The current controversy surrounding the Alamo is many things — but above all, it is heartbreaking to Tejanos, both past and present. Tejanos are the very blood and soil of Texas. Texas is Tejano — the horses, the cattle, the rodeo, the lasso, even the BBQ — all Tejano.

This culture, brought from Spain by the Spaniards more than a century before Anglo-Americans arrived in the New World, is the same culture that we as Texans cherish and celebrate today. Yet the curators of that culture are often pushed aside to make room for tales of Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, and William Barret Travis. Don’t get me wrong — I love the stories of Crockett, Bowie, and Travis — but if you take a closer look, you’ll see that Tejanos have their own rich heritage and history. They not only stood and fought at the Alamo during its fall, but their ancestors also helped build the mission nearly a hundred years earlier and if you look before that you will see they are direct descents of Columbus, Coronado, Cortes, Montezuma II, and even King Ferdiand of Spain through his Alonso de Estrada.

Tejanos have been robbed of the truthful telling of their history and heritage. Tejanos and Mexican-Americans have been persecuted, marginalized, and oppressed for nearly two centuries at the hands of Anglo-Americans. Why are we still fighting about it today? Why are we still telling the same history we told a hundred years ago? Haven’t we learned more of the truth since then?

It is a shame to the Tejano lives sacrificed at the Alamo — including my relative Gregorio Esparza — and to the Tejanos who signed the Republic of Texas Declaration of Independence, all connected through generations of intermarried families spanning over 300 years. March 6, 2026, will mark the 190th anniversary of the Battle of the Alamo — and it is long past time for the truth to be told.

We must stand together — Tejanos, Mexican-Americans, Native Americans, and Anglos alike — to tell the full story of the Alamo.