JAVIER R. GARCIA CHARGES BROWNSVILLE OBSERVER EDITOR WITH "NO SENSE OF HUMOR"

The two examples of photoshopped art above appeared in the January 8, 2018 edition of Bronsbil Estacion, a blog created by Javier Garcia.   The two pieces of art were placed one on top of the other in a style reminiscent of Robert Sanchez AKA "Captain Bob."  It was as if Javier didn't know which one to use, so used both.  Below the photoshops, Javier added this paragraph:

"Jim Barton as great pumpkin. Jimbo tried to imply I was a racist because I referred to the vandalism of the Jefferson Davis stone as making Brownsville, Texas a "ghetto city". Maybe his assumption was that I should have used "barrio" because of my ethnicity or something stupid like that. What a douche' bag. He never had a good sense of humor."

From the editor:  Humor is subjective.  You may find Jay Leno funny.  I don't.  You may have laughed at gags by the Three Stooges.  I didn't.

Javier's statement above, "He never had a good sense of humor," stings.  

Humor is important to me.  Almost everything written in "The Brownsville Observer" is sprinkled with humor, sometimes interwoven, subtly, into the sentence structure.

"Why do you do that?"  Nena has frequently asked.  

"Nobody gets what you're trying to say."  (She prefers that I write more literally.)

Yes, there were joke tellers in my family, but, the laughs at the end of a boring 5 minute soliloquy were forced, with the joke teller slapping his sides, while the rest of us looked at each other, as if to say:  "He thought THAT was funny?"

My Uncle Gordon, on the other hand, conversed like Dick Cavett, with double entendre, self-deprecation and subtlety.  If someone got a little big for their britches, he would pop their balloon without making them a laughingstock.

Uncle Joe had an entire litany of fake swear words.  Hitting his thumb with a hammer, he would shout:  "Guts and fleece!"

A phrase I use frequently in my articles to mean a suppression of ideas, "stymie, stifle and squelch," comes from Uncle Joe.

George, a family friend, diagnosed as manic-depressive, was a natural stream-of-consciousness entertainer with a rapid-fire delivery.  In the middle of a mild disagreement, George would laugh and destroy your argument with:

"Jim, are you serious or delirious, psychotic or neurotic, hydrocephalic or microcephalic?"

So, Javier, I take ultimate umbrage, and, with righteous indignation, will fight your false charge of "no sense of humor."

No, I won't.  Just kidding.  I don't care.

For those who don't know Javier Garcia, he did some great work for the Brownsville Historical Association.  Most of the plaques you read on historical buildings downtown were centered, leveled and screwed on by Javier.  He may have even written the historical copy on the plaques.

Much like Larry Lof, Tony Zavaleta, Gene Fernandez and Rene Torres, Javier is a Brownsville historian, perhaps on a different tier.

Currently, Javier fulfills one of his most challenging assignments as the personal assistant to Sandy Stillman, a descendant of Brownsville founder Charles Stillman.

Yet, Javier's charge that I implied he's racist is untrue.  In my defense, I reprint my original mention of Javier four months ago.

Sunday, October 1, 2017

Javier R. Garcia: "Brownsville Is Officially A Ghetto City!"

ghet·to
ˈɡedō/
noun

1. a part of a city, especially a slum area, occupied by a minority group or groups.

Javier Garcia, the editor of Bronsbil Estacion, long a promoter of the city's history, finds the defacement of the Jefferson Davis Memorial in Washington Park to be a tipping point for the city.  Garcia now declares unequivocally, that "Brownsville is officially a ghetto city."

It's noteworthy that Garcia, always precise with his words, did not use barrio to describe our town, butghetto.  We will leave it to Mr. Garcia to explain his word choice.

Friday, driving through town withBrownsville Observermusic writer Diego Lee Rot, Diego pointed at the rock in Washington Park and shouted:  "Look at that!"

We stopped and took pictures.  Someone had painted on the statue the words:  "No Trump!  No KKK!  No Fascist U.S.A.!"

I told Diego that I was going to post this picture on my blog under the title "Racist Rock Desecrated!," but that I was bothered by using the word "desecrated," since it implied the statue was sacred.

"Use the word 'tagged," offered Diego.

I went with "desecrated," despite my reservations.

Craig Stone

Someone who likely did feel the the monument was sacred is former Program & Education Coordinator of the Brownsville Historical Museum, Craig Stone.  Stone, incidentally, was also a member of the 6th brigade, Texas division, of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

Relocating the Jefferson Davis Memorial is on the agenda of Tuesday's city commission meeting:

12. Consideration and ACTION to relocate the Jefferson Davis Highway Memorial. (Commissioners J. Tetreau/B. Neece)