Thomas Gray |
(Well, look at it this way: This might be the last article about Frontier Fiesta you'll see until next spring ... yeah, right.)
Anyway, the University of Houston has presented Frontier Fiesta every spring since it was resurrected in 1992. Every spring it gets bigger and bigger. And, every spring, some organizations denigrate it as being racist.
This year, the criticism of the event has been especially polemic. One student even wrote a letter to the Cougar implying that Frontier Fiesta was nothing more than a glorified Ku Klux Klan rally.
As usual, however, the reality of the event could not compare to the rhetoric. This year's Western-themed revelry did not feature any cross burnings or neo-Nazi skinhead rallies. In fact, the most offensive remark heard at the 1997 Frontier Fiesta was coach Helton's assertion that the Coogs were "going to stomp a mudhole in Alabama's ass" when football season gets underway. I'm sure we can expect Crimson Tide fans to join next year's boycott.
I happened to be among the throngs of people who ignored the protests and attended this year's Frontier Fiesta. I went to the College of Architecture booth, ate fajitas, drank some of that nasty-tasting Budweiser stuff (here's a subtle suggestion for next year's organizers: Shiner Bock!) and met fellow graduates of the college, many of whom are influential local architects whose names and faces it is good to know. If any of this activity can be considered racist, by all means, please let me know.
I will not deny that some unpleasant events have occurred at past Fiestas. A Confederate battle flag was flown during the event several years ago, and a great many students were understandably angered. However, if I understand correctly, the flag was flown by one of the barbecue teams, not by anybody associated with the university. Do the actions of one small group of people necessarily have to be associated with the event as a whole?
Nor shall I deny that the whole concept of the frontier has created a negative connotation in the minds of many people. To be sure, Manifest Destiny was an overly arrogant concept developed by a young but cocksure America. But was every person of European descent who participated in the frontier inherently evil, as some groups on this campus seem to suggest?
The Mormons became fixtures of the American West because they wanted to escape religious persecution. Is their history one of Anglo supremacy and genocide?
And what of the European immigrants who came to Texas during the mid-19th century? Were they here for any other reason than to escape political turmoil or to create new lives for themselves? How about the German immigrants whose rhythms and instruments helped to create Tejano music, but who suffered persecution during the first World War? Were their histories about nothing more than racism and Anglo domination of the West?
Trying to abolish or alter one particular event will not an entire nation's history rewrite. Say what you will about Frontier Fiesta, but please do not imply that those who attend this event are in all, and in every case, racist.
Gray is a UH College of Architecture alumnus.