The Texas Rangers are a legendary law enforcement agency but the lawmen have a dark side that has been virtually covered up in the telling of Texas history. Is it time to set the record straight?
"One Riot – One Ranger" is the title of a statue the stood since 1962 at Dallas Love Field Airport. Days ago that bronze figure of Texas Ranger Jay Banks was quickly removed.
City and airport officials decided to remove the statue after reading an excerpt of the book "Cult of Glory: The Bold and Brutal History of the Texas Rangers," by Doug J. Swanson.
In the book Swanson sets out to correct the public perception of the Texas Rangers with accounts of their role in racial violence and oppression against African Americans, Native peoples and Mexican Americans.
Commentary
The death of George Floyd at the hands of four former Minneapolis police officers is prompting massive protests throughout the United States and the world.
Even today, two weeks later, the protests continue. But they do so as the COVID-19 pandemic. How can protesters continue to demand racial justice if the pandemic makes showing up a risk to their and their families health?
Texas Public Radio guest contributor Arrie Porter offers her thoughts.
Arrie Porter is an MFA thesis candidate in the MA/MFA program in Literature, Creative Writing, and Social Justice at Our Lady of the Lake University.
She is the creator and publisher of Nubian Notes, a local magazine maintained as a “Special Collection” at the John Peace Library at the Institute of Texan Cultures.
David Martin Davies can be reached at DMDavies@TPR.org and on Twitter at @DavidMartinDavi.
