I Love Yew, Houston
I am a native Houstonian. I live about 35 miles away from there now, which is close enough to go to ballgames and see my Houstonian grandbaby.
Houston is a liberal city, causing it to become the most diverse city in America. You should come visit Houston for the food alone. If you can bear the weather, Houston just might be the best place in America to live. You know people have to love Houston to live where the season “Too Damn Hot” starts in April and ends in November. Contrary to what you’ve heard, we do have spring here. This year it was on a Tuesday at the end of March.
So, when a rumor started on Facebook that a group called Antifa was going to insist on removing a statue of General Sam Houston because Houston was a slave-holder (he was), ears perked up. We may be liberal, but we love General Sam. He is a fascinating character.
Fresh on the heels of removing confederate generals from New Orleans, the far right went nuts. They seemed to be completely unaware that Sam Houston was a liberal. (More on that later.)
The rumor was untrue. One Houston teevee station did a story about Antifa and their plans to commit sacrilege upon the statue of Sam Houston. It should have know something was not quite right when they were unable to find anyone actually connected to the group. The Houston Chronicle, on May 31st, also did a story (you might not be able to get it because it’s by subscription only). Neither of them talked to anyone associated with the group … because it was a joke.
But, not to the far right gun nuts. No siree, this was too good an opportunity. They promptly scheduled a protest on the rumored day that Antifa was going to protest.
So, they show up armed to the hilt at a public park near the zoo, Rice University, the Museum of Natural Science, Theater Under the Stars, and an enormous city park on a Saturday when everybody is out with their children. I have a few pictures.
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I do not know how Sam Houston felt about guns, but I do know that he fought bravely in the War of 1812 and he was the general who captured Santa Ana after the Battle of the Alamo and he’s kinda beloved for that. So I kinda suspect he’d tell those weenies with weapons to go join the military.
But, I do know how Sam Houston felt about the confederacy. He hated it. General Sam was a congressman, the Governor of Tennessee, President of the Republic of Texas, and a senator from Texas. When Texas joined the confederacy, General Sam opposed it strongly and resigned as Governor of Texas instead of joining the confederacy. He wrote …
“I love Texas too well to bring civil strife and bloodshed upon her. To avert this calamity, I shall make no endeavor to maintain my authority as Chief Executive of this State, except by the peaceful exercise of my functions … ” He was evicted from his office on March 16, 1861, for refusing to take an oath of loyalty to the Confederacy.
So you jerks prancing around with the stars and bars shame Sam Houston. I am dearly surprised that Sam didn’t climb down off his horse and whip the hell out of all of you. You know, like the yankees did your great grandfathers.
In Galveston on April 19, 1861 from a hotel window he told a crowd:
Let me tell you what is coming. After the sacrifice of countless millions of treasure and hundreds of thousands of lives, you may win Southern independence if God be not against you, but I doubt it. I tell you that, while I believe with you in the doctrine of states rights, the North is determined to preserve this Union. They are not a fiery, impulsive people as you are, for they live in colder climates. But when they begin to move in a given direction, they move with the steady momentum and perseverance of a mighty avalanche; and what I fear is, they will overwhelm the South.
Nobody wants to take down Sam’s statue you damn fools. He gave up his beloved Texas trying to stay an American.
You ought to consider that.
Thanks for the history lesson, JJ. Now, if those buffoons would only pay attention. I won’t hold my breath.
1Wow. Hysterical overreaction based on distortions, outright falsehoods, misunderstandings, and the galloping dumbs. Who would have thought that could ever happen in America?
. . . * snicker *
2You lost me at “he was a slave holder”. You know as well as I that ‘hold’ did not signify a warm embrace.
3What someone read some history. I thought you made it up to suit your own ideas of the moment.
4I saw a guy waiting in a line in front of me at Wallyworld. He had on a tee that said Texas Independence 1791, along with a come an’ takit snake and a confederate flag. Quite a busy shirt. I asked him what happened in Texas in 1791 and he told me proudly that that was the year we won our independence. So much for absorbing 6th grade Texas History.
5I’m not sure whether it’s true, but Sam Houston is also credited with one of the great insults in world history. When the former Lt. Governor pledged allegiance to the Confederacy and assumed the Governorship, he went to his friend Sam Houston’s office to tell him what he’d done. Sam Houston turned around and said “Excuse me, sir, I don’t believe we’ve met.”
6Sorry, but Houston is neither the most diverse or liberal city in US. Both of those honors belong to Oakland CA, where I had the great opportunity to live for the last year and to which I plan to return as soon as possible.
7Also, “slave holder”=monstrous barbarian. Period. The statue should be removed.
8Um… to the “slave holder” people, you do know that Jefferson and Washington were, too? Are you for changing the name of our capital city?
There’s a book out there called American Revolutions (if memory serves) and it dives into the nasty details of our history that usually get swept under the rug. I’m not trying to diminish the evils of slavery, but you might be surprised how many notable people in our history had slaves — in the South and the North. (BTW: Slavery began in the colonies by the Spanish down south in the mid to late 1500s.)
You can honor their achievements without honoring their failings. We should look at our history with eyes wide open. Our Founders weren’t perfect people. And our country doesn’t have a perfect history.
9Ah, purity…the scourge of society.
10Sam Houston being a slave holder should not erase him from history. Thomas Jefferson was a slave holder as well, and was one of the the most enlightened men of his generation.
11Lumpkin, please return to CA. And try to remove ( whitewash) all of your state’s history that doesn’t suit you. History doesn’t work that way. One cannot look at the men and women of other centuries in the context of this one. By your narrow view, all statues of Washington, Jefferson, Madison should be removed. That would be as wrong as removing Houston’s statue. Your reasoning is as faulty as that of one issue voters. Slavery was an abomination. But it existed in the world those great men lived in. We have evolved as a species, very slowly, but evolved. In their world women couldn’t vote. Most places women had, in fact, about zero rights. What I’m saying is history TEACHES. History shows what is wrong so that aspect of life may be corrected. There are no leaders without human flaws. A great man or woman should be honored for the great and good that they did in spite of those flaws. That old saying “Those who do not know history are bound to repeat it.” Do you really want that? I doubt it. And California isn’t without some quite shameful occurrences in her history either. Fix the problems! Don’t ever think that taking a statue down is any sort of answer cause it isn’t. Some people don’t deserve statues. But many do, flaws and all. Don’t whitewash history, tell things as they were. History isn’t clean and sweet smelling most of the time. It’s messy, hard, cruel, and evil all too often. So when a man or woman can rise above that with enduring ideas, honor that.
12Let’s be blunt. The gun nuts that showed up in Hermann Park couldn’t care less if the narrative they were protesting was true or not. It gave them an opportunity to parade around with deadly weapons playing their fantasy dress up game. These are the same idiots who showed up in central Texas 2 summers ago when the rumor was flying that Obama was going to use the US Army (who was engaging in their annual training exercises) to “take over Texas”, whatever that means. Large collections of brain cells in these guys’ heads are few and far between.
13El Jefe: It’s like those people want all that stuff to happen; some weird ammosexual endgame fantasy. But they think they’re “patriots”. Weird.
14Here’s a pair of proud Texan boys (who just happened to be brothers) that were also spotted at the park!
http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/gallery/2002/02/01/ballen_twins.jpg
15Tilphousa, you are correct,revisionist history is wrong, remember and learn. Keep the statues, some of these Americans ( southern or northern) were remarkable. Why has this become such an issue anyway?
16@ Sam Marshall
17One calls them slave “holders” in order not to call them “owners”, which could appear to give legitimacy to the idea that one human can own another. The term is intended to imply the unjust use of force, not affection.
The “slave” issue has been a burr under my sale for a lifetime. I am of Irish descent. My ancestors in occupied Ireland were treated the same way as slaves. A few years ago I finally had the opportunity to visit Monticello in Virginia. it was there that I learned at least a few things about Old Tom J. the history books would never mention. No, he couldn’t marry Sally Hemings. The laws on the books at the time wouldn’t allow it. Sally was his late wife’s half sister, which means her father was white. She ended up looking so like Martha they could have almost been twins. The four surviving children of that pairing ended up as white as Old Tom. They actually worked in the house, usually serving at meals. When guests wondered why there were white servants, Tom told them they were bond servants working off their debt. Behind the scenes he was training each one in a trade. Both giris ended up excellent seamstresses with the ability to measure a client and make patterns based on those measurements, just like the highest ranked Parisian fashion houses do. One boy was trained as a chef ala Parisian style, the other a master carpenter. As they attained their goals, these four were gently gone from the mansion and lived out their lives elsewhere, usually where slavery was not allowed. Old Tom knew he could never reveals secret. His peers would have labeled him a dangerous radical and put his life in danger. As in so many other things, he was ahead of his time in this pursuit.
18The Hemingses of Monticello, a Pulitzer Prize winner by Annette Gordon Reed, who attended my elementary school in Conroe. She headed north and became a Professor of law at New York Law School.
Unbelievable detail about Jefferson’s racially-extended family.
19JJ, thanks for the history lesson on Sam Houston.
News from the University of Virginia:
“Now the university is planning to build a large and visible memorial to commemorate the contributions of an estimated 5,000 enslaved people who helped build and maintain the school founded by the third U.S. president.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/06/09/university-of-virginia-plans-a-large-memorial-commemorating-thousands-of-enslaved-people-who-worked-there/
20Rhetorically, I must ask, why are these groups of guys who stand around with guns in Texas always so fat? Is holding a gun considered exercise? Cardio? Were they able to father children or did they come up short?
21JJ, thank you so much for this article. I passed it on to many others, including my daughter who doesn’t remember learning about TX history in school! I was appalled, but she assured me, that thanks to your piece on Houston, she’s going to spend her Sunday doing some historical research. Made me happy, and less upset that she doesn’t remember, or perhaps was never taught about Houston to begin with, and I didn’t realize it.
22As for the “slave owner” vs “slave holder,” I notice that the WashPost article on UVA uses “enslaved persons” instead of “slaves.” Sounds a bit stuffy, but I do like the distinction. Slavery isn’t about something they were, but about something that was done to them.
For a moment of related satire, let me pass on episode 3 of “Ask a Slave,” a series done by a woman who portrayed a slave at Mount Vernon. At 1’40” in this video, she responds to a guy who says that “Slavery isn’t THAT bad….”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n33iPnDRqPU
23Mark Schlemmer: It would almost seem like you were trying imply that those good ole boys were trying to compensate for something. If so, well done.
24And by the way, one advantage of the beer gut? It makes that particular shortcoming less obvious in the shower. Just sayin.
25Must give props to the savant at Monticello who related all that information. There was absolutely no sugar coating!!! She let it all hang out to dry. Good for her!
26@ Jefe
my little bride, who was from Houston before I rescued her some 44 years ago, showed me a video of this non-event. “Parading” these fellers were not doing. They were “prancing” like models on a runway. “Would you like to see my … GUN?” I have a cat that does the same thing. For some reason he thinks the humans enjoy his act of raising his tail and puckering his anus. Same thing for these guys. I’d judge them as a$$holes but that might be a redundancy.
27Those gun nuts that were there weren’t with the alt-right they show up every Sunday to “protect the Second Amendment”. Such are the lives of the loony.
28Thank you for this snippet about Sam Houston. I have never heard it and, though I was born in Texas, (in my defense, my parents moved us away before I was a year old) I am pretty ignorant of its history. I’d like to remedy this. Can anyone recommend a really good biography of Sam Houston?
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