You are invited to a special screening and panel discussion of the documentary
BORDER BANDITS
“The Texas Rangers and the Legacies of Racial Violence:
A Documentary and Panel Discussion”
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
7 pm to 10 pm
Registrations are closed for this event.
To learn about future screenings of Border Bandits, please see www.bigbendquarterly.com.
In 1915 and 1916, racial violence claimed the lives of as many as 5,000 people in South Texas, many of whom died at the hands of the Texas Rangers. This program features a documentary about one of these killings, followed by a discussion of the importance of these events for today’s rapidly-changing Texas.
“Border Bandits,” a documentary directed and produced by Kirby Warnock, is based on the eyewitness account of Warnock’s late grandfather, Roland A. Warnock, who witnessed the Rangers shoot two unarmed men in the back and leave their bodies by the side of a cow trail.
Previous screenings have garnered critical praise from The Fort Worth Star Telegram, The Dallas Morning News and The Dallas Observer, as well as the recent Kansas International Film Festival and CineSol Festival. “As a baby boomer who grew up with The Lone Ranger, I was always fascinated and disturbed by my grandfather's story,” recalls Warnock. He spent nearly five years tracking down the descendants of the dead men, poring over Ranger reports and interviewing historians to find out what actually happened.The panel discussion that follows will offer different perspectives on what these events mean for a state with an increasingly large and powerful Hispanic population. Kirby Warnock will be joined by SMU historian Benjamin Johnson, whose recent book Revolution in Texas: How a Forgotten Rebellion and Its Bloody Suppression Turned Mexicans into Americans argues that this episode of racial violence played a critical role in starting the Mexican-American civil rights movement. José Angel Gutierrez of UT-Arlington will discuss his firsthand experience of Rangers’ interventions into strikes and political organizing in more recent decades, topics addressed in his book, The Making of a Chicano Militant: Lessons from Cristal (1998). Books will be available for purchase.
Hughes Trigg Student Center- “The Forum” (ground floor)
At the corner of McFarlin Blvd. and Hilltop Avenue
on the campus of Southern Methodist University.
In the Hughes-Trigg Forum of the Student Center
Southern Methodist University
This screening is free and open to the public, although seating is limited. For more information or if you need special accommodations, please call 214-768-3684 or email swcenter@smu.edu.
Directions and maps to sites frequently used for Clements Center events at SMU.
Visitor Parking at SMU.
