11 March 9-15, 2023 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents he touches on the state’s cotton economy and refers to people of color and poor whites as unintelligent and “worthless human silt,” according to The Shorthorn. Michael Phillips, a historian, UTA alum and author of White Metropolis, said that while he was a student there, he didn’t think about the buildings’ names but later learned of the upsetting history of their inspirations. Phillips and independent scholar Betsy Fri- auf, to whom he’s married, penned a 2018 col- umn for The Shorthorn exposing Davis’ support of eugenics. After that, he said, Napi- eralski picked up the baton. What was once called Davis Hall is now “University Administration Building.” Critics have argued that changing a name or removing a monument is a way of erasing history, but Phillips disagrees. “UT Arlington has had eight different names during its history,” he said, “and if you can rename the institution, you can cer- tainly rename buildings.” ▼ TEXAS HISTORY TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION HISTORY PROFESSOR SEEKS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT FROM THE STATE, TEXAS RANGERS. BY TYLER HICKS S he didn’t see the gunshot, but it hap- pened close enough for her to hear. It was 1915, and los rinches — the Texas Rangers — were killing Mexicans, Mexican Americans and hundreds of other people with relative impunity. On this par- ticular day, Sept. 16, members of the widely feared police force were questioning a woman named Santos Gamboa and her fam- ily at a ranch near Edinburg. “The Rangers were apparently talking to her,” Trinidad Gonzales said of Gamboa, re- counting the scene for a Texas Monthly pod- cast. Then, “they pulled her husband and her father-in-law to the side.” That’s when the shot rang out. Growing up, Gonzales heard this story several times. His father would tell him over barbecue, or his mother would tell him over coffee and pan dulce. He would learn, for in- stance, that his grandmother was 15 months old on the day of the murder, and he learned how Gamboa laid her husband and her fa- ther-in-law to rest in a nearby cemetery be- fore starting over. Gamboa would eventually own cattle and a store, and many years later, a young Gonzales would buy candy from that same store. In other words, Gamboa survived as well as she could in the years before and af- ter La Matanza: a decade of anti-Mexican vi- olence perpetrated by men like the Rangers. But like hundreds — maybe thousands — of victims, survivors and family members from the same time period, she never got closure. Her great-grandson hopes to change that. On Feb. 23, Trinidad Gonzales, a history professor at South Texas College, sent a formal letter to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the state’s Speaker of the House and multiple chiefs of staff for politicians in the Rio Grande Valley. The objective of the letter, Gonzales tells the Observer, is to finally be- gin the healing process for families who, like his own, lost loved ones to violence carried out by the Rangers. “The first thing I think everyone needs to understand is this is an issue of justice,” Gonzales says. “Are they going to be on the side of justice or injustice? It’s not a left or right issue; it should be bipartisan.” Gonzales is asking the state to create an in- vestigatory “truth and reconciliation” com- mission that will, according to his letter, “al- low families and communities of Texas to be heard.” Their focus would be the years be- tween 1836 and 1980, during which the Rang- ers murdered hundreds. According to journalist Doug Swanson’s book Cult of Glory, the fabled law enforcement unit was at one point as feared as the Ku Klux Klan. Gonzales’ proposed commission would be composed of an equal number of Re- publicans and Democrats, and they would hold meetings in five different Texas com- munities, gathering records and testimony from experts, families and even Ranger supporters eager to point out the force’s heroics. “I want them to be a part of this conver- sation,” Gonzales says of the pro-Ranger contingent. “That’s part of due process.” When the hearings were finished, the commission would make their findings pub- lic, then propose recommendations such as historical markers, public memorials and an official apology. Gonzales doesn’t exactly know what he wants. “I know I want an apology, but I don’t have all the answers yet,” he said. What’s important, he says, is that the state of Texas makes an effort to investigate the Rangers’ human rights offenses. Gonzales, a former journalist, first thought of the idea in late 2021, at which point he resigned from the board of Refus- ing to Forget, a nonprofit focused on the Rangers’ legacy of violence. He didn’t want to serve on the board while pursuing this commission, he says, because it could be seen as a distraction. He is also aware his request for a com- mission will likely be politicized. After all, this is the same lieutenant governor who ef- fectively barred a museum from hosting an event critical of the mythology surrounding the Battle of the Alamo. That’s why Gonzales’ letter includes a word one might not expect to see in a docu- ment discussing century-old violence: “woke.” “I make this request as a matter of jus- tice,” he writes, “not some WOKE ideology. The need for justice dates before the idea of WOKENESS even was conceived.” Indeed, descendants of Ranger victims have been calling for justice for decades, and Gonzales’ letter cites a 1929 newspaper edi- torial lamenting the impunity with which the heroes of Texas lore committed mass atrocities. Gonzales also includes the names of many victims, including those killed in the infamous Porvenir Massacre. “As far as the state is concerned, these people are still alive,” he says, noting that the families have never received a death certifi- cate. Even a seemingly small act like that, he says, can go a long way to providing closure. “It’s human nature, going back thousands of years, to name the people we’ve lost,” Gonzales says. “There’s a dignity in being re- membered.” BEST BRAZILIAN WAX LUCKY MAGAZINE BEST EXPERIENCE D MAGAZINE BEST SPA DALLAS OBSERVER 18-TIME WINNER West Village• 214-750-5667 • www.avalon-salon.com www.dallasobserver.com/signup go to WEEKLY EMAIL D SIGN UP FOR OUR WEEKLY EMAIL LIST for feature stories, movie reviews, calendar picks and more!
