"Swinging On An Old Vine" a San Antonio Travel Page by nomorewars

I visited San Antonio for the first time today, not for the highly commercialized tourist attractions – like the Alamo and Sea World – but for my never-ending quest to expand my humanity. Since becoming a resident of Texas, back in 2003, I could not help but to be drawn to San Antonio like a devious child to a cookie jar; as it is here where he or she finds delight. In regards to my personal quest, however, the goal was not self-indulgence or hedonism: it was for personal growth.

For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated with the American Civil Rights Movement – a long, primarily nonviolent struggle to bring full civil rights and equality under U.S. law to all Americans – and, although there were movements in some of the larger cities of Texas – like Houston, Austin, and Dallas – the movement, for the most part, failed to catch aflame in the state.

There were many variables in play which led to so much inactivity in the state; one of those, sadly, was not due to a lack of social conflict between white and black Texans alike as – the pages of history clearly shows – strife clearly exited amongst them in the state. (There is also a history of tolerance and unity as well.)

Unlike in other U.S. states, the presence of Mexican Americans in Texas has always been represented in large numbers; they have a long history of being the preferred choice of toilers in the state – they have always been thought of as people who would work, willingly, for meager wages, under any condition, and normally without unionization. (At the beginning of their history as workers in the state, Mexicans, generally speaking, held great contempt and distrust for unions.)

During errors of prosperity, the Anglo and African – American worker paid little attention to the development and/or status of their Mexican counterparts; but during moments of economic decline, Mexicans became their common enemy, a perceived source of “foreign” competition, and were the targets of unwarranted aggression. (Germans and Czechs were also the recipients of violence.)

In the United States, during the height of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, equality was affixed or assigned to the struggle of African Americans. Unlike its southern counterparts, the struggle for equality encompassed many races of people: African Americans, a race of people who were most frequently victimized by the use of physical violence as a means of intimidation; Mexican Americans, a race of people who experienced the vast majority of their persecution in the fields and factories of the state; and lower – classed whites, a race of people who were used to batter and bruise their African-American and Hispanic counterparts – all of whom had more in common with their plight than the wealthy men and women who possessed the same color of skin.

The troubles of these three groups of oppressed people failed to unite and become one plight; this directly contributed to the lack of fanfare for the Civil Rights Movement in Texas. And instead of vying for equality on an organized front, these groups competed against one another and, ultimately, hindered progress.

Although the movement failed to catch fire in the State of Texas as a whole, it did manage to take shape in San Antonio – but not to the same extent as it did in Birmingham, Atlanta, and other southern U.S. cities. My Monday’s meander through San Antonio will mainly focus on the events that took place in the city, but it will also cover some other areas as well: German – American history, literature, and the so called political left.

Come with me: let’s take a look at a side of a city written so little about!