Saturday night, my son David spent the night with my daughter Emily, her husband Refeal, and their fellow boarder Robert. Sunday afternoon, my wife Brenda relayed to me that they’d all decided to go downtown. The Saturday march memorializing George Floyd included almost 5,000 participants and had gone peacefully, but David, 16, was concerned and curious about looting and vandalism Saturday night. They also wanted to participate in any cleanup that might be required.
I offered to join them.
We met at Emily and Refeal’s house (which they rent from my mother-in-law Gloria) and took two cars downtown. We met at Denny’s for lunch and roamed downtown afterwards.
As we left the restaurant, a woman called out to Emily about her scarf. Emily has made a personal style of her scarves, so much so we all joke that Dr Deborah Birx calls Emily for tips and recommendations. The woman outside Denny’s was impressed with how Emily folded her scarf around her hair and asked how she did it. Emily cheerfully told her how (I was instantly confused but they seemed to understand each other) before we all left.
Macy’s, across the street from Denny’s, already had a glass company on site to repair damage. Beyond that, I remember one storefront with an indention in its window and many that had boarded up their windows. No cleanup we could help with was required.
Interestingly, the Whataburger downtown, at which vandals were videoed smashing a window and climbing into the restaurant, showed no damage and had apparently already been repaired. Furthermore, we happened upon one storefront which had no damaged but two men were preparing to board up when we arrived. This called into question how many businesses had actually suffered damage and how many were boarded up as a preventative measure.
Even allowing for this ambiguity, the damage downtown was less than viral videos on social media had suggested.
If the damage to property was less than expected, the damage to the downtown interpersonal atmosphere was minimal. We encountered one shouting match. Beyond that, the busy downtown streets varied from friendliness to respectful distance. Pedestrians milled about as usual. People sat and stood outside their businesses, soliciting for customers as you’d expect any day. Aside from two men guarding the Alamo Cenotaph, the police presence was no different than we’d expect any day. (Robert thanked the men guarding the Cenotaph for their service.)
Two major points of interest to us, the Majestic Theatre (where my father and grandfather worked) and the Alamo Antique Mall (a favorite place for David to browse for memorabilia) were unscathed.
The tensions our nation feels today are very real. The problems that led to the death of George Floyd will be difficult to face and more difficult to solve. But San Antonio gives me hope. San Antonio is a military city, with an army post, two existing air force bases, and two former air force bases. The resulting influx of people from around the nation with divergent backgrounds but shared purpose, added to families who’ve called this city home for generations, has created a city that respects multiple cultures. San Antonio annually has the largest Martin Luther King march in the nation. Fiesta and the Texas Folklife Festival celebrate San Antonio and all its ethnic groups. As for me, I am proud that I have friends of many skin tones who can praise me and reprimand me as needed. I feel blessed as a result, and try never to take this for granted.
San Antonio is not utopia, but it demonstrates that racial hostility is not inevitable. People can mingle and relate to each other. The hostilities that made national news were absent in San Antonio. The looting of Saturday night had nothing to do with the demonstration Saturday afternoon, and did little to affect the dynamics of Sunday afternoon.
Remember that woman I mentioned who asked about Emily’s scarf? That woman is African-American. Granted, in a better world, that fact is incidental. Sunday, it was meaningful.
I invite people to hold San Antonio accountable for its flaws, but also to study what it does well.
I’ve always loved San Antonio. Sunday, I understood a little better exactly why.
Great perspective!
Side-note: if you were at the Denny's on Commerce at I-37, you were at the location of my wife's great-grandfather's (and uncle's) brewery before prohibition, Peter Brothers Brewery.