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Commemorate Texas’ Sole World Heritage Site: A Unique Celebration!

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2023-08-22

Participate in the 8th Annual World Heritage Festival, taking place from September 6th to 10th, 2023, hosted by the City of San Antonio World Heritage Office. This yearly event brings together communities to honor and raise awareness about the San Antonio Missions, an esteemed UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Also celebrate the 4th annual Music and Movie Under the Stars, September 8th, a heartfelt homage to San Antonio’s identity as Military City, USA, presented by the World Heritage Office and the Military Veterans Affairs Department. Embrace our community’s heritage through great food, captivating music, and festivities for the whole family. Engage with military historians and veterans as they share insights into our city’s profound military history. Revel in family-friendly amusements, live entertainment, surprise vendors, and an array of food trucks.

Excited about joining the Tour de las Misiones this year, but lacking a bike? Worry not! San Antonio BCycle has your back. Registered participants can enjoy a complimentary BCycle rental for the event. Just send an email to sanantonio@bcycle.com along with your registration proof to receive a promo code.

Don’t miss out on Tour de Las Misiones registration, now open. Secure your spot by August 21st to guarantee a special bib, finisher’s medal, T-shirt, and a souvenir passport for exploring the Missions. Explore volunteer opportunities as well—find more details at WorldHeritageFestival.org.

Round up your loved ones and become a part of the celebration that highlights San Antonio’s distinctive history and culture. Register now!

Mark your calendar with the World Heritage Festival event schedule:

– Sept. 6: Nopal y Tu | Mission San Juan

– Sept. 7: Texas’ Oldest Grist Mill Tour | Mission San Jose

– Sept. 7: The Many Lives of the Alamo Long Barrack | The Alamo

– Sept. 8: River to Farm Hike | Mission San Juan

– Sept. 8: Music and Movie Under the Stars | Mission Marquee Plaza

– Sept. 9: Tour de Las Misiones | Mission Park Pavilion

– Sept. 9: Junior Ranger Day | Mission San Juan

– Sept. 10: El Camino de San Antonio: Caring for Creation Mass and Walk | Mission Espada

– Sept. 10: Rancho de las Cabras Tour | Rancho de las Cabras

Find further information at WorldHeritageFestival.org.

To stay up to date on all information or for any questions you may call 210-207-2111 or visit the World Heritage Festival Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/worldheritagefestival.

Rev. Claude Black Born at Home, Not Allowed in White Hospital

Mario Salas

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2023-08-22

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Eastside: Steeped in Medical History

The major San Antonio hospitals served only whites or had a “Colored Clinic” physically separated from the rest of the hospital during segregation. The current Veterans Outreach Center of St. Philips College was originally the Good Samaritan, a Black segregated medical facility. The original structure was Corinth Baptist Church in 1915. Eventually, well-known Black contractor W. C. White added a second story. In 1948, with the help of Corinth Baptist Church and others, the structure became a hospital for Black people. Two women who were hospital workers originally proposed the hospital; Rachel Starr was a registered nurse and Genevieve Troutman a hospital technician.

According to a 1948 San Antonio Light Newspaper article, “’Mrs. Starr said that for years she felt a deep sympathy for the city’s Negroes (Blacks) in their need of a hospital. Negro surgeons never have been allowed to operate in white hospitals.” The Good Samaritan Hospital allowed for the members of the surrounding community to have easier access to health care. Once completed, the Good Samaritan Hospital began servicing the needs of the community. During this period, Black people predominately populated the area. Paradoxically, slave owner Samuel Augustus Maverick (1803-1870) originally owned some of the area. Maverick was part of the racialized leadership in San Antonio and a supporter of white supremacy and a pro-slavery group known as the Knights of the Golden Circle (KGC). Unlike his later liberal relatives, Samuel Augustus Maverick was a signer of the Texas Constitution of 1836, which enshrined slavery. In fact, Samuel Augustus Maverick owned seven slaves just before coming to Texas in 1837. Contrary to some beliefs, San Antonio was as segregated as any other southern city.

In 1925, at 716 Sherman Street, a small health care clinic operated by Mrs. Jemima Elizabeth Lee, provided some medical services. The Reverend Claude Black, born in San Antonio in 1916, remembered that he was born at home because blacks could not go to white hospitals. Charles Bellinger, the African-American political leader, donated substantial funds to Santa Rosa Hospital, to accommodate the needs of the “colored T. B. patients” Discriminatory practices created a dilemma in health care for many African-Americans. Some of the more common health problems, left untreated, were due to substandard care under the racist San Antonio city segregation laws.

Addressing the need for health care were Black physicians Dr. Charles A. Whittier and Dr. Madison Preacher. In 1931, Dr. Whittier founded the Whittier Clinic on the East Side to help service the health needs of the black community. These doctors, the clinic, and the Black hospital provided medical training not available in a white supremacist San Antonio. Also, during the days of Jim Crow, the Volunteer Health League founded by G. J. Sutton, organized to raise funds for tuberculosis patients who could only obtain treatment in Kerrville, Texas.

I was quoted in an article making the point that, “One of things we really wanted to do was the Good Samaritan Hospital. This was originally an African-American hospital when the hospitals in San Antonio were segregated.” At one point, the building became a women’s dormitory for St. Philips College and dances often took place there in later years. In December of 2011, the San Antonio City Council approved collaboration with the Alamo Community College District and St. Philip’s College to renovate the former hospital into a veteran’s outreach center. The Good Samaritan Veteran’s Outreach and Transition Center provides free services to all active duty, retired, veteran’s, their families, and the community in the San Antonio Area.

Blue Beetle Smashes Barbie Debut, Shows Resilience of the Mexican Culture’s Familial Values

Connor Wiley

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2023-08-22

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“Only Family Lasts Forever…”: Blue Beetle Hits Theaters as a Beacon to The Resilience of Familial Love

By: Connor Wiley

DC’s new superhero movie “Blue Beetle” made its way to theaters this past weekend, and it has so far been met with mixed reviews.

The film has plenty of charm, but ultimately falls into a pattern of predictability and winds up feeling a bit contrived at times. Despite all this though, the shining light throughout “Blue Beetle” is its attention toward the value of family and the strength that we draw from those we love.

Unlike most superhero movies, where the protagonist hides their crime-stopping double life from their family, “Blue Beetle” deliberately diverts from this trope by inviting the family into the story. From the moment that our protagonist Jaime Reyes gets his superpowers, his parents, sister, uncle, and grandmother are all there by his side, with him through the entire experience, for better or for worse. This generates some obviously hilarious scenes, but it also provides an honest portrayal of what it means to fight for family, and the lengths that we go to protect the people we care about.

“Blue Beetle” also distinguishes itself by portraying a Mexican American hero, and by featuring a predominantly Latino cast and crew. The film’s director, Ángel Manuel Soto, is Puerto Rican, and the primary members of the cast, including Xolo Maridueña, Adriana Barraza, and George Lopez, are of Mexican descent. George Lopez plays the lovable and eccentric Uncle Rudy, and, naturally, brings some of the most life and authenticity to the movie.

Another strength of “Blue Beetle” lies in its appreciation for Mexican pop culture history and in the homage that it pays to various elements of Mexican culture. References to TV shows like “Maria la del Barrio” and “El Chapulín Colorado” are elegantly sprinkled into “Blue Beetle’s” plot, and playfully demonstrate the admiration and appreciation it has for its predecessors. The film’s diegesis is built around these cultural callbacks, so they come across as genuine and authentic rather than heavy-handed or forced.

Despite a bit of a predictable storyline which adheres to some slightly worn-out themes, “Blue Beetle” efficaciously stands out as being a movie about the importance of family, emphatically boasting that one’s strength as an individual comes from those who love them. More than a superhero movie, really, “Blue Beetle” is about the resilience of family and the courage that can be accessed through familial bonds. If you’re looking for a straightforward action movie with a powerful, grounded message, and you don’t mind a moderately cliched plot, look no further than “Blue Beetle.”

Connor Wiley is a recent graduate of Southwestern University where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Film. Some of his passions include TV, film, music and all things pop culture.

‘You’re Black, So You Have Rights?’: Karen Goes On Racist Rant After Black Neighbor Complains About Dog

News
Racism

Observer Staff

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2023-08-15

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Upsetting a white person while Black can be as simple as telling them what they can and can’t do. Even the recent brawl in Montgomery, when it comes down to it, began when a Black man told a group of white people that they needed to move their boat. Now, a Black person asserting their authority doesn’t always result in physical violence, but white folks—particularly those who constantly assert their non-authority while minding Black people’s business—will ultimately reveal their racial resentment when they are challenged in any way by Black folks.

Take for example a recent video that reportedly took place in North Carolina showing a confrontation between a Black woman and her white neighbor whose dog apparently got loose and wandered into the Black woman’s garage.

And this was her reaction. Twitter I promise you ain’t gotta do your thing cause…..

But I also filed charges. https://t.co/rGEavPBVAW pic.twitter.com/l45Kj8HiDb
— wanderlust (@_ItsMissBre) August 6, 2023

The Black woman who goes by BreYonna (or Bre) on Twitter can be heard assertively (or what white people call “aggressively” when Black people do it) saying to her neighbor, “OK, you gotta get your dog. You gotta put your dog on a leash. You gotta keep your dog out of my yard.”

The neighbor apologized in a tone that made it clear she didn’t think it was a big deal, to which Bre explained that this wasn’t the first time it happened. The neighbor then told Bre that “she doesn’t have to get rowdy,” which already sounds like she was trying to frame Bre as an “angry Black woman” for getting frustrated over something neighbors commonly get frustrated about.

Suddenly, the white woman can be heard screaming, “Get off my property!”

“I’m not on your property, and I never was,” Bre said. “You look crazy. You look like you’ve lost your mind.”

“I will show you crazy,” the woman responded, though it soon became clear that what she meant was, “I’ll show you racist!”

“Whatever. What are you Black? You’re Black so you have rights?” the unhinged white woman who appears to have just then remembered that Jim Crow ended decades ago.

Family members of the neighbor tried to get her to chill out, presumably because her Klan robe slip was showing, but Bre wanted to let Karen go on ahead and hang herself (so to speak).

“No. No. No. Let her say what she has to say. I haven’t stepped over my property line, but I will make sure everybody knows you’re a racist,” Bre said.

“Yeah, you are a racist,” KK-Karen says. “You just think that you’re Black so you’re up in my face, yeah. Oh, she’s Black, you guys. Be scared. Run. I don’t give a flying f**k if you’re purple.”

Now, normally, when a white person flies off into an “I don’t care if you’re Black, white, green or purple” rant it’s only after they’ve been accused of racism. In this case, the white woman is literally the first person to mention race, then she appears to accuse the Black woman of being “racist” just for being “up in my face” while being Black.

I don’t think I’m going too far out on a limb (again, so to speak) when I say her resentment of Black people clearly precedes this incident. She’s clearly projecting here. Just because she’s afraid of Black people doesn’t mean Black people are intentionally weaponizing their Blackness to cause white people to “be scared.”

In fact, this whole episode is eerily similar to the time a Black man told a white woman to leash her dog, and “Central Park Karen” responded by threatening to tell the police “there’s an African American man threatening my life” with a clear emphasis on “African American.”

Maybe some white people are just racist.

By: Zack Linly

The Historic Cameo Theater

Mario Salas

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2023-08-02

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The historic Cameo Theater, located at 1123 E. Commerce, originally served as one of several segregated film facilities for Black people in San Antonio. A historic marker is now at the site. The theater was built in 1940, but the Leon, the Ritz, and the Keyhole theatres preceded the Cameo at the corner of Iowa and Pine Streets. The Cameo was a focal point for the latest Black films by Black producers and writers. In the early years, performers such as Fats Domino, B.B. King, and Louis Armstrong played at the Cameo. Other performing musicians, who stayed at the Deluxe Hotel across the street, may have visited the Cameo and included Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and Lionel Hampton. This area was a hub of black businesses that served the community because of segregation.

Early history that influenced the building of the Cameo included D.W. Griffith’s racist film, Birth of a Nation (1915) which electrified Black civil rights activists and aspiring Black cinematographers. The film served as a catalyst for white supremacists across the country. The film was an anti-Reconstruction disgusting fairy-tale that cast Black people in racist stereotypical roles while the Ku Klux Klan was presented as the “great white hope.” Its main attempt was to deny giving Black people equal rights. The film was widely protested by the Black community. However, Birth of a Nation sparked other responses as well, including efforts by Emmett J. Scott to produce Birth of a Race (1918), a production envisioned as a straightforward retort to Griffith’s racist film. Many of the Black films generated sought to create positive and truthful images of Black life and to demonstrate the ignorance of racialized thought. These events sparked the building of Black movie houses in San Antonio.

The Cameo was in the economic Black section of San Antonio at the time and in the area known as St. Paul Square (Sunset Station) extending to the edge of the central business district. In the City were the Alamo is supposed to be the “Cradle of Liberty” all of the downtown. restaurants, such as Joske’s, Kress, and Woolworth, were segregated. During its time, the theatre was in walking distance from the Black community. Residents from the East Terrace Housing Projects, the Wheatley Courts, and black middle-class residents from the Denver Heights area, could be seen trekking or riding up East Commerce to see a film produced by Black film makers. Black residents from the Sutton Homes and the Carson Homes also attended the theatre, while Blacks from the West and North Sides often rode the bus to get to the area. Films in the 1960s were divided into two parts at the Cameo, and during the intermission people would be entertained with the recordings of the latest Black music such as Booker T. and the MGs and others. These films, which were once called “Race films,” were the tags applied to Black films between 1910 and 1950.

Films shown at the Cameo were the result of the pioneer works of Black film producers. Leading the way in Black film production was Bill Foster (1884), founder of the first known Black motion picture company in 1910. Others included Noble Johnson who developed the Lincoln Motion Picture Company in 1916, Oscar Micheaux who created the Micheaux Film Company in 1918, and Spencer Williams (1893–1969), who made the most well-liked “race movie” ever released, Blood of Jesus (1941), which was produced in Texas and shown at the Cameo. These films attempted to counteract white supremacist propaganda and segregation.

House Bill 3979- An Example Of Texas “Not Wanting to Be Black”

Guest

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2023-05-09

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To be seen and not learned, “Everyone wants to be black but no one wants to be black”

Op-By: Melissa S. Thomas, Graduate Student of Social Work at Our Lady of the Lake University, Social Policy Class.

There is a phrase that has been floating around the Black community for a little while now that came from a long-tenured comedian. The phrase goes “Everybody wants to be Black, but no one wants to be Black.” That it is fine to take on African American culture, the dancing, the music, the bravado, but we can deal without all the negativity and history that is the foundation of what it is. The passing of House Bill 3979 is an example of Texas “not wanting to be Black.” It is destroying the education that our children need to aid in the understanding of what it means to be Black. They are taking our history and removing it from the books making us in existence, a historical literary holocaust. According to a 2020 article from the National School Board Association:

“In 2018, 90% of Black students had home internet access. However, this percentage was lower than their peers who were Asian (98%) and white (96%). Among Black 3- to 18-year-olds, 11% had home internet access only through a smartphone, compared with only 2% among Asian and 3% among white students. Among Black students without home internet access, 39% said that it was because the internet was too expensive, suggesting that their families could not afford it. This percentage for Black students was much higher than that for White students.” (Cai, 2020)

If this law continues to have life, how will many of our students learn about their history if they can’t afford to do it at home and the free public school system denies them access? The problem is that the public and our lawmakers keep trying to see things in black and white, to include the people, to see the education of our students on African American topics as a “woke” movement and not a celebration of perseverance and accomplishments.

Though it is a national holiday now, why don’t we celebrate Juneteenth like we celebrate the 4th of July? Why don’t we learn about Benjamin Banneker the same way we learn about Benjamin Franklin? We omit some of the ideas of Abraham Lincoln and how he felt about African Americans but treat Fred Hampton as a terrorist when he was advocating for African Americans to stand up for themselves. The school system has hidden or altered the history of African Americans for so long, now they want to outright get rid of it. When is enough, enough? African Americans have spent the better part of 500 years being tortured, maimed, crippled, and separated from our people. We created new people and embraced a country that didn’t want us here but didn’t want to see us go. Now they have invented new ways to continue the same old practices of torture, maiming, crippling, and separation and it is being done through the removal of our history where it would hurt the most, with the children. It is time for us to move as a people and as a society to ensure that the facts of who we are and what we have been through are told. In Texas that starts now with the removal of the law that is House Bill 3979.