The Alamo—A Monument Cherished by White Supremacists
From a correspondent in Texas
| revcom.us
The Alamo, in downtown San Antonio, Texas, is the site of a battle in which on March 6, 1836, a Mexican army wiped out North Americans defending it. As a previous correspondence at revcom.us mentioned, in the years since then the Alamo became Texas’s “most famous landmark, and... a focal point of hot contention. For white supremacists, it is a symbol of Texas independence.”
An interview Sunsara Taylor recently did with Jason Stanford, one of the authors of the book Forget the Alamo, on The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show, is important for everyone to listen to. I thought some additional background about the Alamo could also be helpful to readers of Revolution.
Some Historical Background
What is now Texas was part of Mexico when that country won its independence from the Spanish empire in 1821. Texas was sparsely populated and distant from Mexico City. It was seething with resistance from the Native peoples who lived there, resistance that often overwhelmed the few Mexican forces in the region. In the same period, white settlers (“Anglos”), including many slave owners, began pushing into Texas from the U.S. South. Mexico initially allowed these settlers in, under certain conditions, hoping they could contain the resistance of Comanche and other tribes. These settlers soon outnumbered Mexicans in the region by about six to one. Some established large plantations in the fertile valleys of East Texas1, and many more sought to illegally expand the slave empire westward into Mexico. They initiated what became genocidal wars against the Native peoples living there.
When Mexico abolished slavery in 1829, discontent with Mexican rule began to fester among the Anglos—discontent rooted in their insistence on maintaining and expanding slavery, and fueled by contempt for Mexicans. Beginning in 1832, skirmishes between Anglo settlers and Mexican authorities broke out in several areas. The Mexican government regarded the Anglos as outlaws and pirates. By 1835, pro-slavery, anti-Mexican gatherings in several locations throughout the state were mobilizing against a Mexican army advancing from southern Mexico. One of those locations was San Antonio, the region’s largest settlement, where in early 1836 the Anglos fortified themselves in the Alamo, an old Spanish church.
Pro-slavery Texans had formally declared independence from Mexico a few days before the battle of the Alamo. About six weeks later, on April 21, 1836, they inflicted a decisive defeat on the Mexican army, using “Remember the Alamo” as their battle cry. Texas became an independent country, with slavery written into its Constitution.
Fuck the Alamo!
Five years ago, fascist authorities in Texas began a $450 million project called the “Alamo Plan.” Asserting that the Alamo, a popular tourist destination, is “the core of Texas’ identity today,” their plan aims to “Restore Reverence” to the building and immediate area by memorializing “those who lived, fought, and died at the Alamo”2—meaning the white people inside it, not the Mexicans who vanquished them. Among other things, this means preservation of the “Cenotaph,” a grotesque sculpture on Alamo grounds commemorating the defenders of slavery, despite widespread opposition and protest. Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, a leading Christian fascist, said preserving the Cenotaph honors those whose “blood was shed for liberty and freedom,” and “will ensure that the Alamo renovation plan will remain true to our history and honor the defenders who died there in 1836.”3
No! Massive enslavement of Black people, dispossession and suppression of Mexicans, slaughter of Native Americans—all that is what the Alamo glorifies and celebrates.
Contention over the Alamo is heating up right now. How it develops and the terms on which it is fought are of great consequence—will the actual history of this country and the state of Texas continue to be whitewashed and suppressed, or will the truth about their founding and development through slavery, genocide, theft, and white supremacy be taught, and confronted?
“Wars of Empire, Armies of Occupation & Crimes Against Humanity,” A clip from Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution, a speech by Bob Avakian
1. Randolph B. "Mike" Campbell, “Slavery,” The Texas State Historical Association’s Handbook of Texas, accessed August 02, 2021. [back]
2. “Alamo Plan.” [back]
3. “Lt. Governor Dan Patrick: Statement on the Texas Historical Commission Cenotaph Vote,” September 22, 2020. [back]
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