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UHV to screen documentary about Mexican-Americans' deaths

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  • Originally published March 7, 2010 at 10:57 p.m., updated March 7, 2010 at 11 p.m.
  • "Border Bandits" What: Film screening and question and answer session with filmmaker Kirby Warnock. When: 7 p.m. Tuesday Where: University of Houston-Victoria Alcorn Auditorium 3007 N. Ben Wilson St. Victoria For more information: Visit www.borderbanditsmovie.com, or contact Juan Martinez at 361-570-4147 or martinezj@uhv.edu.
    "Border Bandits" -2010-03-07 22:57:00

The University of Houston-Victoria will screen a film detailing the deaths of Mexican-Americans during the early 1900s at the hands of Texas Rangers.

"Border Bandits" is based on a story that filmmaker Kirby Warnock's grandfather, Roland Warnock, told him nearly 30 years ago.

In 1915, Roland Warnock was a 19-year-old cowboy working on the Guadalupe Ranch near present-day Edinburg when he witnessed a group of Texas Rangers shoot two unarmed men in the back and leave their bodies by the side of a cow trail.

Roland Warnock buried the bodies two days later.

The graves are still there today by the side of what is now a paved farm-to-market road.

Warnock spent nearly five years tracking down the descendants of the dead men, pouring over reports and interviewing historians to find out what actually happened.

The result is "Border Bandits," a film that is both compelling and disturbing as it tells of a turbulent time in Texas history, when 3,000-5,000 Mexican-Americans were killed in the lower Rio Grande Valley.

The film uses period photos and re-enactment footage to tell the tale of justice gone awry during a time when American citizens of Hispanic descent were summarily killed for their lands.




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Comments

  • Kyle Kyle Report a ViolationReport a Violation Permalink  | 

    Where's Chuck Norris when you need him?

    March 8, 2010 at 11:50 a.m.
  • GOP_LoveChild GOP_LoveChild Report a ViolationReport a Violation Permalink  | 

    It is important to recognize that these murders do not represent the fine men and women in today's Texas Rangers.

    March 8, 2010 at 11:24 a.m.
  • GOP_LoveChild GOP_LoveChild Report a ViolationReport a Violation Permalink  | 

    This film documents the first gang related drive by shooting. The driver, Wiliam Warren Sterling, would become the Adjutant General of his gang, The Texas Rangers. In Texas, the drive by shooting is a Texas Ranger Institution. The victims, Mr. Bazan and Mr. Longoria would be buried two days later at the crime scene on the side of the road.

    These things will never be taught in 12 years of White History Month.

    March 8, 2010 at 11:13 a.m.
  • Pecos45 Pecos45 Report a ViolationReport a Violation Permalink  | 

    We also want to emphasize that this is NOT a "liberal-weenie" type of film. It is politically incorrect because it names names and tells where the bodies are buried.
    Best of all, it is FREE!!!

    March 8, 2010 at 10:22 a.m.
  • Pecos45 Pecos45 Report a ViolationReport a Violation Permalink  | 

    If you will come out and see this film, you'll see photographs and eyewitness accounts of some of the killings. These "Rangers" were appointed by Gov. Ferguson and did some very nasty things down in south Texas that still reverberate today. One of the men they killed was an ancestor to Eva Longoria.
    Skeptics welcome!!!!

    March 8, 2010 at 10:18 a.m.
  • roberttx roberttx Report a ViolationReport a Violation Permalink  | 

    decades ago, Texas Rangers used Mexicans for target practice, well known fact.

    March 7, 2010 at 11:40 p.m.