Posted by Frank James at 10:55 am CDT
I just happened to catch part of an interview this morning on C-Span with John O’Sullivan, the editor-at-large for National Review who was discussing illegal immigration.
I don’t have a transcript of O’Sullivan’s exact comments so I’ll need to paraphrase. Borrowing Abraham Lincoln’s phrase, O’Sullivan talked of the “mystic chords of memory” Americans share and suggested that illegal immigrants create discord since they don’t share the same history and culture.
He makes the same argument in a piece he wrote for the April 24, 2006 edition of the magazine, in which he essentially seems to be saying that Catholic bishops should butt out of the immigration debate.
Back to C-Span. O’Sullivan specifically cited the Battle of the Alamo, saying that while “Remember the Alamo,” has a specific meaning to Americans, illegal Mexican immigrants whose allegiances are split between the U.S. and Mexico might have a more mixed view.
His point seems logical, that Mexicans are likely to view the Alamo, part of Texas’s larger struggle for independence from Mexico, differently than many Americans who place those killed at the Alamo in the American pantheon of heroes.
But history isn’t always as tidy as we’d like. Here’s a passage from Britannica.com’s article on Texas history:
The famous siege of the Alamo in San Antonio lasted from February 23 to March 6, 1836. The strategic objective of the stand was to delay Mexican forces and thereby permit military organization of the Texas settlers. As the battle climaxed with a massive attack over the walls, the defenders (about 183) were all killed. Among the dead were the famous frontiersmen Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett. On April 21 Sam Houston led a surprise attack on the Mexican troops at the San Jacinto River, where he succeeded in capturing Santa Anna and in securing victory for the Texans.
The Texan revolution was not simply a fight between the Anglo-American settlers and Mexican troops; it was a revolution of the people who were living in Texas against what many of them regarded as tyrannical rule from a distant source. Many of the leaders in the revolution and many of the armed settlers who took part were Mexicans.
So maybe some Mexicans do hear those “mystic chords of memory” after all.
Comments
If memory serves, Bowie had renounced his American citizenship and become a Mexican to boot. Talk about messy!
Posted by: Dan | April 12, 2006 3:33 PM
Actually ALL the settlers that had moved to the Mexican province known as Texas were INVITED just as long as they denounce US citizenship, became Roman Catholic & abided by the laws of Mexico not the US. That was asking too much of them, so they decided they want to declare independence all of a sudden & of course the US would back them up because that means more LAND! It's like inviting a friend to live with you who all of sudden turns your home into a hell house where YOU are treated as the guest who's no longer wanted. The Mexicans were right the Texans were in the wrong.
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