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While replacing the stone honoring slaveowner and traitor Jefferson Davis isn't a motive for dancing in the streets, it is a step in the right direction in coming face to face with the dark side of Brownsville's history. 

The NAACP estimates that from 1882 to 1968 approximately 3,500 African-Americans were lynched in the United States. There are scores of stories that turn one's stomach describing these executions, but we chose this blood-curdling incident to illustrate the whites' treatment toward blacks. This macabre killing took place in Georgia. The date was May 19, 1918:

"Abusive plantation owner, Hampton Smith, was shot and killed. A week-long manhunt resulted in the killing of the husband of Mary Turner, Hayes Turner.

"Mary Turner denied that her husband had been involved in Smith’s killing, publicly opposed her husband’s murder and threatened to have members of the mob arrested.

"On May 19th, a mob of several hundred brought her to Folsom Bridge which separates Brooks and Lowndes counties in Georgia. The mob tied her ankles, hung her upside down from a tree, doused her in gasoline and motor oil and set her on fire.

"Turner was still alive when a member of the mob split her abdomen open with a knife and her unborn child fell on the ground. The baby was stomped and crushed as it fell to the ground. Turner’s body was riddled with hundreds of bullets."

God bless America!!!

We are raised to believe that we're the greatest nation in the history of mankind. It is this kind of arrogance that paves the way to the fall. We are a brainwashed people. While we rail against other countries for building nuclear weapons, we are the only country to use an atomic bomb--TWICE!!! And we dropped the two for humanitarian reasons if the relentless propaganda rings true.

Brownsville's history is spellbinding, but it is less than glorious. Charles Stillman, Brownsville's founder, owned slaves. Brownsville joined the Confederacy to preserve slavery. Brownsville practiced segregation well into the 1950s.

In 1906 the infamous Brownsville Affair, later recounted in the book The Brownsville Raid, took place. Wikipedia offers this version of the bloody night:

"Since arriving at Fort Brown on July 28, 1906, the black soldiers had been required to follow the legal color line mandate from white citizens of Brownsville, which included separate accommodation for black people and white people, showing respect for white people and respect for local laws.

"A reported attack on a white woman so incensed many townspeople that Major Charles W. Penrose, after consultation with Mayor Frederick Combe, declared an early curfew for soldiers to avoid trouble.

"On the night of August 13, the Brownsville Affair, or the Brownsville Raid, was an incident of racial injustice due to resentment by white residents of Brownsville, Texas of the Buffalo Soldiers, black soldiers in a segregated unit stationed at nearby Fort Brown.

"When a white bartender was killed and a white police officer wounded by gunshots, townspeople accused the members of the African-American 25th Infantry Regiment of the crimes. Their commanders said the soldiers had been in the barracks all night, but evidence was planted against the men. Local whites, including Brownsville's mayor,  claimed that some of the black soldiers participated in the shooting.

"As a result of a United States Army Inspector General's investigation, President Theodore Roosevelt ordered the dishonorable discharge of 167 soldiers of the 25th Infantry Regiment, costing them pensions and preventing them from ever serving in civil service jobs. The case aroused national outrage in both black and white communities. After more investigations, several men were allowed to re-enlist."

In the early 1990s I accused BISD Superintendent Jack Ammons and Athletic Director Leonel Garza of engaging in racism against black coaches in the BISD. I detailed my accusations in El Rocinante, my first publication.

Both filed grievances against me and asked the BISD School Board to fire me. On a 4-3 vote I kept my job. They next filed against me with TEA with the hope that the state agency would strip me of my teaching license. With Commissioner Ben Neece representing me in Austin before a kangaroo court of white Baptist women, I prevailed.

In the wake of their failed effort to terminate me, Garza resigned and the BISD fired Ammons. I continued with my teaching and coaching assignments and finished my distinguished 39-year career with my head held high upon my exit.

Coincidentally, I appeared before the city council and reminded our commissioners that Charles Stillman was a slave owner and traitor to the Union and that as a community we should think twice before continuing to honor this Judas.

When I spoke before our leaders, I didn't demand that the municipality rename buildings dedicated to Stillman. I only suggested that we keep this individual in the proper perspective.

Nobody has forgotten former City Commissioner Jimmy Jackson's racial slurs with his blatant choice of the word "nigger" to describe the victims of his diatribe. No one would ever say that we live in the greatest city in the greatest country in the world.

When one peruses Brownsville's past, there is a smell that can best be characterized as a Mississippi Stink.