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Life and death on the border: effects of century-old murders still felt in Texas | Life and death on the border: effects of century-old murders still felt in Texas |
(about 3 hours later) | |
Melba Coody never knew her great-grandfather but she remembers her family talking about him when she was little, passing on the story of how he was murdered by the Texas rangers. | Melba Coody never knew her great-grandfather but she remembers her family talking about him when she was little, passing on the story of how he was murdered by the Texas rangers. |
Jesús Bazán, a 67-year-old rancher, and his son-in-law, Antonio Longoria, were shot near the border with Mexico one September day in 1915, their bodies left to rot. | Jesús Bazán, a 67-year-old rancher, and his son-in-law, Antonio Longoria, were shot near the border with Mexico one September day in 1915, their bodies left to rot. |
“Texas rangers thought they were cattle rustlers. They were shot in the back,” said Coody, now 73. They were far from the only ones to die. | “Texas rangers thought they were cattle rustlers. They were shot in the back,” said Coody, now 73. They were far from the only ones to die. |
Hundreds, if not thousands, of Mexicans and Mexican Americans were killed in a little-known but brutal border conflict a century ago, with members of the celebrated law enforcement agency implicated in many of the deaths. | Hundreds, if not thousands, of Mexicans and Mexican Americans were killed in a little-known but brutal border conflict a century ago, with members of the celebrated law enforcement agency implicated in many of the deaths. |
The consequences of the violence have echoed for generations through race relations in the Texas borderlands. | The consequences of the violence have echoed for generations through race relations in the Texas borderlands. |
Aiming to increase public awareness, a group of academics formed a project called Refusing to Forget. Their efforts will receive a major boost and a degree of official recognition on Saturday, when the Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin opens an exhibit called Life and Death on the Border, 1910-1920, that seeks to re-examine the events and context of what it describes as “some of the worst racial violence in United States history”. | Aiming to increase public awareness, a group of academics formed a project called Refusing to Forget. Their efforts will receive a major boost and a degree of official recognition on Saturday, when the Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin opens an exhibit called Life and Death on the Border, 1910-1920, that seeks to re-examine the events and context of what it describes as “some of the worst racial violence in United States history”. |
Though respectable members of the community, Bazán and Longoria were suspected of supporting Mexican cattle rustlers who were active in the area. They were on horseback when rangers in a Model T Ford crossed their path and summarily shot them. The men were found several days later because of the putrid smell from their decomposing corpses. | Though respectable members of the community, Bazán and Longoria were suspected of supporting Mexican cattle rustlers who were active in the area. They were on horseback when rangers in a Model T Ford crossed their path and summarily shot them. The men were found several days later because of the putrid smell from their decomposing corpses. |
There were other notorious slaughters, said John Morán González, a project member and associate professor at the University of Texas. In 1915 the rangers took a dozen raiders prisoner and hanged them, leaving their bodies out in the open for months. | |
Three years later, in far west Texas, they rounded up the residents of a nearby town, separated the women and children from the men and executed 15 of them in what became known as the Porvenir Massacre. | Three years later, in far west Texas, they rounded up the residents of a nearby town, separated the women and children from the men and executed 15 of them in what became known as the Porvenir Massacre. |
In another case, a Mexican teenager with his arm in a sling was arrested and killed by rangers looking for a man who had been shot in the hand. | In another case, a Mexican teenager with his arm in a sling was arrested and killed by rangers looking for a man who had been shot in the hand. |
Others were decapitated, burnt or tortured, some with beer bottles shoved in their mouths. Violence became so commonplace that a San Antonio reporter at the time noted that the “finding of dead bodies of Mexicans, suspected for various reasons of being connected with the troubles, has reached a point where it creates little or no interest. It is only when a raid is reported or an American is killed that the ire of the people is aroused”. | Others were decapitated, burnt or tortured, some with beer bottles shoved in their mouths. Violence became so commonplace that a San Antonio reporter at the time noted that the “finding of dead bodies of Mexicans, suspected for various reasons of being connected with the troubles, has reached a point where it creates little or no interest. It is only when a raid is reported or an American is killed that the ire of the people is aroused”. |
Border tensions were inflamed because of displacement and disorder from the Mexican Revolution and a change in the region’s demographics spurred by railroad expansion, which led to an influx of Anglos seeking to get rich by taking control of agricultural land and local politics. | Border tensions were inflamed because of displacement and disorder from the Mexican Revolution and a change in the region’s demographics spurred by railroad expansion, which led to an influx of Anglos seeking to get rich by taking control of agricultural land and local politics. |
Their anxiety was heightened in 1915 after the discovery of a manifesto known as the Plan de San Diego, which called for an army to rise up and kill white men and inspired violent skirmishes and harsh reprisals. | Their anxiety was heightened in 1915 after the discovery of a manifesto known as the Plan de San Diego, which called for an army to rise up and kill white men and inspired violent skirmishes and harsh reprisals. |
Estimates of the total number of Mexicans and Tejanos (Texans of Mexican descent) who were “evaporated”, to use the euphemism of the time, range from 300 to 5,000. Spanish-speakers called it the matanza: massacre. | Estimates of the total number of Mexicans and Tejanos (Texans of Mexican descent) who were “evaporated”, to use the euphemism of the time, range from 300 to 5,000. Spanish-speakers called it the matanza: massacre. |
At the time, the US’s attention was largely focused on the first world war. But a 1919 Texas legislature investigation prompted by a Mexican-American politician led to a restructuring of the rangers in an effort to reduce their number, improve their recruiting standards and make them more accountable. | |
The Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum website acknowledges that some ranger companies “acted as vigilante groups” where “the lack of training and controls were evident”. | The Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum website acknowledges that some ranger companies “acted as vigilante groups” where “the lack of training and controls were evident”. |
“You’re not a big ranger fan, growing up,” said Trinidad Gonzales, a history professor at South Texas College whose maternal great-grandfather was killed in the matanza.Several books have examined the conflict, which was the subject of a 2004 documentary, Border Bandits. Still, beyond the border, it remains an obscure chapter in US history. | “You’re not a big ranger fan, growing up,” said Trinidad Gonzales, a history professor at South Texas College whose maternal great-grandfather was killed in the matanza.Several books have examined the conflict, which was the subject of a 2004 documentary, Border Bandits. Still, beyond the border, it remains an obscure chapter in US history. |
The Refusing to Forget project is hoping to hold public lectures and is working to place historical markers in border counties to act as permanent commemorations. | The Refusing to Forget project is hoping to hold public lectures and is working to place historical markers in border counties to act as permanent commemorations. |
“There’s a wound that needs to be healed and the only way that’s going to happen is through some sort of reconciliation and the first step of that is acknowledgement,” said Gonzales. | “There’s a wound that needs to be healed and the only way that’s going to happen is through some sort of reconciliation and the first step of that is acknowledgement,” said Gonzales. |
“The silence around it perpetuates the silencing that occurred in that immediate moment,” said Morán González. “Race relations, immigration, questions around the use and abuse of state authority, particularly through law enforcement agencies to communities of colour – no need to tell you how that resonates today.” | “The silence around it perpetuates the silencing that occurred in that immediate moment,” said Morán González. “Race relations, immigration, questions around the use and abuse of state authority, particularly through law enforcement agencies to communities of colour – no need to tell you how that resonates today.” |
He said that while the violence created a legacy of political and cultural segregation – one that still resonates in a state that is 39% Hispanic – it also catalysed civil rights movements that sought equal protections under the US constitution. | He said that while the violence created a legacy of political and cultural segregation – one that still resonates in a state that is 39% Hispanic – it also catalysed civil rights movements that sought equal protections under the US constitution. |
“These events essentially led to the creation of what is the oldest continuous Latino civil rights organisation in the US today, that is the League of United Latin American Citizens, (Lulac) which formed in 1929 from three other similar organisations. And essentially Lulac initiated a new phase of Mexican American civil rights activism,” he said. | “These events essentially led to the creation of what is the oldest continuous Latino civil rights organisation in the US today, that is the League of United Latin American Citizens, (Lulac) which formed in 1929 from three other similar organisations. And essentially Lulac initiated a new phase of Mexican American civil rights activism,” he said. |
Coody’s daughter, Christine Molis, said she hopes the exhibition will bring context to the border story and act as a reminder that aggression, ethnic tensions and militarisation existed long before modern-day drug cartels and immigration controversies. | Coody’s daughter, Christine Molis, said she hopes the exhibition will bring context to the border story and act as a reminder that aggression, ethnic tensions and militarisation existed long before modern-day drug cartels and immigration controversies. |
“The violence has been there all along, it was just never spoken about before,” she said. | “The violence has been there all along, it was just never spoken about before,” she said. |
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