By Tonio LeFebre For the Atsihem of the Rio Grande Valley of Southern New Mexico and El Paso, Texas, our struggle to retain cultural identity and linguistic distinction has been a centuries-long battle in the light of cultural genocide and erasure. The Atsihem, also known as the Piro, relocated from our homelands about forty miles […]
Posted incorruption
The Political Boss Of El Paso
The May 1, 1908, letter to the editor succinctly stated what El Pasoans had been whispering about for years: “it is true that Henry Kelly” was the “political boss of El Paso.” The letter continued with Kelly “will see to it that all” Black votes and “Mexican votes that he can control” will go the […]
Posted inGovernment
An Anecdote About El Paso Politics
In researching old newspaper articles about the politics in El Paso, oftentimes there are articles of interesting events that do not make it into an article but, nonetheless, the historical event is both poignant and relevant to today’s events in the city. This event is both poignant to politics in general and does not belong […]
Posted inEl Paso
What The Texas And El Paso Bar Got Wrong: First Texas Woman Lawyer Was In El Paso
According to the Iowa Department of Human Rights, the first American woman attorney was Arabella Mansfield. Mansfield passed the Iowa bar examination in 1869. [1] Although she never practiced law, she has been credited as the first female lawyer in the United States. There is, however, some controversy as to who the first female lawyer […]
Posted inEl Paso
Frontier Klansmen: The KKK In El Paso
The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is a racist white supremacy group. The secretive organization was established after the Civil War in response to the end of slavery, where its members were generally found in the former Confederate States of America. The first version of the KKK was in opposition to Republican politicians running for office […]
Posted inEl Paso
The Doctor That Took On The White El Paso Political Establishment For Racial Equality
The political narrative in El Paso today is that the local Democratic Party is the party of inclusiveness and progressiveness. It is a narrative that has been carefully cultivated for decades. Lost in the re-envisioned narrative is the historical truth. There was a time that El Paso’s Democratic Party fought to allow only White people […]
Posted inEl Paso
When Mexicans Voted In El Paso
“Unless you pay your poll tax hired Mexican voters will select our city’s next administration,” proclaimed the unsigned letter to the El Paso Times on January 20, 1905. [1] The Texas Constitutions of 1869 and 1871 enacted a poll tax of $1 on all men, 21 to 60. The tax funded public schools, but although […]
Posted inCultural Whitewashing
The History of Slavery In El Paso
Critical race theory is an ongoing national debate over what type of history is taught in America’s schools today. At the center of the debate is who writes America’s narrative. On one hand are the individuals that want to continue the narrative that American exceptionalism created a unique value system that made America into the […]
Posted inPolice & Law Enforcement
The Jaime Esparza Racist Coverup: “Good Ol’ Boy” Anglos Should Administer Justice
The problem with coverups is that the truth is unlikely to ever be known. There may be glimpses of the truth from time to time, but the facts remain unknown. For 28 years, Jaime Esparza governed over criminal cases in El Paso. Many individuals are currently in prison doing time for crimes. For the criminals […]
Posted inCultural Whitewashing
Mexican American Identity And El Paso Identity
Author’s note: The concepts of Mexican American Identity discussed here are primarily taken from a 1973 presentation made by UTEP professor Ellwyn Stoddard. See primary source note below for more information. Likely one of the most confusing aspects about the discussion of racism in the United States is the conflating of racism, ethnicity and nationality […]