To tell the full story about TITFF's fight to save the Travis Park Monument, you have to go back a few years. In 2015, far left San Antonio D1 City Councilman Roberto Trevino (yes the same jackass that is pushing to remove/move the Alamo Cenotaph) proposed that the city of San Antonio remove the Travis Park Monument, because he felt it was racist. smh At the time Mayor Ivy Turner (a woman, democrat and black mayor) was in office and she wasn't having it. Mayor Turner told Roberto Trevino that she didn't believe that removing the monument was in best interest of San Antonio, so the proposal died before Trevino could bring it up for a vote. Councilman Trevino wasn't happy, but he placed his pet project on the back burner to be brought up at a later time. The Travis Park Monument, a Confederate Monument, was the first public monument ever erected in the City of San Antonio (1896). The monument stood 40ft high, including a 8ft statue on top of a column and pedestal. Unlike many such confederate memorials, installed all over the South in the 1800's and early 1900's, the Travis Park Monument didn't commemorate a general or politician. It was a generic confederate soldier with rifle, the image in granite form. In one hand he held a rifle, the other hand pointed to the heavens. A Texas Star and a wreath was on the column and the phrase written on the monument said "Least We Forget, Our Confederate Dead". The idea of the monument was to remember all the veterans who fought in the civil war (on the confederate side). The figure was designed by Virginia Montgomery, the base was designed and built by Frank Teich) a quarry owner and sculpture. In 2017, tyrant Ron Nirenberg had been elected as the Mayor of San Antonio, not only that but far left Cruz Shaw was elected as the District 2 City Councilman. District 1 City Councilman Roberto Trevino saw this as a chance to push his proposal once again to remove the Travis Park Monument, but he knew it wasn't going to be easy. See, since the Travis Park Monument had been erected, no one had ever complained about the monument. Trevino knew he was going to need reinforcements, so he enlisted the help of the San Antonio racist organization Black Lives Matter. Trevino asked the SABLM to throw a rally calling for the removal of the monument so that he would have some fire power when he brought his proposal in front of the mayor and the city council. The SABLM & SATX4 (another racist organization) held a protest, about 20 members stand in front of the Travis Park Monument holding a sign that read "Black Lives Matter". It was pathetic at best. In a city of 1.55 million people, one would think 20 people protesting over a monument wasn't going to go anywhere, unfortunately that all Roberto Trevino needed. Before the SABLM & SATX4 left the protest, one of their members threw a drink with red liquid on the monument, which is vandalism in Texas. This got our attention, and it was time to introduce TITFF to the SABLM, SATX4, Roberto Trevino, and the rest of the San Antonio City Council. In late June 2017, TITFF started working on saving the Travis Park Monument. Everyday for about 4 weeks, TITFF had members on the ground inside Travis Park talking to and recording the responses of Texans & tourist that entered the park or just walked by. We asked people of all ages, all ethnicity backgrounds, "Does this monument offend you"? We couldn't find 1 person who was offended by the monument, in fact, the majority of people thought it was a monument of Lt Col Travis and not a confederate monument. Even after they learned it was a confederate monument, no one said it offended them. We felt we had enough ammo to take our case to the San Antonio City Council and get the proposal thrown out. Starting in mid to late July, TITFF took directors and members to the Citizens To Be Heard meetings to make our case. We played video recordings of the reactions of the people concerning the monument, we laid out historical significance why the monument should stay, we even took a poll we put out that showed over 90% of the people in San Antonio would rather see their tax dollars going to some good, rather than wasting it on removing a historical monument. We took Texans, of all ethnicities, to the offices of the councilmen and made our case face to face. Some listened, other councilmen (like Trevino) tried to argue with one of our TITFF members, who happens to be black and had over a dozen ancestors fight for the confederacy. He schooled the councilmen with facts and history, but Trevino still wanted to argue over feelings. smh Last but not least, TITFF scheduled a protest of our own. We figured if the SABLM & SATX4 can sway the councils opinion with 20 people, what would they do when we bring out hundreds of pro history Texans.
Work began on obtaining permits and getting our personal and equipment brought in for the rally. TITFF teamed up with SCV for the Save The Monument Rally which today is referred to as the "TITFF Travis Park Monument Rally". The City of San Antonio tried their best to stop us from having the rally. We applied for our permits (stage permit, MCU permit, noise permits & park permits) around July 7th. When speaking with the City of San Antonio about the permits, they would verbally tell us we had been approved, but they never had the paperwork ready. When we pressed them (towards the end of July) they would come up with new stuff for us to complete (fees, insurance, forms, etc.). Finally 9 days before the rally, we had our TITFF attorneys get involved. Our attorney laid into the City of San Antonio and told them "TITFF has done everything you have asked, paid every outrageous fee you've thrown their way, filled out every form you asked of them, got insurance, etc., either you approve this permit for the rally & give them the paperwork or TITFF will take the rally down the River Walk and shut it down and we'll file a lawsuit against the city". The next morning the City of San Antonio called us and told us we could pick up our paperwork. Amazing how an attorney can light a file under their bums. lol But the problems weren't 100% over yet. When we arrived the day of the rally, we saw that half of the park was fenced off, TITFF had rented the entire park out. We sent word to our attorney and carried on because we had to set up for the rally. Come to find out, the City of San Antonio had given half the park to SATX4 without them paying a dime. Roberto Trevino felt he couldn't have a bunch of Texans out there "Promoting Texas History" and "Saving the Monument" without bringing out his racist organizations SATX4 & SABLM. In the end, our attorneys saw to it that the City was forced to return some of the funds back to TITFF because they only allowed us the use of half the park. Once the rally started TITFF & SCV outnumbered SATX4 & SABLM 20 to 1. Of course the opposition tried their usual far left tactics, they did a die in, they marched out into the street and blocked traffic, they got into fights with the cops, they chanted "Cops and Klan go hand in hand", you know, the usual bs. Meanwhile TITFF & SCV opened our rally up with Smoke preforming two of his pro confederate rap songs and we followed it with 9 great speakers who spoke about the importance of preserving and protecting our Texas History & Monuments. TITFF & SCV stayed inside our half of the park and were cool, calm and collective. At the end of the day 2 SATX4 members went to jail, while several SAPD officers approached a few TITFF Directors and thanked us for being professional & responsible. We left the park in better shape than we arrived. Things were just heating up though. After the rally, we scheduled another event to attend San Antonio City Council Citizens To Be Heard the next week, but things heated up. By Friday after the rally SABLM & SATX4 had threatened to shoot 4 TITFF members if we showed up to the City Council meeting to speak on behalf of keeping the Travis Park Monument. The threats came in by phone call, Facebook post and Twitter postings. The SABLM & SATX4 thought they were going to silence us, scare us away from speaking the truth, but they obviously forgot we were Texans. The death threats were turned over to SAPD, DPS and the Texas Rangers, then we got ready for the council meeting just a few days away. On Wednesday, August 16, 2017, members and directors of TITFF began walking to City Hall with a armed detail in full battle rattle surrounding them. As TITFF turned the corner, about a block away from City Hall, all you could see is media cameras and reporters who began running towards our team, taking pics and asking questions. TITFF President told the media we would talk to them after the council meeting. The security detail walked the TITFF members up to the door of City Hall, then they took position surrounding City Hall to protect the package inside. Once the Council Meeting began, TITFF members began to rip D1 Councilman Roberto Trevino & D2 Councilman Cruz Shaw a new one. The TITFF members addressed the council on how the majority of the people inside San Antonio and in Texas did not approve of removing the Travis Park Monument, others scolded Trevino & Shaw for the division they have caused. TITFF President Brandon got up to speak and said," Do you guys see the problems you are causing? They're trying to silence me, which isn't going to work. What do you think about the death threats many of us have received? A lot of Texans are watching. We are prepared to move forward with a recall for you (Trevino) and you (Shaw) if need be, because we are not going to stand by and remove a monument which represents veterans, not race". The security detail outside had to deal with the media while the council meeting was going on. When asked "Why do y'all have guns?" one of the security guys told the reporter "Its necessary for us to carry weapons due to the let wing violence & death threats towards TITFF". Once the council meeting was over, the security detail picked up the package (TITFF Members inside) and escorted them back to the parking lot. Security did not see any BLM members or sympathizers. TITFF returned to City Hall again the following week to continue our fight to save the Travis Park Monument. A CURVE BALL.... On August 23, 2017 Hurricane Harvey hit the Texas coast near Port Aransas, Tx. Not only did the hurricane hit Port Aransas, but now it was limping its way towards Houston, Tx. A lot of Texans were in need of some major help. On August 25, 2017 TITFF sent out 4 teams to helps our fellow Texans (3 to Houston and 1 to Port A). TITFF did everything from building our TITFF command post, search and rescue, open and ran a shelter, clean up work, to cooking 500 meals a day 3x a day, we even hitched a ride on National Guard chinook helo's to take the food out to stranded families. The Texas 3rd coast was a mess, and our teams stayed on the ground for weeks. Texans needed our help and we were there with everything we had. In all TITFF transported over $17,000 in goods and stocked the EMS triage in Port A thanks to a medical company donating the medical supplies to TITFF to transport. While working to help our fellow Texan's on the 3rd Coast, we received some bad news on August 30, 2017. The City of San Antonio found out that TITFF was on the coast helping our fellow Texans and decided to take an emergency vote to remove the Travis Park Monument. They knew we wouldn't be there to foil their plan, so they voted to remove it. TITFF had a tough choice to make, leave our fellow Texans and come home to save the monument or stay put. The directors felt that we were needed more on the coast since bodies were still being plucked from the water and no one had electricity or water, so we stayed with our fellow Texans. The night of August 31/Sept 1st, the city of San Antonio had crews come out in the middle of the night and remove the Travis Park Monument. It was heart breaking for those of us on the coast. A important fact to remember is that TITFF donated more goods & worked more man hours helping our fellow Texans than the Mayor & City Council did. Its a bitter sweet ending that still bothers us to this day (even know we did the right thing). TITFF has told the San Antonio City Council many times over the years, they were more concerned about removing a historical monument that stood over 100 years than they were about helping Texans. That should tell you everything you need to know about the San Antonio City Council.
Today the Travis Park Monument sits in a undisclosed basement collecting dusk that the tax payers are paying for (to store). In the removal process they broke the butt of the gun, the barrel of the gun, they jack hammered the base of the monument, and they destroyed a lot of the contents inside the time capsule that was buried underneath. Now, the City of San Antonio wants you to believe they can remove the Alamo Cenotaph (which is double the size of the Travis Park Monument) without any damage. smh We all know the truth, they intend to break it so it can never be displayed again. It's just par for the course for Nirenberg, Trevino and the San Antonio City Council. smh Note- Cruz Shaw no longer sits on the City Council, TITFF is still working to remove Trevino & Nirenberg.
2 Comments
Julia M Gonzales
8/12/2020 05:40:42 pm
Destruction of history, is promoting racism and division among all citizens. The blood of every American regardless of race, has reaped the Freedom upon which we are Blessed with today. No one gave the Ultimate Sacrifice to lay in vain. It is a disgrace to bring such dishonor to these soldiers, who now RIP to give you Freedom. Freedom will soon be lost, by those who are not educated enough to understand Freedom, is a privilege paid in blood. We lose this Freedom, it will take another blood bath to regain Freedom once more. Stop for a minute and speak to Real Texan, a Texas History Teacher, or a TITFF Member to understand why we have the Honor to be a Texan.What an honor it is to have the privilege of Freedom. Why we owe our Respect to those who gave the Ultimate Sacrifice for us and our children to enjoy.
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8/12/2020 06:40:26 pm
It truly is a honor to work with so many good Freedom loving Texans. We have made friends & new family members all across the great state. We try to visit them when we are in town for a job. You know, some ask us “why do y’all what we do? You aren’t getting paid & the hours are long.” It’s so easy to respond to this question. We aren’t looking for fame or fortune. The simple look we get from Texans & that handshake of gratitude means the world to us. One of our Houston Director’s grandpa use to tell him “You serve any way you can”. Although a lot of us, in fact the majority of us have served in the military or as LEO’s or firefighters, some weren’t able to serve, so this is the best way they can serve......protecting Texas & our history. We sleep well as night knowing we are doing our part to help protect Texas. Again the friendships we have made all over the state is just an added bonus. If it wasn’t for true Texans & the men & women who died for our freedom & liberty, we couldn’t do what we do. Plus the fear in the eyes of Antifa & the BLM when we show up is priceless. Lol We let them know, your socialism, terrorism & racism isn’t welcome in Texas. :) Thank you again for your support! I’m sure we’ll meet somewhere down the line and gain a new friend. God bless
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