RTF Blog

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

  August 28, 2018 – For Immediate Release Descendants of the victims of a Texas massacre announced their intention to hold a commemoration despite a delay in approving a historical marker on the part of the Texas Historical Commission (THC). The September 1 event, to be held at the Magoffin Home State Historical Site in

August 24, 2018 – For Immediate Release   Descendants of the victims of a Texas massacre and scholars across the country called on the Texas Historical Commission (THC) to proceed with longstanding plans to erect a monument commemorating the 1918 Porvenir Massacre. The THC approved an application for a Texas Historical Marker in 2015. Its

As many of you who have followed Refusing to Forget know, our colleague Monica Muñoz Martínez started applying for a state historical marker to acknowledge the Porvenir massacre of 1918, a crime in which fifteen men and boys of Porvenir were executed en masse by the Texas Rangers and local residents in Presidio County. The

Cárdenas recalls history that inspired his novel Balo\’s War. Guest post: Alfredo Cárdenas

\”This is not the first time the use of the pardon was promised to law enforcement officials to shield them from legal liability for violating the due process owed to all.\”