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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Refusing to Forget condemns the latest DHS decision to build a wall that disturbs a sacred site in Presidio County. Stand with us in supporting descendants and their families. Learn more about this history: refusingtoforget.org Take action: nobigbendwall.org

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

🚨 NEW BOOK ALERT 🚨 In 1919, José Tomás Canales filed legislation to reform the Texas Rangers, sparking two weeks of historic hearings at the state capitol 🏛️ An unprecedented exposure of state-sanctioned violence & its aftermath. 👉 tinyurl.com/55jf89hs

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

This history shaped the world we live in. Many Americans have never heard of it. Meet Benjamin Johnson, co-founder of Refusing to Forget. 🔗 youtu.be/k6ITAhvCdpQ Support our 2026 campaign: refusingtoforget.org/donate/ #PublicHistory #TexasHistory

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

See you tomorrow, RGV! Join the discussion with RTF co-founder, @benjaminhjohns1.bsky.social and learn why “Texas Is Bigger Than You Think It Is,” as well as a roundtable discussion on Trouble in the Borderlands. All community members are welcome.

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

New Blog Post ➡️ refusingtoforget.org/terror-is-th... Refusing to Forget member @leahlao.bsky.social demonstrates how the violence that the world is witnessing in Minneapolis and the murders that have occured in other cities since Trump resumed office, is horrific....but it is not new.

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

New Blog Post ➡️ refusingtoforget.org/the-canales-... On January 30, 1919, began an unprecedented exposure of state-sanctioned violence by the Texas Rangers & accomplices. Witnesses testified about murder, torture, displacement, and other efforts of intimidation of Border Mexicans by the Rangers.

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

On January 30, 1919, began an unprecedented exposure of state-sanctioned violence by the Texas Rangers & accomplices. Witnesses testified about murder, torture, displacement, and intimidation of Border Mexicans by the Rangers. Learn more in today's blog post: refusingtoforget.org/the-canales-...

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

Today we remember the Porvenir massacre and the lives that were lost. Read more here: refusingtoforget.org/porvenir-mas...

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

Today we remember the Porvenir massacre and the lives that were lost. Read more here: refusingtoforget.org/porvenir-mas...

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

New on the blog: A guest post marking 115 years since the Rocksprings lynching of Antonio Rodríguez. Contributor Ignacio Minjarez examines the 1910 lynching & invites readers to consider how the stories told after the violence helped define who Rodríguez was. refusingtoforget.org/115-years-si...

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

As 2025 comes to a close, this work cannot pause. From reaching 21,000+ people to helping secure long-delayed death certificates for Jesús Bazán and Antonio Longoria, collective memory has made real change possible. With honest history under increasing threat, the need is urgent.

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

21,000+ people used our resources this year—teachers, students, journalists, families. Help us keep this history accessible. Support Refusing to Forget this #GivingTuesday. 👉 Donate on Mighty Cause: www.mightycause.com/donate/Refus... 👉 Join Patreon: www.patreon.com/RefusingtoFo...

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

Starting in 1 hour! Join us on Patreon to join the conversation! www.patreon.com/RefusingtoFo... The forced resignation of Kate Rogers of the Alamo Trust, the firing of Tom Alter from TX State, & lawsuits against historians & journalists are all aimed at suppressing certain historical truths.

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

Virtual Talk Tonight! Join us as we bring together these powerful voices to reflect on this urgent moment & the ongoing struggle to protect truthful history. @stevanzetti.bsky.social @drmphillipsut.bsky.social Access this event on our Patreon: www.patreon.com/RefusingtoFo...

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

Our virtual event is just one week away! Join us as we bring together these powerful voices to reflect on this urgent moment & the ongoing struggle to protect truthful history. @stevanzetti.bsky.social @drmphillipsut.bsky.social Access this event on our Patreon: www.patreon.com/RefusingtoFo...

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

In 1956, Ranger Jay Banks declined to protect Black students attempting to enroll in high school at Mansfield and junior college in Texarkana from white mobs. /10 refusingtoforget.org/mansfield-sc...

During the 1956 protest against desegregation at Mansfield High School, John Pyles held a baby alligator as a warning to any African American who appeared on the school grounds that they would be “gator bait.” (Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection/University of Texas at Arlington Library)

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

Lish noticed similarities between the Texas Lopez and the Utah Lopez. He concluded that the two men were the same. In 2003 the state agreed and Utah closed the case, thus ending Utah's greatest manhunt. /13

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

By the early 1920s the Texas Rangers had had several encounters with Lopez, failing to apprehend him. Ranger Frank Hamer learned in late Sept or early Oct 1921 that Lopez was scheduled to meet with some compatriots near El Paso. /10

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

Lopez did not die in the mine. Instead he escaped and fled to Texas, became Red Lopez, participated in the Mexican Revolution, likely fighting with the forces of Pancho Villa. He also engaged in banditry, contributing to his legacy as an outlaw. /9

alleged photo of Red Lopez (middle) with other Mexican revolutionaries, image in the public domain

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

Sorenson, Bingham Chief Marshal John Grant, and deputies George Witbeck and Nephi Jensen attempted to arrest Lopez in Nov 1913. He fled, the officers gave chase, and Lopez opened fire from a distance. He killed Grant, Witbeck, and Jensen. Only Sorenson survived the encounter. /6

illustration from Utah's Greatest Manhunt, Fray Angélico Chávez History Library

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

But some sources show that Lopez was himself the victim of police abuse. For example, the "eyewitness" account "Utah's Greatest Manhunt" tells of how Lopez aided Mexican women who were being accosted by other miners. When police arrived they arrested him, not the aggressors. /3

cover of Utah's Greatest Manhunt, Fray Angélico Chávez History Library

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

Little is known of Lopez's early life, but in 1912 he was probably in his late teens and worked as a miner in Bingham Canyon, Utah. According to popular accounts he became a wanted man after allegedly killing another Mexican man. /2

alleged image of Lopez. Utah Humanities. , https://www.utahhumanities.org/stories/items/show/313

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

#OTD sometime in October of 1921 Texas Ranger Frank Hamer killed Mexican revolutionary and outlaw Rafael "Red" Lopez. His death marked the end of a years long tale that law enforcement would only fully come to understand in the early 2000s. /1

A young Rafael Lopez. From Max Boardman, “Raphael ‘Red’ Lopez,” True West Magazine, April 27, 2015. https://truewestmagazine.com/article/raphael-red-lopez/

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 10/10/2025

The annual Crystal City Pilgrimage honors the memory of the men, women, & children imprisoned in the WWII DOJ Crystal City Family Internment Camp. "The pilgrimage is an invitation to step into the past... To feel rage and grief but also love & community & solidarity." www.crystalcitypilgrimage.org

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

#OTD in 1921, future Texas Ranger Red Burton, a sheriff’s deputy at the time, and Waco sheriff Bob Buchanan had a run-in with the Lorena Ku Klux Klan in Lorena, Texas. /1

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 30/09/2025

Texas’ state government then moved aggressively against the NAACP. A Ranger piloted a plan that carried an assistant attorney general to 8 cities in 3 days to raid NAACP offices and seize records. A state judge then issued an injunction against the org. /8

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 30/09/2025

Rangers and other state agents took most of the plaintiffs in the NAACP school desegregation case to a Justice of the Peace in Dallas where they were interrogated about their roles in the suit./6

October 1, 1956 FBI memo, https://vault.fbi.gov/Thurgood%20Marshall/Thurgood%20Marshall%20Part%201%20of%2011/view, page 80

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 30/09/2025

Marshall complained that Rangers and other state agents interviewed Black parents and threatened them with imprisonment and “economic pressure” while NAACP attorneys were out of town. /3

FBI memo, September 30, 1956. https://vault.fbi.gov/Thurgood%20Marshall/Thurgood%20Marshall%20Part%201%20of%2011/view, page 76

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 30/09/2025

#OTD in 1956, legendary civil rights attorney Thurgood Marshall wrote to J. Edgar Hoover, head of the FBI, complaining of Ranger intimidation of Black citizens who had sued Dallas over school segregation. /1

NAACP Chief Counsel Thurgood Marshall in front of the Supreme Court, undated. Bettmann/Bettmann Archive. https://www.theguardian.com/law/2017/oct/08/thurgood-marshall-film-biopic-supreme-court

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 27/09/2025

The Texas Historical Commission rejected the marker in 2014, and again in 2015, but finally approved it in 2015. The RTF team collaborated on the marker and its unveiling with descendants. /16 refusingtoforget.org/historical-m...

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 27/09/2025

For generations, the Bazán and Longoria families lovingly tended the gravesites and kept alive memories of their fallen ancestors. /13

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 27/09/2025

Reportedly, Bazan and Longoria left and began making their way home on horseback. Ransom and two civilians followed by car, and then a man reached out and shot both men in the back. /7

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 27/09/2025

#OTD in 1915, Texas Rangers murdered Jesús Bazan and his son-in-law, Antonio Longoria, in cold blood. /1

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

Did you know Reverberations of Racial Violence (2021) is available in Spanish and FREE to download? ¿Sabías que Rebrotes de Violencia Racial está disponible en español y se puede descargar gratis? ➡️Download: libros.uanl.mx/index.php/u/... ➡️Learn more: refusingtoforget.org/1919-canales...

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 19/09/2025

🚨Join us in supporting higher education and democracy. Take action using the links below:

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

While the television series does not credit any inspiration for the show, it is suspected that an escaped slave named Bass Reeves was the true “lone ranger.” /3

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

#OTD in 1949, the first episode of The Lone Ranger premiered, starring Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels. /1

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 06/09/2025

#OTD in 1988, Lee Roy Young became the first African American man to be allowed to join the Texas Rangers. /1

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

Villareal was traveling with his two nephews to the wedding, when he was stopped by a Ranger at one o’clock in the morning who asked him to drive him a mile or so up the road to get water. /2

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

#OTD in 1918, Texas Rangers illegally held and tortured Jesus Villareal of Copita, TX on his way to his niece’s wedding near Roma. /1

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

Want to be featured on our blog? Refusing to Forget publishes blog posts in response to anniversaries & developments in historical knowledge & the way we commemorate the past. Past blog entries can be found at refusingtoforget.org/blog-2/. For more information email jpcarmona74@gmail.com.

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 30/08/2025

Orozco rose to prominence when he led the revolutionary forces of Francisco I. Madero and defeated Mexican President Porfirio Díaz's army in the May 1911 Battle of Ciudad Juárez. Díaz abdicated, ending a decades-long, corrupt dictatorship. /8

Madero and Pascual Orozco. ca. March 29-April 8, 1911. Hacienda de Bustillos, Anahuac Municipe, Chihuahua, Mexico. American border troops and the Mexican Revolution Place: Parral, Chihuahua, Mexico Physical Description: 1 photographic print (postcard): gelatin silver; 9 x 14 cm File: ag1982_0015_126c_madero.jpg Rights: DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University. https://digitalcollections.smu.edu/digital/collection/mex/id/1815

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 30/08/2025

The unscrupulous proceedings and coverup, involving a complicit judge and law officers, was an effort to shield the posse from further inquiry under the double jeopardy clause. The coverup succeeded. /7

Source: Francisco I. Madero, three-quarter length portrait. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress. Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-36672 (b&w film copy neg.) https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/mexican-revolution-and-the-united-states/rise-of-madero.html

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 30/08/2025

A day before his death, Orozco apparently lost some horses and had either taken or bought three stolen horses, but the posse had no knowledge of the horse thefts or the identity of the men they were chasing until after the killings. /2

“Pascual Orozco en Bachimba,” 4 de julio de 1912, derrota del General Pascual Orozco en Bachimba. Gobierno de Mexico, Secretaria de Defensa Nacional, 01 de Abril de 2019. https://www.gob.mx/sedena/documentos/4-de-julio-de-1912-derrota-del-general-pascua-orozco-en-bachimba?state=published

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 30/08/2025

#OTD in 1915, Mexican Revolutionary officer Pascual Orozco and four companions were chased by a posse of Texas Rangers, troops of the Thirteenth Cavalry, and local police after they were falsely accused of assaulting workers at a west Texas ranch. /1

Source: Gen. Pascual Orozco. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress. Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-108596 (b&w film copy neg.) Call Number: BIOG FILE - Orozco, Gen. Pascual <item> [P&P], https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/mexican-revolution-and-the-united-states/rise-of-madero.html

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

Captain Manuel T. “Lone Wolf” Gonzaullas, who was said to have killed 30 people over his 31-year tenure as a Texas Ranger, was a consultant on the show, just as he had been for the radio show. /5

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

#OTD in 1955, Tales of the Texas Rangers originally aired on the CBS network and continued for three seasons. /1

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

📻Tune in!! This Friday RTF co-founder @gonzalest956.bsky.social discusses the 'A Matter of Justice' Report on Fronteras, ‪‪Texas Public Radio. The conversation will also be available Friday on the TPR website: www.tpr.org/podcast/fron... Read the report here: refusingtoforget.org/a-matter-of-...

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Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

J.M. Fox would be the same Captain that would resign in 1918, in the aftermath of the Porvenir massacre, which was carried out by men under his command. /2

J. M. Fox's 1911 Commission as “Captain of Rangers” and signed by the Governor. Photograph: Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum, Loaned by Anthony S. Sapienza, D.M.D. / Cat. # L2018.007.024

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