#OTD on June 2, 1967 Texas Ranger Captain A. Y. Allee and others brutally beat farmworker activists Magdaleno Dimas and Benito Rodriguez, in an incident that shows the extent of Ranger violence against Mexican American labor and CR activism.
Allee, as has been noted in other RTF #OTD tweets, had a long track record of violence, intimidation, and racism directed especially at the Mexican American community. He was quick to anger and seemed to enjoy clubbing people with his gun. https://twitter.com/Refusing2Forget/status/1642143914785230849?s=20
Allee seemed to focus on Dimas because he was a good leader who had a criminal record. Dimas for ex had been arrested about 6 months prior to his beating by Ranger Jerome Preiss for picketing during the Starr County Strike.
Allee had also arrested Dimas the day he beat Rev. Ed Krueger and Pancho Medrano. Dimas was eating a hamburger when Allee accosted him, slapping him around and then later claiming he arrested him for spitting mustard at him.
On June 1 Dimas had protested at La Casita Farms and shouted “viva la huelga” loudly. This elicited a complaint from La Casita’s manager, setting the legal grounds for Allee to arrest him for disturbing the peace.
Later that night at around midnight Allee and other Rangers rolled up on Dimas’s house. He was departing to hunt rabbits and had a .22 caliber rifle. When he saw the Rangers he dropped the gun and ran back into the house. The Rangers broke down the door.
The beating of Dimas and Rodriguez probably began at the house. It continued at the jail. Allee and the other Rangers beat these men throughout the night. Dimas later received hospital care for broken bones, internal bleeding, and a concussion.
Allee claimed any injuries came when the men ran into a door while running back into the house. Doctors said different: Dimas had a concussion, multiple lacerations, and a “blow to the lower portion of his back causing the spine to curve out of shape away from the impact point.”
The Dimas Incident showed Ranger Allee once again in a very negative light. The only repercussion Allee faced was the multiple subpoenas to appear before congressional committees, most of which he ignored.
What Dimas experienced was yet again an example of the collusion of law enforcement with Anglo employers. There were numerous cases wherein law enforcement infringed upon the rights of striking workers. This is in part why the Chicano movement focused so heavily upon police abuse.
To its credit, @txrangermuseum presents these episodes in Ranger history as abuses against peaceful protestors. https://www.texasranger.org/texas-ranger-museum/history/timeline/
This thread is a part of the #OTD in Ranger history campaign that @Refusing2Forget is running this year. Follow this twitter handle or https://refusingtoforget.org/ranger-bicentennial-project/, and visit our website https://refusingtoforget.org to learn more.
Refusing to Forget members are @ccarmonawriter @carmona2208 @acerift @soniahistoria @BenjaminHJohns1 @LeahLochoa @MonicaMnzMtz and @Alacranita, another co-founder is @GonzalesT956
@emmpask @sdcroll @HistoryBrian @LorienTinuviel @hangryhistorian, @ddsanchez432,
@elprofeml, and @littlejohnjeff are other scholars working on this project.
