As far back as the 1930s, the Texas Rangers became involved in the African-American struggle for full citizenship and civil rights. The Rangers were summoned to protect two Black men who had been called for jury duty. (Klarman, 2004, p. 154) Unfortunately, the same fabled Rangers operated on the other side of the fence when it came to their interactions with Mexican-Americans. According to Joan Moore in a 1970s work, "For decades the Texas Rangers terrorized the Mexican-Americans of the Rio Grande Valley, and even today, although they are reduced in numbers, los rinches are still used to 'handle' Mexicans." (Feagin, 2001, p. 218) the Rangers were also commonly used as a kind of border patrol. Though Mexicans and Mexican-Americans often suffered at their hands, the Texas Rangers came to be idolized by the State's White Population:
The Texas Ranger had acquired a strong and positive standing in myth, "eulogized, idolized and elevated to the status of one of the truly heroic figures in American history." In 1935, the historian Walter Prescott Webb published an influential study that reinforced the image of the Texas Ranger as "a man standing alone between a society and its enemies," a law officer who was also "a very quiet, deliberate, gentle person who could gaze calmly into the eye of a murderer, divine his thoughts, and anticipate his action, a man who could ride straight up to death." (Limerick, 1987, p. 257)
Thus, the Texas Ranger's achievement of mythic status was largely the outgrowth of the equally powerful myth of the frontier. Most importantly, the mythologized Texas Ranger personified the qualities of rugged-individualism and self-reliance. The Texas...
He fought for what was his, and helped to protect the weak, and the less fortunate. The fact that the Texas Rangers eventually became a sort of elite state police force, in no way changed the public's impression of the organization. Perhaps, this is the real gift of the Rangers to Texas, and to the nation - that they represent, at least in the minds and hearts of their fellow citizens all that is good and noble in the American Character. Truly, the Texas Ranger is larger than life.
References http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=28652828
Bechtel, H.K. (1995). State Police in the United States: A Socio-Historical Analysis. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
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Campbell, R. (2003). Gone to Texas: A History of the Lone Star State. New York: Oxford University Press.
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Feagin, J.R. (2001). Racist America: Roots, Current Realities, and Future Reparations. New York: Routledge.
A www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=103546455
Klarman, M.J. (2004). From Jim Crow to Civil Rights: The Supreme Court and the Struggle for Racial Equality. New York: Oxford University Press.
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Limerick, P.N. (1987). The Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West (1st ed.). New York: Norton.
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Vila, B. & Morris, C. (Eds.). (1999). The Role of Police in American Society a Documentary History. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
It's All about Image
