March 30, 2004
Memo From Mexico, By
Allan Wall
¿OLVIDATE DEL ALAMO? [FORGET THE ALAMO ?]
“Olvidate del Alamo”
(Forget the Alamo) is the title of a painting by
Ramon Vásquez y Sánchez. The painting portrays the
Alamo with Mexican general
Santa Anna’s skull, Mexican soldiers and the
souls of the dead departing the scene of battle.
[VDARE.COM
NOTE: Santa Anna's skull is supposed to represent
him "turning over in his grave" at the thought of
all those
Alamo movies. But Santa Anna, who has been
described as "one of the unusual historical
figures about whom no good word has ever been spoken"
survived the battle, and
lived until 1876. None of the Alamo's defenders
survived; Santa Anna had all who survived the assault
executed, as was his
custom.]
Despite the catchy title, Vásquez y
Sánchez does not really want us to “forget the
Alamo.” If that were the case, he wouldn’t even be
painting it.
What he really wants to do is make a statement about
his alienation from the United States.
Vásquez y Sánchez, by the way, is a
native-born citizen of the U.S.A., born in, and still
residing in, San Antonio, Texas. That’s
Alamo City, in George W. Bush’s
state.
“Olvidate del Alamo” and
similar works of art are on display from March 6th to
March 31st, 2004, at the “Galeria Expresión” of
the “Centro
Cultural Aztlán” in San Antonio.
Vásquez y Sánchez is the center’s
director. He organized the exhibition, entitled “The
Alamo: The Mexican-American Experience.” Originally,
seven other artists were asked to participate. But once
the word was out, 27 artists offered to join the show.
The exhibition began, not
coincidentally, on March 6th—the anniversary
of the
Fall of the Alamo in 1836. [Exhibit
views Alamo battle from a Mexican viewpoint,
Elda Silva, MySA.com, March 6th, 2004]
[email
Vásquez y Sánchez' Centro]
This is not an isolated instance,
by the way. In recent years some other Mexican-Americans
in Texas have taken to
bellyaching about the Alamo. Not all Americans of
Mexican ancestry, I hasten to add. But a growing and
vocal contingent.
Certainly, an historical discussion
of the Alamo shouldn’t in and of itself make us
uncomfortable, and we shouldn’t suppose the Alamo
defenders were above
criticism.
Historical “what-if”
discussions are interesting, I’ve engaged in them
myself. Yet, when I hear this particular whining about
the Alamo by some Mexican-Americans, I can’t help but
suspect that something else is going on.
Why should Mexican-Americans be
offended by the Alamo? What the complainers seem to be expressing
is
alienation toward the United States and their
place therein.
In addition, the Alamo bellyachers
regularly fail to present The Texas Revolution
(1835-1836) in its historical context.
In 1835, Mexico had only been
independent of Spain for 14 years. Among the general
populace, a Mexican national identity was almost
non-existent. In the sparsely-settled territory that
became the U.S., this was even more so.
The Texas Revolution was part and
parcel of internal developments within Mexican politics.
In 1834, Santa Anna suspended the Mexican Constitution
and proclaimed himself dictator. This helped provoke the
Texas Revolution.
In the 1830s there were few
Spanish-speakers living in Texas. Some of these
Spanish-speakers felt no particular loyalty to Mexico
and joined the Revolution. Some even
perished with
Davy Crockett in the Alamo—fighting against the
Mexican army.
Certainly Texas’ secession from
Mexico in 1836 did set the stage for the eventual
American conquest of the entire Southwest. But most
Mexican-Americans in Texas today are NOT descended from
people who were there when it was part of Mexico. They
are mostly descended from
20th-century immigrants. It’s highly unlikely they
would have migrated to Texas had it still been a part of
Mexico.
(For more Texas history, see
“Lone Star Setting?”, by Howard Sutherland.)
There’s a
new movie coming out about the Alamo.
Vasquéz y Sánchez is not happy with
the movie. He hasn’t seen it, but, as
Mel Gibson could tell you, not having seen a
movie no longer disqualifies activists from
criticizing it. After all, Vasquéz y Sánchez has
spoken to some of the movie’s extras:
“I
already talked to some of the extras and some of the
people that participated. Again [Mexicans] are
portrayed as
hungry-for-blood and when they lose, they walk out
with their
tails between their legs.”
Vasquéz y Sánchez inadvertently
utters a striking parallel with today’s situation:
“What
would Bush do if a bunch of illegal aliens came into the
state of Texas and tried to take it over? But this is
not part of the story, that [the Alamo defenders]
were illegal aliens.”
Well, actually,
“a bunch of illegal aliens” are coming
into the state of Texas and are trying to take over.
And not just Texas, and not just
the Southwest, but pretty much the whole country. What
is Bush doing?
Bush is
actively helping them.
If you get right down to it, The
Texas Revolution does provide a lesson—in reverse—for
today.
Anglo-American settlers first entered Texas under
the terms of an agreement with the King of Spain and
later the government of Mexico. They didn’t
assimilate, became a
majority and eventually seceded.
Hmm, there could be a lesson
there....
But Vasquéz y Sánchez continúes to
bellyache...
“It’s all this negativity that
Mexicanos feel about the Alamo.”
“Mexicanos?” But isn’t
Vásquez y Sánchez American?
The artist even has advice for
Vicente Fox:
“I
would welcome Mexico to do a movie on the Alamo. I would
even challenge [President] Fox to say ‘Just tell
the truth.’ The truth is, these people were defending
their country.”
Exactly! And just
what country are you defending?
The root problem here is not the
Alamo or anything that happened there. The root problem
is that a growing segment of our citizenry, including
many born in the U.S., choose not to
identify with our country.
And that, my friends, is a very
real problem indeed.
American citizen Allan Wall lives and works legally in
Mexico, where he holds an FM-2 residency and work
permit, but serves six weeks a year with the Texas Army
National Guard, in a unit composed almost entirely of
Americans of Mexican ancestry. His VDARE.COM articles
are archived
here; his
FRONTPAGEMAG.COM articles are archived
here; his
website is
here. Readers
can contact Allan Wall at
allan39@prodigy.net.mx.
