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History I never learned: In the wake of the El Paso hate crime, I researched massacres of Mexicans in Texas, including state-sponsored violence by Texas Rangers. There was La Matanza, meaning the Killing, of at least 300 Mexicans from July-November of 1915 npr.org/2019/08/09/749…
There was the Porvenir massacre on January 28, 1918 when 15 unarmed Mexicans were awakened by Texas Rangers, U.S. Army cavalry & local ranchers. The men & boys ranged from 16 to 72. They were taken from their homes & shot from 3 feet away by a firing squad texasobserver.org/who-writes-his…
Even knowing the violent & racist history of our country, you think how was this allowed to happen? Especially by law enforcement? Then you learn the victims were described by officials in local papers as “bandits” & “murderers” so no one felt too bad. You see, they “deserved it”
Bandits and murderers — the new version is criminals and rapists. You might have heard the phrase? An “invasion.”
“Invasion, bandits, murderers, rapists - those are not new tropes in describing Mexicans or Mexican citizens or Mexican Americans as well. Those are words that have been used for a long time. And Donald Trump's use of them is merely a continuation of that sort of racist rhetoric”
The above is from historian Trinidad Gonzales of the group Refusing to Forget about La Matanza npr.org/2019/08/09/749…
When I wrote for Texas Monthly that everyone was telling me about the resilience of the Mexican-American community in Texas, I saw the idea emphasized in the book "The Injustice Never Leaves You: Anti-Mexican Violence in Texas" by Monica Muñoz Martínez.
“we must reckon w/ the fact that the southern border of our country was created—& policed—violently & not valiantly & that we have continually suppressed this truer, more accurate past. It is a past that bleeds into the present, a suppression that continues to shape our future”
A descendant of one of the victims of Texas Ranger violence Norma Longoria Rodríguez, told Martinez:
“It’s always there. It’s a part of their life I think. It’s an injustice. It never leaves you. It’s inherited loss.”
“It’s always there. It’s a part of their life I think. It’s an injustice. It never leaves you. It’s inherited loss.”
By another count, from 1848 to 1928, at least 232 people of Mexican descent were killed by mob violence or lynchings in Texas according to William D. Carrigan & Clive Webb, authors of “Forgotten Dead: Mob Violence Against Mexicans in the United States.”
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nbcnews.com/news/latino/an…
The historian Gonzales noted a Porvenir historical marker was recently placed, outside of El Paso. "So you have a massacre that happened in 1918 of 15 men and boys. And then you have this incident - 2019, almost a hundred years later, where you have the killing of 22 people."
"The difference, though, in Porvenir is a group of rangers and U.S. soldiers who did the killing, as opposed to what happened this last week in El Paso by an individual terrorist."
Anyway, much of this did not fit in my story but I made sure the history of violence against Mexicans and Mexican Americans was at least mentioned. The saying history repeats itself only matters if we learn from it and guard against the worst of it.
