Chapter 8:
Alamodome Convention
One the edge of downtown San Antonio lies the Alamodome, a convention center holding up to 65,000 people. The dome, as people often call it, was built under Mayor Henry Cisneros, the first Latino mayor in this Latino majority city in nearly 150 years. (City politics had long been dominated by political boss Brian “King” Callaghan and his son, and later by the Good Government League of wealthy Anglos on the north side.) Intended to bribe the San Antonio Spurs from moving to a new city, the dome was also built to serve the needs of Anglo real estate developers, who have long had a stranglehold on city government. This made for a nice bit of irony that a convention designed to plan a state named after the Aztec homeland be held there.
Delegates and curious onlookers of cheering crowds flooded in. Here were old time Brown Power people now in their fifties and sixties, today mostly teachers and writers. Side by side with them were Latino establishment types, the small businessmen (mostly restaurant and bar owners), the lawyers, the up and coming YUMMies, (Young Upwardly Mobile Mexicans), and college students. Here were suburbanized Mexicans who spoke little Spanish and sounded like their Anglo friends side by side with those from the deep barrios, the small town and rural Mexicans in their cowboy boots, and people from the border cities who made their living treating the boundary as a nuisance.
There were also more than a few Anglos from San Antonio’s north side, the Anglo neighborhoods of Corpus Christi, and Anglos who had long been part of the small towns who spoke Spanish almost as well as any Mexican. Some of the Anglos made up the city’s environmental movement, hoping for a better chance under Aztlan than the ugly sinkhole, a series of developments that resemble strip malls and not neighborhoods, which make up the north side. Libertarians were there in force as well, hoping to shape the new state. Conservative Evangelical whites also showed up, fearing the worst.
The last group need not have worried. Latino establishment figures made up fully half of the delegates. To avoid a bruising convention fight and close votes at the start that could undermine confidence in the new state, there were many compromises.
The Texas Constitution is one of the worst of any state in the US. It is ridiculously long and unclear. It is in fact the longest constitution in the nation, with 467 amendments. (No, that is not a typo. 467.) Much of the constitution actually repeats itself. It is also the sixth constitution the state has had, and the second most restrictive one in the nation, after South Carolina’s. The state constitution strictly forbids the state government from doing anything not explicitly granted the right to do. Thus there is the need for literally hundreds of amendments. Even the most minor changes in law or regulation often require a constitutional amendment. It also has large portions that are useless, such as over sixty outdated deleted sections, and large parts that contradict itself, such as demanding all office holders admit the existence of God while also barring any religious test for office.
The constitution was written after Reconstruction, designed to keep the government from being able to protect the rights of former Black slaves (and to a lesser extent, Mexicans and American Indians.) To keep government from working well, every cabinet member is elected separately, and congress only meets for 140 days every other year. The governor is actually a figurehead, with very little power. Every cabinet member is elected separately and has more power than the governor. Both George W. Bush and Rick Perry had a lot experience winning elections, but almost none actually governing. Texas is a living breathing example of how limited government does not work well at all, and that is exactly why business loves it. Texas state government cannot or will not protect the rights of just about anyone, from nonwhites to consumers to prisoners to women to religious groups. The state government doesn’t have the means, financial or logistical, or the political will. The one exception is that is the state does make lawsuits very easy, so Texas is a litigation happy state. Suing is one of the few ways the average Texan can seek justice.
The new state constitution for Aztlan was a model of clarity and brevity, light years away from the Texas Constitution. Simplicity was the watchword so as to get the support of voters. There was to be only one legislature, not two houses. Nebraska’s unicameral legislature has always worked as well as any state with two houses. The congress was also to be small, to save on expenses, only twelve members. The governor would have as much power as in most states or as a US president, including appointing his own cabinet, pardons, vetoes, and even a vote in congress in the event of tie votes.
Since Anglos would make up perhaps one sixth of the population, there would likely be two largely Anglo districts, one in San Antonio and one for in and around Corpus Christi. Blacks made up less than a few percent of the state (mostly in San Antonio’s east side), and Asians the same (mostly scattered across San Antonio’s north side, except for Filipinos who lived among the Mexican neighborhoods) so no districts for them were possible. The state as a whole was much more likely to vote Democratic by a four to one margin. Only the Anglo districts had any chance of Republican congressmen. They would face some stiff competition from not only the Democrats, but from Greens and Libertarians. One of the first rules all parties agreed on was allowing combined tickets, which in the Anglo districts would wind up being a contest of Democratic-Green vs. Libertarian-Republican. On a national level, the state would get four congressmen, two senators (usually Democrats and usually working class liberals, like most Mexicans). The only chance Republicans had for garnering Mexican voters were on the abortion issue, and even on that more than half of all Mexican Catholics in the US don’t follow or believe in Catholic Church teaching on abortion. The more likely hope for Republicans was among the Mexican population’s growing Evangelicals.
The final lure for voters to vote for the new constitution and statehood was a series of guaranteed rights. The US Bill of Rights was enforced by Aztlan’s constitution. Added to this were guarantees of the right to vote, in a strong rebuke of Republican efforts to keep as many Blacks, Latinos, and poor whites as possible from voting using voter ID laws, on the phony pretext of nonexistent voter fraud and race baiting claims that “criminals” (code word for people who aren’t white) might vote.
The constitution also guaranteed rights to food, shelter, and healthcare, making it quite clear that Aztlanistas thought of themselves as their brother’s keeper, following good Catholic principle. This meant the state was committed to helping the poor. A right to privacy was included, strongly implying that abortion would be protected. Finally the right to language was included, putting an end to cases of employers firing workers for speaking Spanish and encouraging both English and Spanish to be taught at a young age to all children, Anglos, Mexicans, and others. Guerrero even insisted upon guarantees for the new state’s tiny American Indian tribes, the Kickapoo in Eagle Pass and an unrecognized group, the Lipan Apache, plus scattered urban Cherokees.
The issue of where to have the new capital was one where Guerrero’s genius showed itself again. Clearly San Antonio would be the new capital, as the largest city and a forward capital. The capital building itself, where the legislature would meet? No less than the Alamo itself!
The Alamo, and the battle there that made the site so famous, have long been white supremacy symbols pretending to be symbols of freedom. “Freedom,” for those who hold up the “heroes” of the battle as worthy of admiring, apparently means stealing land from brown skinned people and refusing to follow their laws. The revolt was led by men who were horrified at having to live in a nation of mixed race Indians, with a government that had already outlawed slavery nearly half a century before the US and even had a mixedblood Black-Indian President of Mexico, Vicente Guerrero.
John Wayne was the best known example of the Alamo’s admirers, a self- described white supremacist who produced, directed, starred in, and even partly financed the notoriously inaccurate far right wing screed of a film. The film shows Mexicans as little but face
less evil, and was little but a platform for Wayne’s views.
But Wayne was far from the first to rewrite history and ignore facts that didn’t suit him. The Alamo has long been run by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas (DRT). Membership is limited to descendants of the terrorist insurgency against Mexico, and some of the small number of Tejano descendants who took part first complained of falsehoods in the story being presented to the public, and then broke with the Anglo leaders in disgust. Probably the worst racism in what the DRT presents to the public is the obscene cenotaph in front of the Alamo, a memorial to the insurgents. Not content with glorifying an uprising by racists to give America another slave state, the monument adds Anglos who were not even part of the battle, and excludes Tejanos who were.
On top of that, the grounds in front of the Alamo are an American Indian grave yard, a Catholic cemetery from the time the Alamo was a mission to convert the Coahuilteca Indians. The city finally agreed to no longer allow traffic to drive over the graveyard. The DRT has kept its incompetent control over the Alamo mostly because the state of Texas likes the fact that the site doesn’t cost the state any money to maintain.
Others have recognized how the Alamo’s symbolism is important enough to be challenged. PBS journalist Jim Lehrer wrote the novel Viva Max about a Mexican army unit’s attempt to take back the mission, mocking Texan pretensions about the battle site. It was made into a Hollywood comedy in 1969, and the DRT, unable to handle criticism, tried to shut it down by protesting filming on site. Communist Party members ran a hammer and sickle flag up the Alamo in 1980. One of the members was murdered later, and other members allege it was retaliation. The Ku Klux Klan then vowed to “stand guard” to prevent any “takeover” by like-minded people.
Guerrero knew exactly why he wanted to see the Alamo as the capital for Aztlan. What a message that would send to white racists and those with fantasy images of Texas. Mexicans of a breakaway state, holding their congress inside the Alamo! A symbol of white supremacy transformed into a symbol of Latino triumph over that white supremacy.
It would certainly be a great improvement to see the Alamo become a congressional hall, instead of what it currently was, tourist schlock inside a badly maintained old building. Tourists typically see the Alamo for the first time and are stunned to see it across from Rivercenter Mall, with Walgreen’s across the street. “That’s it?!” They were expecting it to be out on the open plains they’d seen on film.
But to instead see Aztlan state police guarding the Alamo, and people coming into a small visitor’s area to watch the dozen congressmen passing laws. What a different message that sends. Mexican-American self-rule, self-sufficiency, and self-realization after a century and a half of alienation within their own homeland, and until the civil rights movement, lorded over by racist Anglos, fearful of indigenous Mexicans.
The final issue, one which Guerrero and the old time activists had to give way on, was the name of the state. Many worried naming a state after the Aztec homeland and a potent symbol of Latino nationalism was too divisive. It was too easy for the ignorant and the racist to portray the state as somehow itself racist. Guerrero correctly pointed out this would happen no matter what they did, much like lies from the likes of Glen Beck or Bill O’Reilly that MECHA was somehow “racist” even though it is a middle of the road civil rights group with membership open to anyone.
For the younger generations, Aztlan wasn’t necessarily that much of a symbol anyway. It mostly was one for baby boomers, those who came of age in the 60s and 70s who once called themselves Chicanos. And finally complicating the matter was the fact that Texas may not have been Aztlan anyway. Modern scholarship points towards the Mexican states of Sonora or Sinaloa as more likely candidates.
The debate became what to name the state instead. South Texas was long what most people called the region anyway. But to name a state breaking away from Texas while including Texas in the name seemed hypocritical. Others suggested Tejas, but that would have been too confusing. No doubt many Anglos would mispronounce it “Tedge- us” instead of “Teh-has.” Some even suggested returning the name to Coahuila y Tejas. But there you had the same problem with pronunciation, and with ignorant racists who felt easily threatened by a name in Spanish.
Finally the convention settled on the most neutral name they could find, one named after geography. Rio Grande would be the state’s new name, named after the river which many Anglos incorrectly call the “Rio Grande River.” A geographic feature neutralized all the ludicrous claims of racism. The matter of what to call residents of the state was complicated. No doubt many Anglos would insist on being called Rio Grandians. No doubt many Latinos would insist on Rio Granderos or Rio Grandistas. And no doubt some of the old time militants will still insist on being called Aztlanistas. The convention decided to leave such a matter to a future legislature.
Only three weeks later, in an election held quickly to still capitalize on the euphoria following Guerrero capturing his kidnappers and the secession resolution being defeated, the voters approved the new constitution by a huge margin, 74% in favor to 26% opposed. And this never would have been possible if Rick Perry had not put his foot in his mouth, and then stubbornly not admitted he was wrong. Thank you, Rick Perry!
One ominous sign, though, was that Anglos had voted against statehood by a margin of two to one. Guerrero and the other Aztlan Now people knew they would have to move cautiously to avoid stirring up any fear among these conservative whites, who could easily move to the suburbs in Comal and Kendall Counties. One of the first solutions passed, though, was punitive. Rio Grande set up toll booths to tax those coming in from outside the new state, hoping the expense would encourage them to move back to San Antonio.
Guerrero now turned his attention to the new statehood movements elsewhere…
And Obama and progressive Democrats, minus the Blue Dogs, saw an opportunity in the healthcare debate. With four new states, with reliably Democratic voters, would bring eight US senators and break any Republican attempt to filibuster.
Privately, Obama and congressional Democrats must have wondered if they too should thank Rick Perry.