Page 12
March 28, 2018
MCS Still in
Business
O PINION
Martin
Cleaning
Service
Carpet & Upholstery
Cleaning
Residential &
Commercial Services
Minimum Service CHG.
$50.00
A small distance/travel
charge may be applied
CARPET CLEANING
2 Cleaning Areas or more
$30.00 each Area
Pre-Spray Traffic Areas
(Includes: 1 small Hallway)
1 Cleaning Area (only)
$50.00
Includes Pre-Spray Traffic Area
and Hallway
Stairs (12-16 stairs - With
Other Services) : $30.00
Heavily Soiled Area:
$10.00 each area
(Requiring Pre-Spray)
Area/Oriental Rug Cleaning
Regular Area Rugs
$25.00 Minimum
Wool Oriental Rugs
$40.00 Minimum
UPHOLSTERY
CLEANING
Sofa: $70.00
Loveseat: $50.00
Sectional: $110 - $140
Chair or Recliner:
$25.00 - $50.00
Throw Pillows (With
Other Services) : $5.00
ADDITIONAL
SERVICES
• Auto/Boat/RV Cleaning
• Deodorizing & Pet
Odor Treatment
• Spot & Stain
Removal Service
• Scotchguard Protection
• Minor Water Damage
Services
Call for Appointment
(503) 281-3949
Remember the Truth about the Alamo
Correcting a
distorted history
o sCar h. b layton
Like a million other
kids in America with
their eyes glued to black
and white television, I
sat watching Walt Dis-
ney’s version of the
Battle of the Alamo on
a Saturday evening in February
1955.
What we saw was the popular
actor Fess Parker portraying a
heroic Davy Crockett on the ram-
parts of the famous old Spanish
mission battling Mexican sol-
diers in the defense of freedom.
What I did not know at the
time was that the history sur-
rounding this battle, and the role
of Americans in the early history
of the Mexican republic, was be-
ing extremely distorted.
Walt Disney never told us that
slavery was the reason for the
battle and the ultimate creation of
the Republic of Texas, which lat-
er became the state of Texas.
On September 16, 1829, the
Afro-Mexican president of Mex-
ico, Vicente Guerrero, signed a
decree outlawing slavery in that
nation at a time when the south-
ern United States was deeply in
by
thrall to slave labor.
While most of Mexico wel-
comed the emancipation de-
cree, its northern region, known
as “Texas,” was largely
populated with Ameri-
can Southerners who had
moved west in search of
more fertile land where
their slaves could produce
cotton.
To accommodate the
“Texican” slaveholders, Texas
was exempted from the decree
for one year. But after the peri-
od of exemption ended in 1830,
the Texicans refused to free their
slaves and the Mexican govern-
ment demanded that they comply
with the law or face military in-
tervention.
While military intervention
did not occur for another six
years, several violent conflicts
broke out in the interim between
Texicans and the Mexican gov-
ernment, some escalating to the
use of arms.
Finally, in 1836 Gen. Anto-
nio López de Santa Anna led an
army north from Mexico City to
put down what had grown to be
a Texas insurrection and freeing
slaves along the way.
Determined to resist Mexi-
co’s intention to free their slaves,
Davy Crocket and roughly 200
other Texicans gathered at the Al-
amo in San Antonio to block San-
ta Anna’s advancing army. Santa
Anna laid siege to the Alamo, and
after 13 days, it fell.
While the “heroes” of the
Alamo were under siege in San
Antonio, Sam Houston and oth-
er Texicans were less than 200
miles away drafting a constitu-
tion for the hoped-for indepen-
dent Republic of Texas. That
constitution contained the fol-
lowing guarantees that chattel
slavery would be protected in
Texas:
“…[N]or shall Congress have
power to emancipate slaves; nor
shall any slave-holder be allowed
to emancipate his or her slave or
slaves, without the consent of
Congress...”
The Texas constitution estab-
lished additional racist policies
by stating:
“No free person of African de-
scent, either in whole or in part,
shall be permitted to reside per-
manently in the Republic, with-
out the consent of Congress...”
Weeks after their defeat at the
Alamo, the slaveholding Texi-
cans got what they wanted when
they defeated Gen. Santa Anna
at the Battle of San Jacinto and
forced him, as a prisoner, to sign
the Treaty of Velasco. That treaty
recognized Texas as a republic,
independent of Mexico, but it
also stated in part:
“[A]ll private property includ-
ing… negro slaves… that may
have been captured by … the
Mexican army or may have taken
refuge in the said army … shall
be restored to the Commander of
the Texican army…”
The Mexican government re-
fused to recognize the Treaty of
Velasco and consequently did not
return any slaves. But Texas con-
tinued as a slaveholding republic
and later as one of the slavehold-
ing states of the United States.
Twenty-five years after the
Battle of the Alamo, Texas, along
with 10 other slaveholding states,
tried to revolt against the United
States as it had with Mexico.
Today, whenever we hear cries
of “Remember the Alamo,” we
should ignore Disney’s false im-
age of Davy Crockett bravely
wielding his musket as a club in
defense of freedom while being
swarmed by Santa Anna’s troops.
Instead, we should remember that
Crockett and those by his side
were fighting in defense of slav-
ery, not freedom.
Oscar H. Blayton is a former
Marine Corps combat pilot and
human rights activist who practic-
es law in Virginia.