Texas LULAC Calls for an Accurate Historical Account of the Alamo
State Chapter of Nation’s Oldest and Largest Latino Civil Rights Organization Urges Truth be Told About Landmark
SAN ANTONIO, TX - Rodolfo Rosales, Jr., Texas State Director of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) issued the following statement after Time Magazine published the article, “It’s Time to Correct Myths About the Battle of Alamo.”
“Shockwaves are reverberating throughout Texas today among some storytellers of the Battle of the Alamo, including academics, who for decades have chosen to tell a fictionalized, Anglo-glorified myth as historical truth. We have been saying for years it’s been nothing more than a fable as fake as Matterhorn at Disneyland. This is a tough pill to swallow for them and their believers when now, true accounts reveal a far different narrative that doesn’t coincide with the John Wayne or Billy Bob Thornton Hollywood versions.
For years, Adela Navarro, a descendant of the original Canary Islanders settlers of San Antonio, spoke out about the so-called ‘heroes’ of the Alamo. She labeled Davy Crockett, William Travis and other ‘defenders’ who died in the battle pistoleros, the Spanish word for hired guns. Ms. Navarro stated the story was being manipulated by the Daughters of the Republic, caretakers of the historical landmark who allowed no one or nothing to question their account of the siege and its outcome. Finally, the San Antonio Express-News printed her story on Saturday, May 1, 1976 “...people pushing phony Texas history”, a battle she kept waging right up until her passing. Sadly, Adela was ahead of her time.
Today, fifty years later, there can be no doubt that truth is overdue and we must correctly instruct ourselves and future generations about what happened at Misión San Antonio de Valero. Texas LULAC calls for public schools funded by taxpayer dollars to be required to accurately teach this period of our state’s history. Also, that publicly-supported landmarks reflect the facts, not perpetuate falsehoods that elevate the Caucasian side of the story and denigrate the role of Mexicans during this battle, nor the reasons that led up to the bloody confrontation to stop an insurrection.
There will be those naysayers of truth who will clamor, ‘cancel culture’, then kick and scream in defiance of the inevitable. I can only remind them of the words of the great American leader, Cesar Chavez: ‘Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore.’ Neither can we rewrite history and still call it fact.”
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About LULAC
The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is the nation’s largest and oldest Hispanic civil rights volunteer-based organization that empowers Hispanic Americans and builds strong Latino communities. Headquartered in Washington, DC, with 1,000 councils around the United States and Puerto Rico, LULAC’s programs, services, and advocacy address the most important issues for Latinos, meeting the critical needs of today and the future. For more information, visit https://lulac.org/