Americo Paredes, writing about the Texas Rangers in the early 1900s, describes them as a force whose main goal was to create terror among border residents. Now, with Governor Perry sending a special tactical unit of Texas Rangers to secure the U.S. Mexico Border this historical memory of the rangers (or rinches) is now bringing back memories of this violence.
Consider the following post in the blog South Texas Chisme (http://stxc.blogspot.com/2009_09_01_archive.html):
“They seem to be speaking to the Anglo populace, because they sure are not speaking to me. Am I supposed to be thrilled that Perry is bringing Los Rinches back? They just don’t get it, do they? Now comes PERRY – an Anglo – to remind us Mexicans/Chicanos that the killer Texas Rangers are still alive and well. Known by Mexicans as Los Rinches de Tejas ? these foul-mouthed lawmen too often took the law into their own hands and lynched Mexicans simply because they were there and because they were defenseless.
By some estimates, thousands of Mexicans were lynched by Los Rinches who, in their brutality, executed them without suffering any repercussions from Texas courts. Los Rinches would falsely arrest Mexicans and would promptly lynch them, without benefit of a court trial or any other venue where the person’s guilt or innocence could be proved.
In the period from 1848 to 1870, some official records show that 473 out of every 100,000 Mexican migrant workers died at the hands of Los Rinches. In the 1850s, Tejanos faced expulsion from their Central Texas homes on the accusation that they helped slaves escape to Mexico. Others became victims of Anglo wrath around the Goliad area during the Cart War of 1857, as they did in South Texas in 1859 after Juan N. Cortinas’ capture of Brownsville.”
Our question is to what extent does this quote capture the views and sentiments of border residents. Any ideas?
