AT A GLANCE
- The Alamo’s X account sparked controversy on October 14 after posting about Indigenous Peoples’ Day, prompting backlash and an investigation from Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham.
- Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick renewed his call to fire Alamo Trust CEO Kate Rogers, accusing her of “downplaying” the 1836 Battle of the Alamo, despite his own history of promoting a politically skewed narrative.
- Historian Mario Salas has detailed Kate Rogers’ alleged racism and efforts to push a whitewashed version of Alamo history while dismissing evidence of slavery.
- Former Mayor Ron Nirenberg defended Rogers as a “fact-focused leader,” a stance many found tone-deaf amid ongoing controversy over her leadership.
The Former Mayor’s Defense of Alamo Trust CEO Misses the Mark in a Battle Where No One’s Right
This story has been updated at 11:42 A.M. to include County Judge Peter Sakai’s statement on Kate Rogers’ Alamo Trust departure.
It started with a post and ended with a departure.
On October 14, The Alamo’s official X (formerly Twitter) account shared a message recognizing Indigenous Peoples’ Day. A moment meant to honor Native contributions and histories. Instead, it sparked a political meltdown.
Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham slammed the Alamo Trust, which operates under the state’s General Land Office (GLO), calling the post “unacceptable.” In her response, Buckingham said her office was now “investigating how the Alamo Trust reviews and approves content” and would implement new oversight to ensure the GLO had final say on all official communications.
Earlier this week, the Alamo Trust Board apologized, issuing a statement defending its work, saying there are “no plans to make significant changes” to its upcoming Alamo Visitor Center and Museum, slated for completion in 2027, and reaffirming its commitment to “telling the entire story of the Alamo area,” including Indigenous and Tejano narratives.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick seized on this controversy, as he’s been calling for the resignation of Dr. Kate Rogers, the organization’s President and CEO, since 2023. Patrick argues Rogers’ doctoral dissertation “downplays” the 1836 Battle of the Alamo and promotes a revisionist agenda, an agenda that’s somehow even more historically false than Rogers’.
County Judge Peter Sakai released a statement on her departure:
“This is a gross political interference. The next thing you know, they will be denying Japanese internment. We need to get politics out of our teaching of history. Period.”
The irony is, the Alamo Trust actually got it right this time. Recognizing Indigenous Peoples’ Day isn’t the issue, it’s long overdue acknowledgment. But for some on the Alamo Trust Board, this dustup only cracked open a much deeper problem that’s been festering for years: a “whitewashed version” of the Alamo and the treatment of Black board members and staff under Kate Rogers’ leadership.
In 2023 UTSA Professor, Historian, SA Observer Columnist, and former city councilman Mario Salas, detailed multiple complaints against Rogers. He wrote that she had “bullied members into accepting lies about the Alamo defenders” and “disregarded primary source documentation” on slavery’s role in early Texas.
Salas recounted a disturbing encounter in which Rogers allegedly screamed at a Black board member who referenced that Alamo defenders owned enslaved people, calling the factual statement “just an opinion.” He said this pattern reflected a broader effort to intimidate the board into accepting a “whitewashed version” of Alamo history.
“Those of us who look at history objectively, based on primary source documents, will not be pressured into accepting untruths and racist myth,” Salas wrote, describing the Alamo’s narrative as long tied to “the ideals of white supremacy and the institution of slavery.”
Former San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg stepped into the Alamo debate this week after Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick demanded that Rogers, the Alamo Trust’s CEO, resign. Nirenberg jumped to her defense on social media.
Sharing a San Antonio Express-News headline, the former mayor wrote:
This is really dumb. Kate Rogers was the right leader at the time to bring stable, fact-focused leadership to the difficult and important work of the Alamo Redevelopment Project. Don’t let any extremist Republican lecture you about cancel culture ever again.
What was meant to be a shot at Patrick’s political grandstanding, the defense of Rogers—who has her own checkered record—feels misplaced.
Nirenberg’s statement has left some scratching their heads. He positioned himself above the GOP noise yet aligned, perhaps unintentionally, with the same figures who’ve been accused of protecting a whitewashed version of Texas history.
Nirenberg isn’t the only one backing Rogers; both Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai and current San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones have also voiced support. This signals a growing list of local officials standing behind her despite pervious community concerns and complaints.
If San Antonians want a fuller picture of the Alamo, we need to start by researching and reading voices like Historian Mario Salas—people who know San Antonio history.
