RTF Blog

On a gloomy Saturday afternoon in January, the Duval County Historical Commission unveiled a historical marker commemorating the signing of El Plan de San Diego. A The declaration, written over a hundred years ago, called for a revolution against the United States to free the Southwest. This declaration was not the work of a fringe […]

Refusing to Forget is pleased to announce that in 2023 we will be running an #OTD in Ranger History campaign to coincide with the Ranger Force’s claimed bicentennial.  Several times a week, we will post information about Ranger actions on our website and in twitter threads. The posts will draw on scholarship on the Rangers,

As the bicentennial celebration for the Texas Rangers is on the horizon, audiences will witness the discussions on the folklore, myths, and violence play out in the media. Texas Monthly, for example, recently published several articles that highlight the legacy of the Ranger in Texas history. RTF founder Trinidad Gonzales wrote “Texas Rangers Bicentennial is a Time

The Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum appears to have removed language praising one of its honorees for tracking down people fleeing bondage for freedom in Mexico. For years, it has praised William “Bigfoot” Wallace for tracking down those risking everything to gain their freedom. “Wallace’s skills were often put to use trailing runaway

The use of military weapons and other equipment by police forces is one facet of contemporary debates over policing in the United States.  Although most of the military weaponry in the possession of municipal police departments came in the aftermath of a 1997 law that allowed for the transfer of such equipment, the practice is much older than that.  “Rifles

By Juan Carmona   It was a crisp cool morning in the Rio Grande Valley as I came into San Benito, Texas. I was there to join La Caminata’s march to commemorate those lost to an event known as La Matanza. In 2017 Refusing to Forget led the effort to place a historical marker just

By Christopher Carmona   “The families who have reckoned with this violence harbor a lesson we should allheed: We must reckon with the fact that the southern border of our country wascreated and policed violently, and not valiantly; and that we have continuallysuppressed this truer and more accurate past. It is a past that bleeds

  Refusing to Forget Awarded Pandemic Recovery Grant from the American Historical Association” For Immediate Release March 30, 2022  Refusing to Forget has been awarded funding from the American Historical Association’s “Grants to Sustain and Advance the Work of Historical Organizations Program,” which provides relief to institutions adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This opportunity was