“Fiesta San Antonio” which began as a single event to honor the memory of the battles of the Alamo and San Jacinto, is now being criticized by some students at UTSA that say the city's party has racist roots. It is the latest effort by local liberals and leftists in San Antonio to revise Texas history.
The students Luke Valdes, president of the Mexican American Studies Student Organization (MASSO) says "After Texas independence, many people were celebrating it as a celebration of white supremacy, dominance, colonization of Mexico of Tejas. As far as slavery, imperialism, fascism, manifest destiny, white supremacy, colonization.”
Mexico City native Dennise Frausto says the ten-day festival is a slap in the face because it uses Mexican culture to celebrate the defeat of Mexico. She also says she never participate in the celebration.
Liberal and leftist professors and scholars preach that Texas is the result of American racist expansion that victimized “3rd world natives and people of color”. These UTSA students agree, and like China’s young Red Guard in the 1960s, they want to “expose the truth.” Of course, the local liberal media gave them a public forum.
The Fiesta celebration began in 1891 when an organization of women in San Antonio decorated carriages, baby buggies and bicycles with live flowers, met in front of the Alamo, and threw the blossoms at one another, in a symbolic "Battle of Flowers." Today, more than 100 local nonprofit groups associated with the Fiesta San Antonio Commission, hold more than 100 events over 17 days, including two large parades which pass in front of the Alamo, and a river parade on the San Antonio River Walk.
However, liberals and leftists view most of the heroes of the Texas Revolution as “slave owners” or worse. Former Raza Unida activist and the mother of Democrat presidential candidate Julian Castro and Democrat Congressman Joaquin Castro, Rosa Castro has disparaged the Alamo defenders as “drunks.”
There has also been recent controversy about the plans to redesign the Alamo site and the presentation of its history. The San Antonio city leaders have made plans to remove the Alamo Cenotaph and close off the Alamo Plaza. There is also discussion about rewriting the history of the Alamo to incorporate a broader story that includes the Stone Age and Indigenous inhabitants as well as the mission priests and colonizers.
The Alamo is known worldwide for the 1836 battle. It is the “Cradle of Texas Liberty,” symbolizes Texas Independence, and that fact should not be minimized.
Liberals and leftists are busy apologizing for and rewriting America history, and Texas history and the Alamo have become their targets. Confederate statues and names are being removed, and the same is being attempted regarding the symbols and celebration of Texas freedom and liberty.
Fiesta San Antonio is Texas’ version of the 4th of July, and we should celebrate the principles of freedom that fueled the revolution. Texas’ fight for independence from Mexico was no different from the 13 Colonies’ fight for independence from England.
There is nothing “racist” about the celebration, except in the insecure, immature, and antagonistic hearts and minds of liberals and leftists. We should always remember the Texas Revolution as we do other fights for freedoms and liberty throughout the world’s history.
Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad! Long live Texas Independence.