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The Injustice Never Leaves You: Anti-Mexican Violence in Texas
by Monica Muñoz Martinez
Considering that most history textbooks used in U.S. schools are actually printed in Texas, I always felt that there was likely a number of blind spots in the general narrative due to this prevalent setup. Exploring the activity between 1910 and 1920, Monica Muñoz Martinez does an excellent job of detailing atrocities committed by state law enforcement and others in [b:The Injustice Never Leaves You: Anti-Mexican Violence in Texas|38240526|The Injustice Never Leaves You Anti-Mexican Violence in Texas|Monica Muñoz Martinez|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1524454222l/38240526._SY75_.jpg|59922910] that many would want us to forget.
“We must reckon with the fact that the southern border of our country was created—and policed—violently, and not valiantly, and 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.”
In the mid-1800s a number of Americans, many slave-owners from southern states, started moving into Texas. They brought with them many of their existing prejudices and horrific lynching practices. These attitudes set the stage for a number of murders of the indigenous Mexican-American population committed by both private citizens and official law enforcement (the Texas Rangers) in the early 1900s; atrocities that are meticulously detailed in this volume.
Many of these stories have been forgotten by the public, but are being unearthed and examined by historians. With Martinez’s archival work, combined with oral history, she is able to paint a clear picture of murky times, as well as how these actions impact living populations today. Mobs lynched ethnic Mexicans with impunity and law enforcement co-signed vigilante murders by providing these racist actions with their stamp of approval, if they weren’t the ones the perpetrate such actions.
“On numerous occasions the authorities asked the committee to agree that Texas rangers should be able to act outside the parameters of the law. More specifically, they suggested that suspending legal procedures and regulations would be necessary to protect Anglo-American citizens and their property.”
In addition to the hidden history uncovered, part of what makes Martinez’s work so relevant is her exploration of how this past trauma manifested into generational trauma. When someone’s family member is brutally killed under the vague (and false) pretense of him being “dangerous,” but there is no public record or reprimand for the authority figures carrying out an execution without trial, it can really feel like your loved one’s life did not matter. On so many levels. What does that mean for someone, whose grandparent was erased from the earth in this way?
Overall, this is a great read, and one that I highly recommend to anyone interested in U.S. history.
Rating: 4.5 stars
“We must reckon with the fact that the southern border of our country was created—and policed—violently, and not valiantly, and 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.”
In the mid-1800s a number of Americans, many slave-owners from southern states, started moving into Texas. They brought with them many of their existing prejudices and horrific lynching practices. These attitudes set the stage for a number of murders of the indigenous Mexican-American population committed by both private citizens and official law enforcement (the Texas Rangers) in the early 1900s; atrocities that are meticulously detailed in this volume.
Many of these stories have been forgotten by the public, but are being unearthed and examined by historians. With Martinez’s archival work, combined with oral history, she is able to paint a clear picture of murky times, as well as how these actions impact living populations today. Mobs lynched ethnic Mexicans with impunity and law enforcement co-signed vigilante murders by providing these racist actions with their stamp of approval, if they weren’t the ones the perpetrate such actions.
“On numerous occasions the authorities asked the committee to agree that Texas rangers should be able to act outside the parameters of the law. More specifically, they suggested that suspending legal procedures and regulations would be necessary to protect Anglo-American citizens and their property.”
In addition to the hidden history uncovered, part of what makes Martinez’s work so relevant is her exploration of how this past trauma manifested into generational trauma. When someone’s family member is brutally killed under the vague (and false) pretense of him being “dangerous,” but there is no public record or reprimand for the authority figures carrying out an execution without trial, it can really feel like your loved one’s life did not matter. On so many levels. What does that mean for someone, whose grandparent was erased from the earth in this way?
Overall, this is a great read, and one that I highly recommend to anyone interested in U.S. history.
Rating: 4.5 stars