By Juan Montoya
With the Texas Division of the Confederate Veterans, Sixth Brigade fighting tooth and nail to keep the Jefferson Davis Highway Memorial at Washington Park, at least two City of Brownsville commissioners say they would consider moving it to Veterans Park next to the Central Library.
The comments came during a city commission meeting where Mayor Tony Martinez suggested holding a Town Hall meeting to get input from the community on whether to move the monument from its present location, or remove it to another place.
The justification for moving it to Veterans Park, according to commissioner Ben Neece, is that Confederate soldiers have been declared U.S. veterans regardless of what side they fought on.
“I have been receiving a lot of emails and the majority of them are asking it to be moved to the [Brownsville] Veterans Park because in 1957, all soldiers that fought in the Civil War were given status as U.S. veterans," Neece said. All of them on both sides.”
Likewise, commissioner Cesar de Leon also voiced the same opinion.He told the UTRGV Rider that he could see moving the stone monument to Veterans Park which honors U.S. male and female veterans and the military branches.
"What we tabled for is [to have] a town hall meeting, [so] we can get input of the community,” De Leon told the Rider. “If you ask me, I think it should be relocated to Veterans Park because all Civil War veterans are veterans of the United States military. It didn’t matter which side they fought for.”
But those suggesting that a president or the U.S. Congress had pardoned the soldiers of the confederacy or granted them veteran status seem to be mistaken.
According to a Snopes.blog fact check, Neo-Confederate apologists have blurred the issue by claiming that codified changes in burials and pensions enacted over the years declared U.S. and Confederate soldiers as the same.
"When a debate over Confederate monuments and flags came under the national spotlight in June 2015, codified changes in burials and pensions enacted in 1929 and 1958 were puffed up to suggest that a nebulous act of Congress, either in the 1920s or the 1950s, officially declared that Confederate soldiers were the same as United States veterans in the eyes of the federal government.
"However, no legislation either explicitly or implicitly granted Confederate soldiers status as United States veterans. Survivors of dead Confederate soldiers often took offense at measures appearing to equate them to Union soldiers, objections that died off as Southerners from the Civil War era did."
https://www.snopes.com/confederate-soldiers-veterans/
Some websites have taken these puffery as fact, and a popular poster arguing this has been taken as fact.
But even Confederate researchers admit that the legislation passed to make the Confederate soldiers and widows eligible for pensions only did not confer U.S. veteran status on rebel soldiers.
Snopes noted that Confederate history researcher, author and blogger Andy Hall noted recently, when someone claimed that "Congress passed a law making any and all confederate soldier [sic] a US veteran" (emphasis Hall's):
Some websites have taken these puffery as fact, and a popular poster arguing this has been taken as fact.But even Confederate researchers admit that the legislation passed to make the Confederate soldiers and widows eligible for pensions only did not confer U.S. veteran status on rebel soldiers.
Snopes noted that Confederate history researcher, author and blogger Andy Hall noted recently, when someone claimed that "Congress passed a law making any and all confederate soldier [sic] a US veteran" (emphasis Hall's):
"If you're referring to the 1958 legislation, all it did was make Confederate veterans eligible for the same VA benefits as Union soldiers were. It did not make them U.S. veterans, make any other official change in their status, or extend any particular protections to graves or monuments."
For his part, Martinez said he did not have a particular place in mind for the monument.
“I just want to have people voice their opinion or voice their views,” Martinez said after the meeting. “Let’s take a look at it. Let’s do something that’s in a positive way.”
“I just want to have people voice their opinion or voice their views,” Martinez said after the meeting. “Let’s take a look at it. Let’s do something that’s in a positive way.”
Antonio Castillo, a high school history teacher, started a petition to relocate the monument, which has more than 5,280 signatures.
"The SCV is now actively trying to relocate it to Veterans Park, a bigger insult to U.S. Veterans," Castillo said.
And just recently, someone defaced the memorial, by writing “No Trump,” “No KKK” and “No fascist USA” with red spray paint.
The monument pays tribute to Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate States of America, and was erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
The monument pays tribute to Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate States of America, and was erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
The erroneous view on Confederates being granted U.S. veteran status has been pushed along on the mistaken belief that it actually occurred.
The Snopes website clarified the issue: "The Sons of Confederate Veterans cited the 1958 law to make the case that all Americans should honor Confederate veterans. An undated official history of the Department of Veterans Affairs that covers the period up to 2006 goes so far as to claim that the law "pardoned" Confederate service members. A 1997 in VFW Magazine also referred to the the "congressional pardon" of 1958."
The Snopes website clarified the issue: "The Sons of Confederate Veterans cited the 1958 law to make the case that all Americans should honor Confederate veterans. An undated official history of the Department of Veterans Affairs that covers the period up to 2006 goes so far as to claim that the law "pardoned" Confederate service members. A 1997 in VFW Magazine also referred to the the "congressional pardon" of 1958."
A historian who did not wish to be identified stated it more clearly: [It’s] clear that Public Law 85-425, section 410 of 1958 was intended solely to provide a symbolic, Civil War Centennial gesture late-life pension to Walter Williams, the supposed only surviving Confederate veteran, and did not apply in any way to any other Confederate soldiers. Of course it turned out (as many people knew then) that Williams was not, in fact, a Confederate veteran – but the desire to still have a living link to the War proved more important than fact."
And, later: The section of the law that Confederate apologists seem to be misconstruing is this one:
"(e) For the purpose of this section, and section 433, the term 'veteran' includes a person who served in the military or naval forces of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War, and the term 'active, military or naval service' includes active service in such forces."
"For the purpose of this section" is referring to Section 432 of the Veterans' Benefits Act of 1957, which set pensions for widows of U.S. veterans of the Civil War; Section 433 of that act pertains to pensions of Civil War veterans' children. There is nothing in U.S. Public Law 85-425 or the law it amends that says anything about making Confederate veterans U.S. veterans or 'pardoning' them."
"(e) For the purpose of this section, and section 433, the term 'veteran' includes a person who served in the military or naval forces of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War, and the term 'active, military or naval service' includes active service in such forces."
"For the purpose of this section" is referring to Section 432 of the Veterans' Benefits Act of 1957, which set pensions for widows of U.S. veterans of the Civil War; Section 433 of that act pertains to pensions of Civil War veterans' children. There is nothing in U.S. Public Law 85-425 or the law it amends that says anything about making Confederate veterans U.S. veterans or 'pardoning' them."
38 comments:
Cesar calladito te ves mas bonito, ya no hagas pedo vato de por si ya estas biem quemado
What does de Leon know about this controversy? He's a fockin racist! Put the stone on his front yard!!!!!
Throw it off a fucking cliff! Confederate soldiers "protecting their way of life" were nothing more than enemies of the United States! They don't deserve the right to be called U.S veterans! YOU DON'T GET TO SUCCEED FROM THE UNITED STATES AND THEN DEMAND TO BE TREATED AS A HERO HERE!
Time for a little truth telling. The monument is not about Confederate veterans. The monument is about one man, Jefferson Davis. Davis graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point and served in the United States Army during the U.S.- Mexico. Later he was both a U.S. Congressman and Senator from Mississippi, before become Sec. of War under President Pierce. Jefferson was a United States veteran.
He was President of the Confederate States of America, which is a political office, but did not serve in the Confederate Army. Therefore, Davis was not a Confederate Veteran, so all this crap about who is and who is not a U.S. Veteran, is totally irrelevant.
As a Col. of Infantry in the United States Army during the Mexican War and United States Secretary of War, it is entirely fitting that a monument to him be located in Veterans Park.
There is so much nonsense, rancor and politics about this monument, thought it would see few have ever read it. Go read the freaking rock people, before getting your panties in a wad.
Who cares? Brownsville is a racist town!
If the city doesn't get rid of Cesar de Leon, a living racist and bigot, why move or get rid of this rock???? Why discard something that is a historical marker of a man that died long ago, but sit in the same chamber with a 2017 living racist????? Tony Martinez, by defending Cesar de Leon's decision to remain on the City Commission, should clean the Jefferson Davis marker and leave it where it is. The rock and de Leon are reflections of racism.
President Lincoln started the amnesty for Confederate soldiers before he was killed and in 1868 President Andrew Johnson issued a proclamation of amnesty to all Confederate Soldiers if they signed an oath of loyalty to the United States. Senior political leaders and senior military officers were excluded. Robert E. Lee applied for citizenship, but that application was buried in the national archives until 1975 when Robert E. Lee was granted citizenship by President Gerald Ford.
Thanks to Ben Neece for at least looking up the information about Confederate citizenship. It would seem appropriate that Cesar de Leon recuse himself from this debate. We don't need a racist to be a part of this decision related to racism.
I just hit a pothole in district 4 I think it would fit perfectly in
Mark Phillips stated (Brownsville Herald) that "the monument belongs to the citizens of Brownsville. They own it because it was given to them by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.." It was given to the city in 1926 in an era when oppression of minorities was very common. Unfortunately, time has changed but racism still continues in our nation. Do we need further reminders of how minorities have been and are still being treated in the land of freedom in this great nation of ours.
Other cities in this nation have remove similar monuments because of what their citizens belief that they represent. San Antonio has recently changed the name of a local high school named after the military leader of the Confederate Army, Robert E. Lee. It wasn't so long ago that the members of Confederate Air Force (CAF) changed their name to Commemorative Air Force. According to CAF chief of staff Ray Kinney, "In many people's minds, the word 'confederacy' brings up the image of slavery and discrimination." Until this past year, the CAF had been providing the community of Brownsville with beautiful air shows which defined the history of American World War II military aviation. Again, bigotry and discrimination is not acceptable.
Dear 2:27 PM.
Secede is when a state leaves the Union.
Succeed is when you achieve a desired goal.
You knowledge of the English language, is as limited, as your comment is stupid.
Put it at palo alto no one goes there anyways
2:28pm is on point.
The point is that the actions, quoted below, were taken to heal the country. This rabid talk about racism is not furthering the healing process. The purpose behind the attacks against Commissioner De Leon in relation to the "rock" is political. It's not a genuine concern about the mistreatment of blacks, or other minorities in our community.
It's blog babble, such as you might find on Brownsville Voice, Brownsville Republic and the Captain's Table (all wannabe journalists). To increase their readership, they resort to this false issue.
If it's not clear from what you read below, that Confederate Soldiers are somehow branded Traitors, it simply incorrect.
Get over it, small minded imbeciles. If you want to really do something, other than gripe, go out and register some voters and have your voice heard. Work toward equality for women. Help obtain justice for the downtrodden.
"CONFEDERATE FORCES VETERANS
"SEC. 410. The Administrator shall pay to each person who served
in the military or naval forces of the Confederate States of America
during the Civil War a monthly pension in the same amounts and
subject to the same conditions as would have been applicable to such
134 PUBLIC LAW 85-426-MAY 27, 1958 [72 STAT.
person under the laws in effect on December 31, 1957, if his service
in such forces had been service in the military or naval service of the
United States."
Effective date. SEC. 2. This Act shall be effective from the first day of the second calendar month following its enactment.
Approved May 28, 1958.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Restoration of Citizenship Rights to Jefferson F. Davis Statement on Signing S. J. Res. 16 into Law.
October 17, 1978
In posthumously restoring the full rights of citizenship to Jefferson Davis, the Congress officially completes the long process of reconciliation that has reunited our people following the tragic conflict between the States. Earlier, he was specifically exempted form resolutions restoring the rights of other officials in the Confederacy. He had served the United States long and honorably as a soldier, Member of the U.S. House and Senate, and as Secretary of War. General Robert E. Lee's citizenship was restored in 1976. It is fitting that Jefferson Davis should no longer be singled out for punishment.
Our Nation needs to clear away the guilts and enmities and recriminations of the past, to finally set at rest the divisions that threatened to destroy our Nation and to discredit the principles on which it was founded. Our people need to turn their attention to the important tasks that still lie before us in establishing those principles for all people.
Note: As enacted S.J. Res. 16 is Public Law 95-466, approved October 17.
Citation: Jimmy Carter: "Restoration of Citizenship Rights to Jefferson F. Davis Statement on Signing S. J. Res. 16 into Law. ," October 17, 1978. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=29993.
History is history and if someone gets upset about what and why, ni modo! It happened,
brinquen o salten and it is in the history books so what is the big fuss about it.
If such is the case, we must remove every statue we have in our nation. They are to
remind us of what once was, what it changed to and what changes still need to be made.
Don't we have other bigger issues to handle here in Brownsville great in importance that
a big hug boulder that does not wrong to anybody.
By the way, didn't this boulder originally stand at the corner of Elizabeth and Palm Blvd?
I can remember it over by Central Middle School and was moved to the park when they made
the left turning lane from Palm Blvd left into Elizabeth. I read somewhere it was at
Palm and Boca Chica around where the first What-a-burger used to be. I don't remember
it there and I am as old as the boulder itself. Correct me if I am wrong?
Not true, there are lizards and snakes and a pack of rats from Brownsville smoking weed from Mexico.
Oh here we go..cry baby liberal coming out...you know what, go fuck yourself
This rock thing, is nothing more than a way to further divide the people of this great land. Davis, Lee and others served the United States before the War in honor and distinction. As a matter of honor, they went where their states went in 1861. This whole thing is over, totally over. Those who raise the issue seek only to rend the fabric of unity and sow disharmony and discord. They have agendas that are not in the best interest of the American people. They and their bogus outrage should be soundly rejected and we all need to get on with doing the right thing for all Americans.
I once made a promise while one of my hands was raised. It included the words "against all enemies foreign or domestic".In my opinion the rebels or whatever else you want to call them certainly quality as domestic enemies. I say keep your damned stone or dress up like a reb or speak your mind. The Constitution the rebs tried to wipe their colective ass with gives you the right. What it does not give you is my respect. We need that stone and other monuments like it give us a more rounded picture of our bloody history,not just the pretty stuff we like. A building was destroyed in this city in order to foget murdered children. We should not do the same with this damned stone.
The only blogger so far that makes perfect sense is the one of Oct 25 at 10:27 PM.-an
excellent, well-put, thought for all of us to have it sink in our thick heads.
I hope I punctuated the sentence correctly for the benefit of that blogger that was hired
to "correct" every one with a grammar lesson. I wonder who that is? Oh, is it who or whom?
Who is the indirect object or is it the predicate adjective? It related to "I" right?
Good to see that someone is still perfect.
Stick it where they had Lopez's statue before they moved it to the park.
Why would any one want to place a stone representing a domestic enemy that killed thousands of US Soldiers in a sacred place honoring those same solders they KILLED?
10:27 PM..... You are absolutely correct, we should keep monuments that we find odious as a reminder of our past. If we forget the past, it is easier to repeat the mistakes of the past.
Our difference will be on just who are the traitors. The founders of the United States were considered traitors by the English Crown. The founders of the Confederate States of America felt the Federal Government had betrayed the Constitution. So, it you win your war of independence you are a patriot, it you loose you are a traitor to be denounced generations after you are dead.
I stood at Mr. Rushmore and saw the face of the tyrant Lincoln staring down at me, beside true patriots like Washington and Jefferson. In DC, I saw a huge statue to the war criminal Wm. Sherman. I had the honor of spitting on the grave of E.J. Davis, Reconstruction governor of Texas. He was a traitor of the highest order.
Bottom line is we all have our points of view on history and they are not the same. Each point of view has it's heroes and villains. We can admire the monuments to our heroes and be repulsed by the monuments to our villains, but they should all stand, as a reminder of what went into making this country we all love.
Just go ahead a add another Line Item " Clean up of The Rock " on the city budget. It will continue to be defaced, wherever you place it.
The conundrum the city has it to determine how to deal with the Jefferson Davis "rock"....because it is racist symbol, and how to deal with Cesar de Leon....a living, walking and talking racist. I can't understand why so many people condemn the rock, yet support de Leon remaining on the commission...that is called being a hypocrite. It's like saying the rock is a symbol of racism against us, but de Leon is a Hispanic and can't really be racist. That is not only hypocritical, it is saying "Hispanics" can't be or are not racist. And that is complete Bullshit! Move the rock to Veterans Park and put Oscar de Leon in Washington Park....and off the city commission. If Tony Martinez doesn't support the resignation of de Leon, he to is a hypocrite.
7:49 PM......Go to any major Civil War battlefield and you will find statues and monuments to both Union and Confederate soldiers. It is a very common practice to honor, in one place, those who fought in that terrible conflict.
All common sense, seems to have gone away, in remembering the war. Years after the war, Union and Confederate veterans met on these battlefields, shook hand, hugged, broke bread together, sang together and remembered how it was in the old days. Why is it now, 150 years later, that people who have almost zero understanding of the conflict, bear anger and enmity that the veterans never had? Could it be just politics and nothing more? Whatever the cause, it is some form of 21st. Century insanity, that disinters the long buried bodies and beats on them once again.
Like Bob Dylan famously said: I have no inclination to look back on any mistake; Like Cain I now behold this chain of events that I must break."
No one can do anything about what happened over a century ago, so move on and break the chain of events. If you don't like a monument, don't look at it. But don't try and to commit cultural genocide by getting rid of what previous generations thought important because it offends your dainty sensibilities. The focus of this blog should be on the coward who snuck into the park in the middle of the night with a can of spray paint from Lowe's to deface a monument that was put in place 90 years ago. He or she is what needs to be removed--to the county jail.
Cesar De Leon, don't you know when to shut the fuck-up! You started all this asshole, haven't you had enough pendejo o te haces pendejo. You are going to start your nightmare all over again. OK, you want some more, well, you're about to get it. All because of your stupid BIG MOUTH. Your NIGHTMARE is about to start.
Oct. 26 5:08 AM
When you are not certain whether to use "who" or "whom", he is the test. If you can substitute "He" or "she" it is who. If you can substitute "him" or "her" it is whom. In you sentence, who would be correct.
Thank you for your complement, but I am not perfect. However knowing the difference between succeed and secede, does not require perfection, just a common level of literacy. English literacy down here, of any level, is far from common...pues.
The only people who are racist are the people like you who call everything racist. Keep up the good work racist.
Thanks for the grammar lesson but I was being facetious in asking the question. I learned that from my 5th grade teacher and feel very confident about the usage of pronouns in my sentences. It is a shame that most English teachers do not take the time to teach "diagraming" within an English lesson, for that strategy helps you identify the correct parts of speech and proper usage. It seems that Mr. or Mrs. Perfect does not know how to read between the context of the intended comment - inference. I was lucky to have excellent English teachers like Mrs. Katherine Celaya at Cummings and Mrs. Doris Parker at BHS a long,long time ago.
Now back to the topic of the blog. The boulder was at Palm Blvd and Elizabeth and not like the newspaper identified it as being at Palm and Boca Chica. There is proof on page 190 in "Brownsville: A Pictorial History by Robert Vezetti and Ruby Wooldridge.
(indidently, also my excellent teachers!)
Anyone who went to BHS when it was the only High School on Palm Blvd, know the monument was in the median at Palm Blvd. and Eliabeth. It was moved to Washington Park when Palm was widened in the 70's. The Yturria family paid for the move. The rock is red granite from the Davis Mountains of Texas.
It has been a part of Brownsville history for many decades and never bothered anybody, until Antonio Castillo, a far left liberal nut, came to town with his black wife and mulatto children and decided to get his panties in a wad about it. Castillo and his brood should be given one way bus tickets, to wherever he came from, North of the Sarita Checkpoint. He has not been an asset to our community. We have enough home grown far left liberal nuts, so there is no need to import more.
I thought they put it there to cover a red ant farm.
Another racist robert vezetti. Don't believe me look up the book he wrote about mexicans being here to serve the white men.
Antonio Castillo did not steal or murder anybody. The white men that came down here, far right racist republicans, did that.
That looks like a caliche rock from Cameron County sitting on top of a pile of fajitas also from Cameron County.
Anonymous at 4:12 Since you are correcting others, look at your own postings . "Your" is the word you need, not "you."
Mr. Castillo was born and educated here. He was one of my students at Hanna HS.
I would have been opposed to changing the name of the Confederate Air Force since it was originally used as a joke and a goof for what the original pilots would call themselves. It in no way glorified the Confederacy, and in fact, the CAF went out of its way to honor the Tuskegee Airmen. As it grew in size and fame, I can understand why they wanted to change the name, and by doing so, they could incorporate the Yankee Air Force which sprung up in response. So while I am all in favor of getting rid of the Davis plaque, I think that some common sense and understanding should be used in all of these cases.
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