War, the Battle of Palmito Ranch (Hill).
Texas history has long forgotten the 2,550 Tejanos and Mexican Nationals who fought for the Confederacy, as well as the 958 Tejanos and Mexican Nationals who fought for the Union.
Antonio, we should not judge these soldiers of the Civil War, but honor their bravery and courage for their choices that they felt that they had to make.
And, if you can not do this in your heart and still ashamed of your Civil War relative, then you need to change your family name of Castillo to Castle …
RESPONSES:
Kathy Trentfield Raines said: "I have at least one confederate forefather, probably more, and probably many sympathizers. I am not proud. And I am not ashamed. That was a century and a half ago. I didn't even know them."
Ray Crooks: "Is this from the same douchebag that is obsessed with you?"
Pete Owen: "I have a great grandfather from laredo last name Aguilares who fought with a unit of Mexican-Americans from Laredo. Not sure why, maybe pressed? Poverty? Who knows? He ended up in a prison camp in Atlanta."
David Anshen: "What a moron. If you have Confederates A) they may have been drafted as working people were and B) We're not responsible for our ancestors. It would be to your credit if you can think objectively about politics. I have a racist and anti-racist (my mother) Southern family. So what, I, like you, can look past family and look at reality. We don't choose our family or any other accidents of birth but this idiot feel loyalty to atrocious oppression is justified by past family members. What a complete fool."
Lina Alicia Zamora: "LMFAO. The sad part is this guy is 100 percent serious."
Roger Bland: "This is terrible, I will have to unfriend you. Unfortunately, we're not friends, please be patient while I send you a friend request."
Nicole Blakely Boulding: "My, my, he really all over you with this one. Keep up the good work."
Bob Paris: "Let's look at the facts...the times were different so the attitudes and mores were different, not meaning they were correct by our standards today. People did things then that we would never do, that is growth. I know folks who have lot of items in their closets that are hidden. Heck, I have a couple of criminals who went to jail in my tree, but that doesn't make me a criminal. So we can remove monuments to a "bad past" and recognize this is part of history, not present. We must speak out to show that we don't want to return to a "yesteryear" or allow the "bad" to return...
Chris Cox: "The monuments have one singular purpose. Your name represent what you and your family do. This guy is an idiot.
Stefanie Herweck: "It is super unprofessional and inappropriate for a newspaper to run a letter like this attacking a private citizen. Who is making these decisions? Why are they so ill educated?
Antonio Castillo: "The local white supremacist is showing his true colors..."
20 comments:
History is what it is...history! When it happened, it was the most important issue on hand. It was settled and we went on. Look where we are now since the Confederate Dates. Does that mean it did not happen? Whether we agree with it or not, we owe our "thanks" to those who had the guts to stand up for what they believed then and fought for it to make our USA the best place on the planet. Why should Castillo take offense for it? His current actions are what we should be ashamed of, not what is in the past. Get over it and put it in your closet with the rest of your history books.
Mr. Castillo I am not calling you a liar. But I believe in history and there is no corrolation between defending the history of the confederacy and being a white supremacist. That vast majority of confederate soldiers were actually victims of slavery because their farms could not compete with the slave owners' But a series of events by Congress, the internaltional collapse of the cotton trade leading to lower prices, made it nearly impossible for poor farmers to survive so they fought for economic opportunity for their families and not slavery. They were played with Orwellian news to do the dirty work for the slave owners. Having given you a brief real facts history lesson, do you have any evidence this man you challenge has ever expressed support for white supremacy. If you do I will be the first to condemn him for his hate and for disgacing the dead confederate soldiers who died fighing for economic opportunity for their families. Do you really believe they fought to protect slavery which made it impossible for them as non slave owners to compete with the slave owners? So please if you have the proof post it, and I will condemn him, but if you do not stop with your childish Orwellian rewrite of history to make yourself relevant. I hope you have the evidence so I stand corrected, and join you in denouncing white supremacy
That hugh "Boulder" is a relic from the sacred mountains around Arizona. Here in Brownsville it's just a big rock. But we're making a "Mountain" out of it again. If rocks had personalities it might be very happy little guy for all the attention it's getting. I pray that vandals keep away and that the NATIVE AMERICAN spirits protect it. Poor little guy. It's homesick. Homesick all these years for it's creepy little scorpion and rattlesnake friends. Transplant it to the zoo. Let be surrounded again by those little varmints we subsidize for public display at a fee. Protected in a zoo environment could also enhance it's educational value. Wish someone could rescue before the bronze plaque gets melted for scrap value.
If history books belong in the closet then so does that rock. Without the context of history you're not defending a monument you're lying about it.
The Confederate soldier was white, black, Asian,Hispanic, Native American, immigrant, native born, Christian and Jew. Very few of them had any ties to slaves and slavery.
A case cannot be made that the rock honoring Jefferson Davis's service before the Civil War is a monument to white supremacy, racism or another things else negative.
The truth is that Castillo is a far left socialist/communist that is trying to stir up trouble just for the sake of storing up trouble. Do not allow this charlatan to manipulate the people of Brownsville for his own agenda.
You sound like a pretty good manipulator yourself. I won't pretend to know your political leanings if you don't pretend to know mine.
Ayoub has been presenting revisionist history for over 20 years. This senile man needs to retire and let young historians do their job.
"A case cannot be made that the rock honoring Jefferson Davis's service before the Civil War is a monument to white supremacy, racism or another things else negative."
He participated in the slaughter of thousands of Native Americans. That sounds like white supremacy to me.
Check out the social media of local SCV members. Their memes are extremely racist and sexist. Mr.Ayoub refuses to denounce them. He happily welcomes them to his "historical" celebrations.
BTW...The rock is red granite from the Davis Mountains of Texas.
Geeze, this pinche Castillo is so far left he has to drive around the block because he can't make a right turn.
I love the photo comparison. First one, the Neo-Confederate is clinging to his racist past. Second one, Mr. Collado and his wife are teaching their kids about equality.
Davis was Sec of War from 1853 to 1857 and the US Army did have some armed conflict with Native American in which some were killed. Let's don't forget that these same Native Americans killed quite a few innocent white people as well.
If you are going to call Davis a racist on this, then you must call every soldier, sailor, airman and Marine who killed people of other cultures racist as well. That makes every WWII vet that fought in the Pacific a racist for they killed Japs. Lots of other wars and armed conflicts can be added to the list.
Left wing idiots and stooges are so dumb it hurts.
"Check out the social media of local SCV members. Their memes are extremely racist and sexist. Mr.Ayoub refuses to denounce them. He happily welcomes them to his "historical" celebrations."
That is an outright lie, pure and simple a lie. The leader of the local SCV group is not white but a Lipan Apache.
"The leader of the local SCV group is not white but a Lipan Apache."
Your point? He sounds like a self-hating dumbass.
Is that Antonio in the photo with the stupid hat? He looks some showoffy mediocre musician I saw at El Hueso. Great band but I hope they dump him. Is it true he left Brownsville? Good riddance!
There's a mixup here. The guy in the picture with the stupid hat is not Antonio Castillo, good friend of mine. In the picture it is me, Rafael Collado, my wife, and my children; my oldest holding his book about Martin Luther King Jr. So, to begin with, watch your mouth.
Sencondly, let's clarfy a few things. Antonio Castillo is a centrist Democrat, and he, rightfully, feels strongly about racial issues in America. He is not a Socialist. I AM a Socialist. A proud one. I am impervious to the use of "socialism" as an offensive adjective, because most people have not a single clue what it means.
So, here I am. I don't hide from anybody, ever. To the dummy above me, that "great band" can't dump me because it is my band, and my mediocrity alone provides for a family of four. I'm not leaving Brownsville, either, so next time you see me, come tell me how you feel. I'd love to have you in my life.
If you think we're making a big deal about your racist rock, brace yourselves.
We're not letting go.
OK, let me see if I got this right. Mr. Castillo is a "centrist Democrat" and Mr. Collado is a "socialist". Sheeit boys, I don't know Collado from a hole in the ground, but if Castillo is a centrist Democrat, then so was Karl Marx. Total bull shit!
Please explain how Castillo is in any way relatable to Marx.
Anybody notice this pendejo Collado is giving everybody the ojo. The curanderas will have allot of business.
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