Reverence & Remembrance For A Park Named After A Texas Patriot, But Also At The Center Of A…read moreHistoric Controversy
SITREP
I found myself at Travis Park as part of the San Antonio (SA) Food Tours, and it was a great bit of luck that we got to enjoy this park as part of the tour.
https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/travis-park-plaza-san-antonio?select=F8mtsmSzaEStZ1o3Rfo8Hg
THE SETUP
In the beginning, this park was part of the original Alamo Mission under the Spanish (the upper farmlands of Mission San Antonio de Valero, today called the Alamo). The namesake of the park is William B. Travis, a 19th-century American lawyer-soldier, who at age 26, was a Lt. Colonel in the Texas Army. He died during the Battle of the Alamo.
Interestingly enough, this park also once served as a camp for Confederate soldiers, which leads into an interesting segue into the next topic...
STATUE CONTROVERSY
That statue obelisk at the park's center is actually in honor of war veterans who fought for the South during the Civil War. The 40-ft-high monument is topped with a statue of a Confederate soldier, holding a rifle in his left hand, resting it against the ground, while right hand points to the sky.
https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/travis-park-plaza-san-antonio?select=2V59Z-sVCY1npQ5NH4oJ6w
The words "Lest We Forget" are inscribed halfway down the monument, followed by "Our Confederate Dead" inscribed into the monument further down, close to the base. This resolute figure has stood, watching over the beautiful park on the northern edge of downtown San Antonio since 1900.
The statue was first unveiled on April 22 1898, and I'm sure most folk in the intervening years paid no mind about the statue, and probably - understandably so - thinking this statue was of Colonel Travis himself. "Oh were that simple impression kept", I'm sure the city fathers & mothers are thinking right now.
"REMOVE THE STATUE"
People want to remove the statue as blight in regards to the history of slavery. Former San Antonio City Council member Mario Salas said "It is time to remove the tribute to the southern rebellion." So the soldier's long-term future may be uncertain.
MAYORAL RESPONSE
However, Democrat Mayor Ivy Taylor, San Antonio's first black AND female mayor, has a different impression of the importance of a clear landscape of history. While other liberal politicians in this bastion of Texas liberty pushing to eradicate Confederate historical sites and symbols from the Lone Star State's past, Ms. Taylor retains a more sober, thoughtful, less reactionary perspective.
And interestingly enough, even as another San Antonio councilman, Alan Warrick, had communicated to Ms. Taylor recently to inventory all of the city's Confederate flags & monuments, and then decide if they should be removed, she responded back with thoughtful introspection:
"Slavery and the Civil War are part of the American legacy. For more than 200 years we've been trying to fully realize the revolutionary premise of democracy: all men are created equal," she stated. Selectively erasing pieces of our past may make it more comfortable for us but it also makes it easier for many to ignore the historic struggles of Blacks and other minorities in this country, a struggle for equality that continues today."
"It is offensive to use the rebel battle flag as a symbol of a city or state but it is also offensive to pretend that Texas was never a slave state or that racism has played no role in our history for the past 150 years."
TODAY
Notwithstanding the above controversy, the City of San Antonio's Center City Development & Operations Department (CCDO), still hosts the annual "Dinner in Travis Park" which raises funds that philanthropically further the productive development of the park.
Since it reopened in 2014, Travis Park continues to be a vibrant gathering place for residents and tourists and is award-winning urban space hosting almost 500 events a year.
ECO-FRIENDLY
Props to Travis Park for having a bicycle rental station on it's perimeter allowing visiting tourists to grab a bike and ride it throughout the city's beautiful pristine parks and areas.
https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/travis-park-plaza-san-antonio?select=mtKf_T29YS5Z99kJcPNagQ
THE LOWDOWN
A wonderful park paying tribute to both a Texas patriot and the struggle for equality of a State.