MISHIHO!
It has been awhile since I have written in this blog. I still write, but perhaps I have too much on the stove so to speak.
So, where should I start? I moved to
Illinois. I have been ill. I have been trying to deal with all the crap
of the world -- politicians -- kill them all and start over. And, in
that order! They used to say that about lawyers you know. Am I healed? Are you ever really healed?
Do you feel this way? No wonder Indians want
to live away from the White Guys Society. It's still a dangerous world for
Indians.
Really, I am not rambling, but rather building up
steam. You see, the world is really not changing. It is still the same
people, but in different clothing and with all the new innovations. Our
Ancestors still live, if only in our minds. What would they say about the
modern world if they suddenly appeared -- I think it would be "shock and
awe."
Upon recovering, I think the first thing out of
their mouth would be, "do you really need that? What does it
do?" Then, they would go right back to the old ways because that is what
they know the best! "Don't turn on that microwave thing,
build a fire!" "Candy Crush?"
The things that the various forms of media
have done to North American Indians is almost beyond recovery. Hollywood,
Dime Novels, our own school systems. They have all failed to
portray the American Indian culture in the true light! The school
systems don't bother to tell the story of Christopher Columbus, they just
repeat what they have heard all their lives. What they heard when they
went to school. Christopher Columbus discovered America. Not!
Columbus was looking for a route to the New World. Not!
Think about what your brain recalls when
you visualize the word "Indian." Do you see a
savage on horseback with a spear? Do you see a half dressed wild man on
horseback circling the wagons and firing flaming arrows? What is wrong
with these images of Indians burned in your mind? Where did they come
from? How did they manage to light these arrows on horseback and keep
from catching fire? Hot coals in a coffee can? Electronic fire
starter? It's all pretty ridiculous if you stop to question it.
I took a trip to San Antonio the last part of
July. My first stop was to view the workings of what was called the Alamo
Plaza Advisory Committee. One of the recommendations by an outside
interest was to tear down the Alamo Cenotaph and buy out the Post Office ($60
mil.) likely with City Taxpayer money and establish a visitor center. His
thoughts were something to the effect that Alamo Plaza just did not give
"him" a true feeling of history, but that's not a quote. However, he failed
to talk about his own financial interests. The world goes round!
Do you know what the Cenotaph represents?
It's an empty grave marker, thought to be on the ground where the Alamo Defenders were cremated -- and yeah, Alamo Plaza is a Cemetery -- for
real. The history behind all this is when the battle of the Alamo was
over and the defenders killed (Some say death by saber or sword), the bodies
were gathered up and burned. The ashes, bone fragments scattered about
Alamo Plaza or maybe around the corner on the South Side of the Shrine.
No matter, they were burned!
Mexican Officers who died in the
fight were buried in the local "Campo Santo" across the street from what is
now the Santa Rosa Hospital, while the defenders ashes blew in the wind in Alamo Plaza. Well, the Mexican Army were the victors and even the dead shared in that. Not
unlike the horrors of the Middle East these days isn't it? Nothing much has
changed in the years -- the world marches on cloaked in different fabric and
waving a different flag for the same vaguely understood and lofty excuses.
I have a stake in all this. The abuse of the Cenotaph by Mayor Castro and his maybe bud Gary Foreman has not gone unnoticed, at least not by me and not likely by others. The Cenotaph, often unseen when the focus is about the vision of the place where Fess Parker went down swinging, carries the names of the real life flesh and bright red bloodied bodies that last carried a breath at the fall of the Alamo.
I have a stake in all this. The abuse of the Cenotaph by Mayor Castro and his maybe bud Gary Foreman has not gone unnoticed, at least not by me and not likely by others. The Cenotaph, often unseen when the focus is about the vision of the place where Fess Parker went down swinging, carries the names of the real life flesh and bright red bloodied bodies that last carried a breath at the fall of the Alamo.
I said I had a stake in all this --
Isaac Ryan, (1805-1836) part Indian, maybe known as a Indian Mulatto in Louisiana Society, youngster from Lake Charles, Louisiana, New
Orleans Gray Rifleman, Alamo Guard and now a name on a tombstone. He died for
Texas Independence along with other volunteers from all over the United States
-- now, a movie producer from Hollywood wishes to disrespect them, by
dismantling the Cenotaph, to satisfy his own selfish primal urges of gold
to be gained from all this.
Isaac Ryan is a first cousin of mine. Also
first cousin to Emmett Melendez, Mark Vela, Mary Tenorio Moorehead,
Patricia Ann Tenorio, Irene Hinojosa, Rueben Hinojosa, Becky Hinojosa Nicholson, Rich
Gabehart, Michael Tenorio, Pat Coburn and a large number of other
local San Antonian's and Texian's who are also Goins descendants. We are
all watching!
Lee Spencer White,
the Alamo Defenders Descendants Association, also has a name on this Cenotaph: Gordon
C. Jennings (1780–1836). Jennings is the 4th Great
Grandfather of Lee Spencer White. Jennings, at age fifty-six, was
the oldest defender of the Alamo to fall in battle at the Alamo in 1836.
How is it, that descendants of the Alamo
Defenders that fell at the Alamo, have not been placed on this Alamo Plaza
Advisory Committee? Indeed, they have not even been asked to serve.
Could it have overtones of racial issues or is it their closeness to the Alamo
Cemetery itself? After all, the two I mention above are both strong
supporters of "Save Texas Cemeteries!" Could they throw a monkey
wrench in the plans of Gary Foreman's film of Alamo Plaza renovation if represented on the Plaza Advisory
Committee? What is their fear? You see, it's not about history, it's about money!
Take a look at the advisory committee. They have their tokrn Indian, DRT member, Black man, Mexicans, Council members and so forth, all carefully chosen to represent the City. What more do they need? Next will be a study of the Alamo Cat or what happened to the horned toads in the plaza?
Of course, The Alamo Plaza Advisory Committee is not about history and preservation! It is about money and the politics of a few! Are the Citizen's of San Antonio being scammed to fill the pockets of the so called elite! They started this in 1994 with the "Alamo Plaza Study Committee," that did nothing but crank out reams of paper and "yes," I was a part of that scam!
Take a look at the advisory committee. They have their tokrn Indian, DRT member, Black man, Mexicans, Council members and so forth, all carefully chosen to represent the City. What more do they need? Next will be a study of the Alamo Cat or what happened to the horned toads in the plaza?
Of course, The Alamo Plaza Advisory Committee is not about history and preservation! It is about money and the politics of a few! Are the Citizen's of San Antonio being scammed to fill the pockets of the so called elite! They started this in 1994 with the "Alamo Plaza Study Committee," that did nothing but crank out reams of paper and "yes," I was a part of that scam!
I ask you! What is wrong with the San Antonio City
Council? Why are you people allowing this to be entertained District #1 Diego
M. Bernal 210.207-7279 ; District #2 Keith Toney 210.
207-7278; District #3 Rebecca J. Viagran 210.207-7064; District #4 Rey
Saldana 210.207-7281; District #5 Shirley Gonzales
210.207-7043, District #6 Ray Lopez 210.207-7065;
District #7 Mari Aguirre-Rodriguez 210.207-7044; District #8 Ron
Nirenberg 210.207-7086; District #9 Joe Krier 210.207-7325
City Hall Office /210.207-0955 District Office, and District #10 Mike
Gallagher 210.207-7276 why, answer me that!
mishiho@aol.com (I'll let my readers know in my next publication
just who responded)
Contact these guys and call them out, ask them
"why" and what they are doing about it? Tell them to pay
attention or they won't get your vote!
And finally, where did all the Alamo Indians, Chili Queens, Raspa stands that served Santa Ana end up? I think they are all buried in the Campo Santo at Ave E and Third Street. Ask Scott Huddleston, he knows about the Armadillo!
Gary J Gabehart, Chief Operating Officer
Inter-Tribal Council of American Indians
Indians at the Alamo Chapter
And finally, where did all the Alamo Indians, Chili Queens, Raspa stands that served Santa Ana end up? I think they are all buried in the Campo Santo at Ave E and Third Street. Ask Scott Huddleston, he knows about the Armadillo!
Gary J Gabehart, Chief Operating Officer
Inter-Tribal Council of American Indians
Indians at the Alamo Chapter
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