Blake Burleson, A. Christian Van Gorder: Grim times color Texas… – Waco Tribune-Herald

Sponsored and partially funded by the City of Waco and designated by the State of Texas to “preserve the history and inspire appreciation of the Texas Rangers,” the museum is a recognized symbol of our great state and the American West. And, of course, just up the road, a Major League Baseball team uses its popularity in all-American sports. Anyone with family in law enforcement surely rejoices in the many ways society honors the sacrifices of those who put their lives on the line for us. Daniel Bowers, Blake’s great-grandfather, was a part-time detective for the Waco Police Department. Descendants treasure his gun and holster. These stimulate reflection, wonder and appreciation.

Yet another horrifying moment in our country’s history when violence – employed unnecessarily by armed police, supposedly trained and visited by an individual of color – should cause each of us to reflect more deeply on the role of law enforcement. ‘order. For those aware of our history, it also means acknowledging the questionable violence embedded in Texas Rangers history. We applaud the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum management’s plans to tell a fuller story of the organization, warts and all, rather than “undoing” parts of the story like some of we seem more and more determined to do so.

First, though: The women and men who serve Texas and risk their lives and reputations show our gratitude and respect. They serve to protect us. Their ranks are filled with officers of extraordinary courage, vigilance and integrity. The first Texas Rangers emerged as an all-volunteer paramilitary group when Texas was still part of Mexico. The border dangers they faced as they shot straight into wild and often lawless territory are part of the lore. Over the years, they’ve matched their intelligence and strength with cattle rustlers, bank robbers, and even pirates.

No wonder Hollywood found the Texas Ranger’s exploits worthy of the movie industry. One of the earliest silent pictures – from 1910 – was called ‘The Ranger’s Bride’, an admittedly tongue-in-cheek tale of a Ranger and his mail-order bride. Various films and television shows have glorified the heroism of the Rangers, ranging from “The Comancheros” with John Wayne, Stuart Whitman and Bruce Cabot all playing Rangers, to the NBC-TV show “Laredo” with William Smith, Peter Brown and Neville Brand doing the Ranger honors. Texas author Larry McMurtry modeled iconic Rangers Woodrow McCall and Gus McCrae after Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, which helped relaunch the careers of Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Duvall when the novel was turned into a TV miniseries. Martial arts star Chuck Norris even got in on the Rangers action.

Today, the Texas Rangers are a highly trained elite force of public servants who serve with distinction and bravery. Most of us wouldn’t be worthy of wearing their boots – and they defy some of our beloved movie and TV stereotypes. They are a small force of only about 160 people in a state of over 30 million people. Less well known is the fact that they deal with growing public corruption allegations, cold case challenges that confuse other law enforcement agencies, and officer-involved shooting investigations. They also oversee the Department of Public Safety’s Border Security and Tactical and Crisis Negotiation programs.

We write this caveat, however, because the story is complicated and a more honest story needs to be told without undermining the highest standards of dress. To quote historian Doug J. Swanson, longtime investigative projects editor at the Dallas Morning News, fellow at the Texas Institute of Letters, Pulitzer finalist, and author of “Cult of Glory: The Bold and Brutal History of the Texas Rangers,” published in 2020: “Movies, TV shows, museum exhibits, and adoring tales generally skip over much of the story. Over the centuries, the Texas Rangers have done that, too: they were violent instruments of repression.

The list is significant, Swanson argues: “They burned peasant villages and massacred innocent people. They have committed war crimes. Their murders of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans made them as feared on the frontier as the Ku Klux Klan in the Deep South. They hunted runaway slaves for bounties. They violated international law with impunity. They sometimes moved around the towns of Texas like a gang of raging thugs. They conspired to nullify the civil rights of black citizens. They dismantled unions and broke strikes. They enforced racial segregation in public schools.

Three large communities in Texas were systematically and very intentionally abused by the Texas Rangers of old. Long before Euro-Americans immigrated to Texas, First Nations peoples – Comanches, Cherokees, Huacos, Delawares and Tawakonis, to name a few – lived here. The Caddo Nation – before being forced to relocate to Oklahoma – called their homeland “Tejas”, their word for friendly. Of course, the settlers and the native people fought fiercely for Texas with atrocities committed by both. One of the founders of the Texas Rangers was ambushed and killed by Huaco Indians, despite the generally peaceful reputation attributed to the latter. A genocidal war of eradication ensued with superior weapons making a difference.

Today, the ranks of the Rangers include First Nations heritage officers.

The second group to bear the brunt of the Rangers’ violence involved Mexican Americans. In many ways, the war between Texans and Mexicans did not end when Texas became independent in 1836. As late as 1915, Governor James Ferguson ordered the Rangers to stop summary executions of Mexicans. One of the darkest chapters in Texas history – the 1918 massacre of 15 unarmed men and boys of Hispanic blood in the border town of Porvenir, Texas – sadly included in the complicity of several Company B Rangers with the US Army’s 8th Cavalry Regiment and a handful of ranchers. The rest of the villagers fled Texas to safety in Mexico. In strongly condemning the episode, Texas National Guard Adj. General James A. Harley expressed outrage that the United States was fighting World War I ‘to overthrow ruthless autocracy’, the state of Texas should not ‘offer to tolerate it here , his home”.

The first Hispanic Ranger did not join the force until 1969. The first Hispanic senior Ranger captain was Tony Leal in 2008.

Third, in the civil rights era, the Texas Rangers were part of the discriminatory efforts directed against African Americans, reinforcing the Jim Crow racism that some politicians now seek to undo in our history books and school lessons. In 1956, the Texas Rangers – under orders to stay out of the integration dispute – refused to enforce the law of the land requiring that two African-American teenagers be allowed into Texarkana College. During this period, Rangers also harassed and intimidated members of the NAACP, an organization that became a major focus of Ranger investigations as white people fought tooth and nail against desegregation.

The first African-American Texas Ranger was not hired until 1988 after the NAACP filed a federal complaint.

Let’s recognize another point: every institution – just like every individual – makes mistakes and has a dark side. Everyone has their share of scammers and misfits who do not best represent the organization they are affiliated with. The abuses of the Rangers went beyond a few bad apples and exposed the racist tendencies of the predominantly white population of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The purpose of chronicling the imperfections in Rangers history is not to challenge the reputation of current officials, but to discourage any racial backsliding in 21st century Texas, especially given the violently unconstitutional push of the so-called descent movement. “constitutional sheriffs” which imagines county sheriffs. eclipse of authority from state and federal judges, legislators, governors, the President of the United States – even the Texas Rangers.

Our message: While honoring the service of the Rangers and celebrating their dedication, heroism and courage, it is imperative to tell the full story. Without a full story, we only whitewash our past, setting the stage for similar failures and embarrassments in times to come. We look forward to expansion plans for the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum, both in terms of museum space and stories about how this elite class of law enforcement officers evolved. beyond border expectations.