The Injustice Never Leaves You: Anti-Mexican Violence in Texas

by Monica Muñoz Martinez

A moving account of a little-known period of state-sponsored racial terror inflicted on ethnic Mexicans in the Texas–Mexico borderlands.

Between 1910 and 1920, vigilantes and law enforcement—including the renowned Texas Rangers—killed Mexican residents with impunity. The full extent of the violence was known only to the relatives of the victims. Monica Muñoz Martinez turns to the keepers of this history to tell this riveting and disturbing untold story.

Operating in remote rural areas enabled the perpetrators to do their worst: hanging, shooting, burning, and beating victims to death without scrutiny. Families scoured the brush to retrieve the bodies of loved ones. Survivors suffered segregation and fierce intimidation, and yet fought back. They confronted assailants in court, worked with Mexican diplomats to investigate the crimes, pressured local police to arrest the perpetrators, spoke to journalists, and petitioned politicians for change.

Martinez reconstructs this history from institutional and private archives and oral histories, to show how the horror of anti-Mexican violence lingered within communities for generations, compounding injustice by inflicting further pain and loss. Yet its memorialization provided victims with an important means of redress, undermining official narratives that sought to whitewash these atrocities. The Injustice Never Leaves You offers an invaluable account of why these incidents happened, what they meant at the time, and how a determined community ensured that the victims were not forgotten.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, Latinx, Politics, Race, United States

400 pages, Hardcover

First published September 3, 2018

About the author

Monica Muñoz Martinez is a scholar of Mexican-American history current serving as an Associate Professor of History at the University of Texas at Austin. Martinez was previously the Stanley J. Bernstein Assistant Professor of American Studies and Ethnic Studies at Brown University and an Andrew Carnegie Fellow. She is cofounder of the nonprofit organization Refusing to Forget, which calls for a public reckoning with racial violence in Texas. Martinez helped develop an award-winning exhibit on racial terror in the early twentieth century for the Bullock Texas State History Museum and worked to secure four state historical markers along the U.S.–Mexico border.

Reviews

[Laura Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book fills a gap in Texas history. It covers the vigilante and extralegal violence against ethnic Mexican Americans on the Mexican/Texas border in the early 20th century. The introduction is a bit scholarly in nature, but don't let it scare you off. The first three chapters each deal with an occurrence of violent acts against Mexicans and Mexican Americans in 1910, 1915, and 1918 respectively. The 4th and 5th chapters describe the overarching culture of violence that permeated Texas and continues today with the veneration of the Texas Rangers and the erasure or ignorance about the evils that some of them perpetuated. She ends the book with a description of the museum exhibit that the Bullock Museum held in 2016 about anti-Mexican violence between 1910 and 1920. Finally, her epilogue reminds us that these depredations were not only committed in the past. She compares the events covered in depth in the first three chapters to violence against ethnic Mexicans that continues today. It can be seen in the actions of border agents and ICE agents. She warns us not to simply relegate these events to the past, but to allow them to inform us about similar behavior in the present.

Simply excellent book.

[Rosa Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

All libraries need this book. I learned so much I didn’t know about the Texas Rangers and what purpose they served. It is very important everybody reads this or reads the history in this book.

[Cameron Rhoads · Rating 4 out of 5]

14 hours on Audible. A shocking account of white supremacy, racism, lynching, and murder by Texas mobs and the Texas Rangers from 1910 to 1920. Eye-opening and gives the reader pause.

[Francesca Calarco · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 The Injustice Never Leaves You: Anti-Mexican Violence in Texas 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

[Raul M · Rating 5 out of 5]

For me, the most unsettling, and telling, chapter began with the author describing what she found in a rural town in central Texas, inside a fast-food eatery (part of a chain that has become a Lone Star staple). She found a display honoring Texas Rangers that casually included photos of lynchings. The display may be deemed a modern-day outcome of long-accepted racism, and this book focuses on how such racism (in the form of vigilantism) affected Texans of Mexican descent. As the text explains, such extra-legal brutality was not only enabled by local and State government, but gradually ignored or glossed over in favor of an idealized and slanted picture of frontier life.

This work has enlightened me on specific examples of murders and false accusations, fueled by officially sanctioned (or socially accepted) xenophobia in Texas, that occurred in the early 20th century. The author has turned to records and testimony from family members of victims, verifying why even I've heard the colloquial Spanish word "rinches" used to convey how prior generations in my own area of southernmost Texas have seen State law enforcement (specifically the institution of the Rangers) with fear and distrust. This is a more critical look at Texas antiquity, suited for college-level (or even high school) reading and research.

By no means do I see any aim, on the part of this book, to divide or demoralize. Instead, I see this as an effort to acknowledge losses that Mexican-Americans in Texas have long carried in silence due to inaction or threats. On my part, I was taken aback to learn of sympathetic Anglo-Texans subjected to vitriol and intimidation, and of ethnic Mexicans having their character questioned regardless of their reputable social status. I was encouraged by one of the final chapters, which described recent (albeit long-overdue) efforts to bring these disquieting incidents and attitudes to light -- partly as a cautionary measure, lest an ugly side of history repeat itself.

[Porter Broyles · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very interesting book, there were parts where I felt that it got to be a little repetitive, but overall it was an eye opener.

The book presents a very different POV of some of Texas' heroes, which undoubtedly scares many people. They have their images of their icons and do not want those illusions to be challenged.

But having one's notions isn't always a bad thing.

These are historical figures who existed in a specific place and time---a place and time very different from that which we know today.

Just because we realize that those whom we respect had short comings does not have to be an assault on our history, but should serve as a catalyst to better understand our history.

It should be the foundation upon which we can work to build bridges between communities.

The stories told herein are not unknown. The difference is that most sources have them as footnotes, not as features.

This can be challenging.

But it is imperative that we confront our past, lest we continue in its perpetuation.

[Melody · Rating 4 out of 5]

Props to Monica Munoz Martinez for her dedication to write this book!
I struggled all through the introduction, barely able to read 5 pages in one sitting. However, once I got somewhere around page 70 I was truly engaged. Reading the word "..the loss of Mexican life was celebrated as a symbol of American progress..." gives you a glimpse of what you will read about the disgraceful sanctioned violence in Texas. One man tried to rid himself, as an adult, of the horrible life long nightmares he had from witnessing the violence with electric shock treatment! Someone told him later......."you can't get rid of it, it's stuck in your brain". The title, The Injustice Never Leaves You, was aptly named. What I learned in this book will never leave me..........

[Sergio Troncoso · Rating 5 out of 5]

An important history of violence against Mexican Americans in Texas, often by the Texas Rangers, particularly between 1910-1920. Well-documented and meticulously researched. This book brings to light a history kept by families but largely ignored by the State of Texas, until recently. How can a community become a part of society when the decades of pain and grief, often through state-sanctioned lynchings, are ignored in official histories? It can't, unless more books like this one give voice to those often silenced by fear. This is essential history.

[Stephanie Opperman (stephanie_opp on StoryGraph) · Rating 5 out of 5]

“We live in a world that needs to be reconstructed. The more people understand the long consequence of violence, the more likely we will be able to intervene against — to denounce outright — the violence and death that continues today.”

[Matthew Rohn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phenomenal book examining the history of anti-Mexican violence in Texas and the construction and destruction of different forms of memory about these events up through the modern day. Strong and accessible writing - would recommend for anyone interested in Mexican-American history, history of the Southwest, racist violence in the gilded age and progressive era, and development of popular historical memory.

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This deeply researched, grimly detailed history reveals the the horrific anti-Mexican violence along the Texas-Mexico border in the early part of the 20th century perpetrated by Texas Rangers, law enforcement, and affiliated vigilantes. A penetrating study of racist, state-sponsored terrorism.

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A difficult, but eye-opening read. I have a personal interest in this topic because my family was also victimized during the turbulent border struggles in 1910-20.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Do your homework, pass your history test then go to the library and find the books that tell you what really happened. Unfortunately, History repeats itself all too much.

[Brennan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Did not read the notes, but wow.
Fascinating look at the ways communities research and record their own stories, and the ways an inherited tragedy can reverberate for generations.

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Generally the most threatening people to Black Americans during the Jim Crow era were law enforcement authorities. Jim Crow laws were designed to intimidate and control those with little-to-no political power. For Mexican nationals and immigrants living along the southern U.S. Border, it was Juan Crow. Monica Muñoz Martinez’s academic study of five acts of violence against Mexicans in Texas in that occurred between 1915-1920 — murders, lynchings, intimidation, and selective law enforcement – had strong connections with each other, similar stories today, and preview those of tomorrow. Virtually all of them involve a distinct, state law enforcement body with separate from local governments, the Texas Rangers, a legal paramilitary police force that has existed throughout the history of the state, were responsible for much of the violence and intimidation, with individuals who not only went free and escaped accountability, but had their careers advanced. The narrative also recounts the stories of how long it took for these stories to at least get attention in the form of a museum exhibit. Even the witnesses to the violence bore the scars throughout their lives, as was recounted in a video, Border Bandits produced by the grandson of one.

Now, more than a century later, history is repeating, demonstrating once again that the lives of Latinos along the southern Texas border is as corrupt and dangerous as ever, only now the hate is spreading like wildfire throughout the nation. Just before the election, Ken Paxton, arguably the most corrupt and hateful of American states’ attorneys general, used the power of his office to harass and intimidate politically active Latinos. Instances of abuse of immigrants on the border by officials is. Or, perhaps it has never disappeared, just kept out of the news.

They promise to only get worse as the “Mass Deportation Now” signs from the past Republican convention and the presidential election become public policy in early 2025. The stories of more than a century ago will be the headlines in the papers of the coming months, only the dates have changed.

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Martinez uses archives and family histories to reconstruct state-sponsored anti-Mexican violence in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands during the first two decades of the twentieth century. Even though the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guaranteed all persons equal protection under the law, The Injustice Never Leaves You describes an institution of violence centered around the Texas Rangers but encompassing the much larger societal and political apparatus. Martinez pieces together a lost story of three lynchings before describing a system of violence that prevented Mexicans and Mexican Americans from enjoying the protections afforded by the law. In one story, Texas Rangers shot Jesús Bazán and Antonio Longoria, both citizens of the United States, in the back by after simply reporting a crime. Due process fell victim to extralegal violence. The relationship between the individual and the state was ethnically based, regardless of citizenship. “Although Mexicans in the United States who maintained American citizenship were legally recorded as white, being ethnically Mexican socially distinguished one to a different, inferior race…” When Texas State Representative J. T. Canales brought charges against the Texas Rangers, this long-serving Mexican American Texas official was asked if he was “Mexican by blood” as a way to discredit his testimony. Martinez’s real accomplishment, however, is her use of vernacular history-making, sharing the ethnic violence of the past with the greater public in the present. She changed the relationship between the individual and the state. Texas’ primary history museum now displays the injustices, easing some of the “…indignation inspired by 100 years of public disavowal...”

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

More than an alternative history of the Texas borderlands, Monica Muñoz Martinez's retelling of that history is a part of a broader project to reimagine how we think about history. She starts with very specific incidents of state violence, and traces their reverberations through generations (largely via oral histories and community memory). In doing so, she convincingly argues that the traditional gatekeepers of cultural legacy (and myth) have been historically ill-equipped to reckon with the complexities and consequences of racial violence and state aggression.

I picked up this book because of a passing reference in the acknowledgements in Greg Grandin's book, The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America. Indeed, it's a great compliment to that book; the violence that has defined the history of Texas deserves to be reappraised. It certainly plays an outsized role in the legends of the America West that have come to define our national character. As new generations encounter those old stories of Anglo settlement, indigenous displacement, and the "frontier," it's worth incorporating the stories of communities and individuals that were vilified, abused, and intentionally erased along the way.

The stories in this book will stay with me. I'm grateful for that.

[Marcos Damian León · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The Injustice Never Leaves You” fucking hurt to read, but its a necessary history of state sanctioned violence against ethnic Mexicans in Texas. In it Monica Muñoz Martinez documents the history of the Texas Rangers as a vigilante white supremacist group that murdered Mexicans and Natives to steal land for white settlers. Texas then made the Rangers into a state police force and fabricated the myth of their heroism. Muñoz Martinez defies this white washing of history by centering the victims and their descendants. She treats them as partners in the work of remembering; and I cried reading about families whose heritage is trauma and the fight for justice.

The United States would have us believe that the current violence against Latinxs is new; but Muñoz Martinez writes against that. She knows the importance of remembering the victims, speaking their names, and fighting for a future where we don’t see their history repeated.

[René Fabian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Answering calls for justice requires remembering the names of histories of violence... reckoning with the past is intertwined with current efforts for social justice and transformation, for freedom and full humanity. We live in a world that needs to be reconstructed. The more people understand the long consequences of violence, the more likely we will be to intervene against--to denounce outright--the violence and death that continues today. ~Martinez

These words seem to resonate even more today as we mourn the death of Adam Toledo. Truth be told that violence isn't just against African Americans, but also Mexicans as told by Martinez in this book.

This book took the longest to read for reasons that it contained so many facts that I wanted to double check and do my own independent research. Isn't that the idea of a great work such as this? Monica Munoz Martinez took the time to name each person who was murdered or affected by the violence initiated by those who took the law into their hands.

During the early 1900's, the border between Texas and Mexico was a war zone that was initiated by the Texas Rangers whose job was to "protect" American citizens in Texas from the "bandits" coming from Mexico. This job enabled them to act as vigilantes and perform job duties typically performed by a judge in order to bring justice. Often times, the Texas Rangers initiated the violence and spread fear and doubt about visitors coming from south of Rio Grande border. I believe they were among the first ones to initially define "fear" about those coming to the United States for better opportunities.

This book does a great job in detailing how fear and intimidation was used to oppress Mexicans and Mexican Americans, but also create a hostile environment for the Texans who lived near the border. They effectively made it harder to live as they were the ones responsible for most of the violence during this period of time.

I cannot emphasize enough how much this book is important to Texas history and should be taught to school children across this state and the nation on how fear was initiated and defined from those people coming from south of the border. This is a must read for those wishing to know about Texas history.

Martinez not only talks about the gruesome actions carried out by the Texas Rangers, but also the aftermath in those family members and friends whose lives were affected by their loved ones death. The point is that the injustice affects generations after the initial senseless murders that took place. Unfortunately, works like this have to come about in order for everyone to understand the ramifications of senseless violence.

The truth is that their deaths are not in vain as this book highlights the efforts made by a few scholars, like Martinez, to capture this period of time in stories passed down from generations to ensure that we do not forget about what happened in the past so that we will be wiser.

[Potato McB · Rating 5 out of 5]

So before moving to Texas, I didn't even know the Texas Rangers still existed. I thought that they were a thing of the past, random dudes acting as rangers back when Texas was the wild west, and that they'd since faded from existence (and had a sports team named after them). I did know about Walker, Texas Ranger, but I always assumed he was part of a fictional force, LOL!

Imagine my surprise when I attended a discussion on anti-Mexican violence in Texas and learned the truth! The author of this book was one of the panelists at that discussion, and her book was mentioned multiple times. I'm glad I attended, because I wouldn't have known any of this was a thing otherwise!

I read this book with my book club throughout September and October (one chapter a week). It's a good thing we spread it out over two months, because the atrocities and evasion of justice listed in here are enough to make one spit blood in anger! Imagine being Mexican-American, growing up here in Texas, not knowing that your grandparents and great-grandparents were mistreated and even killed not because they were criminals and bandits, as the old westerns, newspapers, and history textbooks seemed to indicate, but because they owned land that white people wanted or something ridiculous like that. Meanwhile, the perpetrators are idolized and there are monuments to them everywhere!

What I like most about this book is its emphasis on community history-- records, testimonies, archives, etc. compiled by members of the community-- especially those from groups whose thoughts and words have traditionally never been sought or valued, or have been outright suppressed/erased. It's a book that I think librarians and archivists and curators should be assigned to read in grad school. Exhibits and projects about marginalized groups and non-white populations are trendy nowadays. But how many of us actually know what the hell we're doing when it comes to planning and setting up these exhibits, these programs? I'm sure most of us are well-intended, but for the work to be impactful and reach those it should, we have to understand the importance of community memories and record-keeping, even if they don't fit what we are trained to consider "authoritative". It's essential that library/archive program graduates are taught this!

[loafingcactus · Rating 4 out of 5]

As far as any criticism of this book goes, it could have been written in crayon and it would not matter – this is extremely important information that needs to be presented.

Also, I did not finish reading the book. I curate my time and I think I got the point. I stopped toward the end of chapter 3 (about half way through the book). I’m sure the rest of the chapters are extremely important for the historical record but I don’t think every fact is necessary for me to read.

Aside from the information about the murders, there were three points in the book that I found particularly interesting:

One was the international nature of these murders. Mexico had an interest in their citizens, and so the United States often went to great pains to “prove” a victim was actually a US citizen. In one case recounted in the book, creating an entire genealogy for a victim while shaming as liars the people who claimed to be (and very likely were) this wife and child in Mexico.

Eventually the United States had to pay out to Mexico for the murders of their citizens, but the US instead found more payments due from Mexico than the US owed them and then strong-armed what had become a debt into trade agreements that favored the US.

Second was that in a state legislature hearing about murders of Mexicans conducted by the Texas Rangers, an officer with the rangers was so certain that his Anglo audience would see things his way that he explained in his official testimony that it was simply the same thing as lynching Black people in the US South (in his mind, obviously a good thing). Comparisons before this, as well as murders of Black people in Texas, had brought the NAACP into the state in force, which then has its own history of subversion and oppression.

The last thing was just how militarized the US Mexico border, and all of Texas, was. 100s of thousands of US troops were deployed and treated Texas essentially like an occupied country. The expense made sense to the United States because they did not want the Mexican revolution spilling over into the United States and because it was preparing troops for World War I.

Final note: the author of the book, with others, has formed the nonprofit found at RefusingToForget dot org to further the work of documentation and memorialization.

[Philip Meneses · Rating 5 out of 5]

The pain and injustice permeates along the Rio Grande. 19th and 20th century American History that has yet again been suppressed to gain control of the narrative by those who want to gloss over any blight that may lead to a dialogue on the prominent role of racism in America. This is a stunning and essential account that focuses on several accounts of lynching and mob violence that were carried out against Mexicans in Texas. The perpetrators many times carried out these acts in broad daylight and were state actors such as the Texas Rangers and supported by others such as the state’s governor. The author also details the discourse of these events in the decades after, which details some promising recent movements through symposiums and museum events, but also examines the disgustingly macabre use of lynching postcards that adorn local Dairy Queen restaurants as if they are little league pictures. The fight and persistence for justice inspires hope. An anonymous account from the past powerfully details their recollections of the lynchings and violence, knowing that maybe they can help future Texans, even if they were doubted by state archivists and local history societies. These are real wounds that must be addressed and not left to linger on future generations, justice for the victims, justice to those of other forgotten horrors lost to history.

[Stacey Beasley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This history has been omitted from textbooks and public display until recently. This information should be made mandatory in every US history class in the United States. Likewise, sociology should be taught in every high school not as an elective but made mandatory. We can we improve our society if our citizens are exposed to critical thinking and learning how our society functions and did functions. This is an incredibly important exercise in learning history. In the epilogue Dr. Martinez draws out implications of ignoring this history and exposes the way in which we continue with this struggle and ways we can reconcile this past in refusing to forget!

Yesterday I learned of unaccompanied immigrant children legally living and the United States are forced into harsh labor through staff agencies. Working in factories, slaughterhouse’s , agriculture and construction. Immigrant child labor is being used in the supply chain of Cheerios!!! General Mills, and other companies like Target and Ben and Jerry and many more (Hannah Drier NYT article). Because of the language barrier and the vulnerable position unaccompanied immigrant children are in, they aren’t aware of their rights, are afraid to ask for help and ultimately want to earn money to send back home as remittances to help their families, their exploitation is overlooked and it’s immense and these are the survivors…..

[Jen T. · Rating 5 out of 5]

While reading this book I realize how unmotivated and naive I was about my Texas history and how much violence many Mexican people endured during Texas early years. You don't get this buried history in middle and high school history class (if I did then maybe I would have listened), and that is a cause of alarm especially during times like these.

Martinez does a great job in detailing descrimination and racial injustices of Mexican people at the hands of early Texan anglos and Texas Rangers. Armed with vernacular histories from families that have done their own research themselves, Martinez uses their voices to give you a picture of what life was for Mexican americans and Mexicans from Mexico.

I say wow about learning more about some of these Texas Rangers that use the power they were given to do absolutely whatever they wanted without ever being tried or reprimanded for their crimes not only against Mexicans, but African Americans too. We have celebrated Texas Rangers around these parts for years not realizing what horrible crimes they were committing.

This book is very eye opening and very heartwrenching, I know for sure now I will be haunted these stories but greatful that they have finally been told.

[S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has been on my to-read list for ages, and it felt incredibly appropriate to read it following the Texas governor's anti-immigration tweet the day after he re-opened the state 100%.

In his tweet, he blamed Mexicans and other (brown) immigrants for spreading COVID-19 within Texas borders, yet has cared little about corralling the many anti-vaccine and anti-science white people in his state that have been using their "freedom" to spread COVID-19 over the past year.

Huh, anyway.

Not much has changed since the late 19th century/early 20th century. Martinez' book is well-researched and incredibly difficult to read/listen to at times, because let's face it--this is a heavy subject matter with ugly truths that we still see repeated in headlines on a near daily basis. The poor treatment of Mexican nationals or immigrants, the violent, militant police force enacted on BIPOC bodies all in the name of "freedom" and "safety" for white, Anglo Texans...

Even though this is a difficult read, it is essential.

[Steven Volk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant study, not just for the history it uncovers but for the discussion of the role of "vernacular" history (local oral histories, family memories, documents, etc) in constructing and reconstructing histories that racial injustice or other forms of discrimination have kept out of the official record. By examining the violent and repressive nature of the Texas Rangers in the first 2 decades of the 20th century, and the manner in which they became enshrined as exemplars of Texas "courage" and "fortitude," and then constructing a true history of the violence of the Rangers and how it became linked to today's Border Patrol, Muños Martinez provides an important account for history and historians.

[Glo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although it's heavy and heartbreaking to come to terms with this part of history that's pretty much omitted from what is taught about Texas history, it is nevertheless a vital read.
My journey as a Texan Mexican American reading this book was a seminal experience to say the least.
A deep informative look at how past history and generational trauma perpetuates Texas to this day.

"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."

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

The events in this book are important to know about and understand, and the author has seemingly done some very detailed research. I knew about some events, but had not heard of others. Some sources didn't cite their sources, or seemed less than reliable to me. Also some details made me doubt the author and editor ("...the NAACP was founded in 1909 during Reconstruction"... what?!), and the personal vein towards the end seemed out of place in what otherwise portrays itself as an academic book. Glad I read it, but I had issues with it.

[Bright · Rating 5 out of 5]

A heavy read, but an essential unflinching look into Texas histories of ethnic and specifically anti-Mexican violence. One of the book's last calls to action is to remember that history is not confined to the past-- the violence commited in the borderlands today is intimately connected to the unchecked violence and impunity of vigalante mobs and state police in the 19th and 20th centuries. And the consequences of ignoring these histories, the consequences of justice denied run ripples through generations. 5/5, a phenomenal, powerful read.

[Regan Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastically researched and thorough telling of the militarization of the Texas border. Martinez does not hide her opinion behind academic language and presents historical facts objectively. The history contained in this book is relevant and important. TINLY lends a fuller perspective of the conquering of the West and is a must read for anyone interested in border politics, cowboy history, etc. The historical threads she uncovers explains everything about the political climate regarding the Texas border.