Thread by @HistoryBrian

A little tidbit re the image used here by Ted Cruz (the turkey one has been around for at least half a decade btw). Like many of the ways the Right understands history, Cruz often cherry picks his data so he can come off as what he thinks is funny or tough or smart. Short thread:

https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1330360255449100294

In doing so, of course, he misses broader historical nuance and the reality of what he's talking about. Lots of folks have highlighted the ugliness of such a meme in light of the long food lines and huge spike in Covid cases in Texas. cbsnews.com/news/thousands…

Beyond that though this meme fits into the Right's broader fictitious culture wars that somehow some nefarious leftwing force is out to cancel Christmas or end Thanksgiving. The Come and Take It flag has also been used by the Right in 2A circles.

Here's the history of that iconic flag (which probably looked like this). The flag came out of the 1835 Battle of Gonzales wherein Mexican soldiers attempted to retrieve a small iron cannon from the town of Gonzales. They failed. Right wingers like Ted Cruz like to stop there.

Doing so allows him to fixate on a manly, heroic moment in Texas history. In reality, the Mexican Army did come and take it, during the Siege of Bexar. Texians from Gonzales transported several cannons to San Antonio, all were lost to Mexican forces when they retook the Alamo.

Mexican forces then buried the cannon and several others at the Alamo. The Gonzales cannon was never fired again. It sat, buried, for two decades. In the 1850s, former San Antonio mayor Samuel Maverick (grandfather of Maury Maverick) unearthed the cannon and had it recast into...

a church bell. That bell was installed at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in San Antonio, which sits on part of the original Misión San Antonio de Valero site. It's still there today.

Now I know Cruz probably doesn't care about this history and is content with getting attention w stupid ass Come and Take It turkey memes, and of course the broader reality of this history, which I think is more important, would be lost on him. But here is what I think matters:

1. The Battle of Gonzales, Mexican forces did not take the cannon.
2. The Battle of the Alamo, Mexican forces did take the cannon.
3. Once relocated the cannon was recast into a church bell, going from a weapon of war to a symbol of peace.

It's no wonder Cruz focuses on part 1, because if he focused on the end of the story, parts 2 and esp 3, he would have to admit that peace and human decency are the end of the story. And that's something we should all be thankful about.