by Javier R. Garcia
I want to thank Jim Barton for putting me back in the fight. We'll be examining a swarm of media seekers trying to force public opinion even after the city was gracious enough to invite them to their own town hall meeting to discuss relocating the Jefferson Davis stone which they hate so much. After the Jefferson Davis Memorial stone meeting, they continued to pester our city commissioners at city hall where more important matters are needed to be addressed. If you want to view nearly two-hour video of town hall meet click link-- the sound is of poor quality.
Ms. Serrano at town hall doing her "He's a great guy... yadda yadda" spiel. Note uninterested reactions from her support base behind her.
spiel - noun .a long or fast speech or story, typically one intended as a means of persuasion or as an excuse but regarded with skepticism or contempt by those who hear it
Here's some of the media spill-over about that rock which followed the town hall meeting and was observed on our Facebook page last weekend.
Michelle Serrano, who stated at town how meeting that she works for a local museum, spoke with reporter Derick Garcia who is a knock-off of the Ryan Wolf reporter who achieved a grand celebrity-like status using social media in the Rio Grande Valley and sensationalized cockroach hunting in RGV restaurants. He did good.
Instead of searching for cockroaches and rats, Mr Garcia searches for controversial issues since humans respond better to that and we all know the media is all about ratings. KVEO-23 lacks experience of other local affiliates KVEO-4 and KRGV-5 when it comes to reporting news.
In the interview Serrano condescendingly speaks to Garcia's viewers on what Brownsville's culture is and basically hijacks it by saying Charro Days is something "Our culture" celebrates. Whose culture?
If I did it right, here is
link to video so you can watch the so-called news segment but you will probably have to have your Facebook account open since it was posted on Garcia's FB page.
Serrano once ran a downtown hole-in-wall establishment called "B.A.M." (Brownsville Arts & Music) and tried a lot of things in the name of art and music including drag queen shows that no one was interested in seeing so the club folded. What does this have to do with her activism against that rock in park? Nothing.
At this time there are plenty of young energetic promoters, musicians and artists working as, or with entertainment or social clubs and art galleries creating events downtown. B.A.M. will likely become a footnote in downtown's punk rock scene and memories of bands who played there or be forgotten for the most part but those who remain move forward as the immense Market Square and surrounding projects continue to develop.
What follows are a few other comments that were sent to the page
It looks as though city set up cameras to undermine threat coming from ani-rock history activists but Derick Garcia publicized cameras to warn them. It's a li'l kick in the ass for Big Brother.
Someone suggested they will go after religious statues next and I agreed then ....
This history teacher took something I wrote literally so I spoke to him about Jesus. For the most part, people on Brownsville Station are appreciators of the history and culture and the vintage photos we post. Other than that - they do not have time to fight over a rock. Life has real challenges for them so I do not seek a base to escalate this ridiculous rock fiasco. We will just have to wait and see what solution will be discovered.
A vintage Lynda Carter photo posted to page drew up a red-flag for one particular person.... By the way the rock haters have called me misogynist and other names and even poke fun and make childish crude remarks about proponents of rock who have not engaged with them on social media the way I have but their character assassination attempts have not affected me in any way yet that I know of.
Osbert ran for judge or some other political seat a couple of years ago and claimed to have a PhD when I met him at a Port Isabel anti-LNG protest. A friend told me he used to cut her lawn only a few years ago. Whatever or whoever he is, today he is a follower of Antonio Castillo- the instigator who brought racist charged accusations to the people of Brownsville, Texas. While spying on Antonio's Facebook page one day I discovered that some of his friends are "keeping tabs" on the Brownsville Station Facebook page. Maybe Osbert thought he could call me out about what is appropriate to post on the page but the funny part is that he didn't understand the meaning of the word "prude."
Mr Juarez is also a follower of Antonio Castillo but came to defend Derick Garcia's amateurish ostentatious reporting. I was just toying with him. No one cares about the rock as much as they do but they seem to feel threatened by what I post on a Facebook page. If you're someone who visits this blog but does not have a Facebook account - congratulations!! This is the Facebook culture and you don't want to be apart of it if you have real issues to deal with.
I'm not sure but I think he's an used car dealer or something.
Then he tapped out
The Derick Garcia's statement that the majority of people who wanted stone removed was not true . The meeting was made for rock haters and handful of rock proponents. They do not represent entire city of Brownsville but the media wants you to believe they do. They even drew up phony statistics to fool people that rock haters represent a majority of people in Brownsville. Fake news.
I realize they are only expressing their opinions but we just have to wait and see what happens, right? Rock haters are using media to pose questions about that rock as we are about to celebrate Charro Days. Every year the media finds something to create controversy over issues on the border but I guess this year it's a rock. Has Ms. Serrano taken up "the cause" which was once Antonio Castillo's cause? It should soon be over and they can celebrate, right?
Of course most people on our page who do bother to comment make much more intelligent comments than other Facebook pages for Brownsville. That I can brag about.
No one wanted to hire Castillo to teach in Brownsville, Texas after he insulted the majority of people living in our peaceful city on the border so he moved to Las Vegas where it's hotter than hell. The Paiutes called nearby Death Valley "Tomesha" - Land of the Flaming Earth. I hope he gets to explore that area. Good riddance Antonio. You should have taken Jim Barton with you.
Has anyone seen or heard from Jim Barton? I hope he didnt die yet.
Commissioner Jessica Tutreau supports Antonio Castillo's agenda to remove rock but cannot give an cohesive argument on why she stands on the issue other than it bothers a small group which is what this is. All the other so-called 5,000 "online" petition signatures the rock/history haters boast about came from liberal networking by people who "aren't even from Brownsville." If anyone was wondering, I was born in Brownsville, Texas but raised in California but have lived in Brownsville my whole adult life and people didn't act like this before. Remember that?
I say put it on a ballot to vote at the next election -- all or nothing - to keep rock or remove it completely. I would be interested in seeing what the outcome would be.
Trolling the trolls I did. They love to fight over that rock. There were more in the past but that's in the past so we wont look that far back but instead, see a response to another instigating rock hater who made a scene at what was supposed to be a peaceful town hall meeting to resolve rock issue, in our next post:
