Refusing to Forget

04/01/2026

“Justice doesn't live in a particular moment. Justice is across time until it's addressed.”

The work of refusing to forget is more relevant than ever.

We're continuing our co-founder interview series! Get to know the scholars who built Refusing to Forget from the ground up and learn why this work matters in 2026.
Today, meet literary scholar and co-founder of Refusing to Forget, Trinidad Gonzales.

“Trini” has spent over a decade doing the vital work of bringing attention to the state-sanctioned racial violence that claimed hundreds of lives along the Texas-Mexico border between 1910 and 1920. There is still much work to be done.

As you will hear in the interview, Trinidad's family was personally affected by state-sanctioned violence. His report, “A Matter of Justice: The Uninvestigated Homicides of La Matana,” was written in an effort pursue justice for the victims of la matanza. https://refusingtoforget.org/a-matter-of-justice/

This series is part of our 2026 fundraising campaign. We're raising $25,000 to build teaching resources, expand our digital reach, and ensure this history is taught for generations to come. Every donation, large or small, makes a difference.

Watch. Share. And support our work at https://refusingtoforget.org/
Donate: https://refusingtoforget.org/donate/
Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/RefusingtoForget

03/30/2026

"The danger of state-sanctioned violence is always present in some form or another… people have to remember that as such and resist those encroachments.”

The work of Refusing to Forget is more relevant than ever.

We're continuing our co-founder interview series! Get to know the scholars who built Refusing to Forget from the ground up and learn why this work matters in 2026.
Today, meet literary scholar and co-founder of Refusing to Forget, John Morán González.

Dr. González has spent over a decade doing the vital work of bringing attention to the state-sanctioned racial violence that claimed hundreds of lives along the Texas-Mexico border between 1910 and 1920. There is still much work to be done.

This series is part of our 2026 fundraising campaign. We're raising $25,000 to build teaching resources, expand our digital reach, and ensure this history is taught for generations to come. Every donation, large or small, makes a difference.

Watch. Share. And support our work at https://refusingtoforget.org/
Donate: https://refusingtoforget.org/donate/
Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/RefusingtoForget

03/24/2026

“There was local resistance just as the [Porvenir] historical marker was set to be unveiled in 2018….It was a time in which in Refusing to Forget we all came together to provide evidence, primary sources, documents for the Texas Historical Commission so that they could assess & eventually stand behind the marker narrative that had been approved.”

We're continuing our co-founder interview series! This week you'll hear from the scholars who built Refusing to Forget from the ground up and learn why this work matters in 2026.
Today, meet historian and co-founder of Refusing to Forget, Monica Muñoz Martínez.

Monica is an essential part of the team, doing the vital work of bringing attention to the state-sanctioned racial violence that claimed hundreds of lives along the Texas-Mexico border between 1910 and 1920. It has not always been easy, as the challenges with the Porvenir historical marker reveal.

This series is part of our 2026 fundraising campaign. We're raising $25,000 to build teaching resources, expand our digital reach, and ensure this history is taught for generations to come. Every donation, large or small, makes a difference.

Watch. Share. And support our work at https://refusingtoforget.org/
Donate: https://refusingtoforget.org/donate/
Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/RefusingtoForget

03/23/2026

State-sanctioned racial violence claimed hundreds of lives along the Texas-Mexico border between 1910 and 1920. Most Americans have never heard of it.

Benjamin Johnson, historian and co-founder of Refusing to Forget, is working to change that.

We're raising $25,000 to make sure this history is taught for generations to come. Full interview + donation link in comments. 👇

03/23/2026

"The border violence of the 1910s and anti-Mexican/anti-Latino violence in general are chapters of American history that are very poorly understood by the public as a whole — and that is to our detriment of understanding the world that we live in and the scars that so many living in this country carry with them."

We're continuing our co-founder interview series! This week you'll hear from the scholars who built Refusing to Forget from the ground up and learn why this work matters in 2026.

Today, meet historian and co-founder of Refusing to Forget, Benjamin Johnson.

For decades, Ben has been doing the vital work of bringing attention to the state-sanctioned racial violence that claimed hundreds of lives along the Texas-Mexico border between 1910 and 1920. As you’ll hear, it all began with learning about the Plan de San Diego in graduate school! 📚

This series is part of our 2026 fundraising campaign. We're raising $25,000 to build teaching resources, expand our digital reach, and ensure this history is taught for generations to come. Every donation, large or small, makes a difference.

Watch. Share. And support our work at https://refusingtoforget.org/

Donate: https://refusingtoforget.org/donate/
Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/RefusingtoForget

03/19/2026

"I wanted to make sure that in every activity, in every project RTF worked on, that women's voices were included." — Meet the historian behind those words.

Join us as we kick off our 2026 fundraising campaign! 🎉

First up, we're bringing you a week of brand new interviews with our co-founders. In this series, we sit down with the scholars who built RTF from the ground up to talk about the work, the history, and why it matters in 2026.

Today, meet historian and co-founder of Refusing to Forget, Sonia Hernandez. 🎙️

For over a decade, Sonia has been doing the painstaking, necessary work of bringing attention to the state-sanctioned racial violence that claimed hundreds of lives along the Texas-Mexico border between 1910 and 1920. The museum exhibits. The historical markers. The award-winning scholarship. She has been there from the beginning.

This series is part of our 2026 fundraising campaign. We're raising $25,000 to build teaching resources, expand our digital reach, and ensure this history is taught for generations to come. Every donation, large or small, makes a direct difference.

Watch. Share. And support our work at https://refusingtoforget.org/

Donate: https://refusingtoforget.org/donate/
Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/RefusingtoForget

03/17/2026

📖 A must-read article featuring Refusing to Forget co-founder Sonia Hernandez on the re-installation of the Texas Ranger statue at Globe Life Field.

Sonia puts it beautifully:

“It’s not about being politically correct,” said Hernández. “It’s not about supporting one group over another. It’s about the kind of nation that we can have, built on trust and honesty and respect for one another.

You ask yourself, ‘By doing this one thing or by supporting this one thing, am I living up to that standard? Is this the kind of world that we want to promote?’

Really thinking about the next generation, especially at a ballpark where you take your kids.”

🔗 Learn more about the 1956 Mansfield incident: https://refusingtoforget.org/mansfield-school.../

Give it a read and let us know your thoughts. 👇

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-context-of-the-texas-ranger-statue-at-globe-life-field/

Without acknowledging its history, the Rangers have installed a statue that was removed from public display over concerns about racism.

03/05/2026

The "One Riot, One Ranger" statue, removed from Dallas Love Field Airport in 2020, has been reinstalled at Globe Life Field in Arlington.
The statue is modeled after Capt. E.J. "Jay" Banks who, during the 1956 Mansfield school integration attempt, stood alongside a white segregationist mob rather than enforce a federal desegregation order. This photograph depicts Banks on that day— a white officer lounging against a tree— ignoring both explicit, actionable threats of racist violence and his legal duty.

🔗 The 1956 Mansfield incident: https://refusingtoforget.org/mansfield-school-integration-attempt/
🔗 On the re-installation: https://www.chron.com/sports/article/texas-rangers-statue-fans-21952342.php
🔗 https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7085220/2026/03/03/texas-rangers-statue-dallas-airport/

03/04/2026

Did you know the anthology ‘Reverberations of Racial Violence: Critical Reflections on the History of the Border’ is available in Spanish? Available free online thanks to Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León!

📌🇲🇽🇺🇸Te invitamos a consultar el 📚libro ⚔️'Rebrotes de violencia racial. Reflexiones críticas sobre la historia de la frontera', ✍️de Sonia Hernández (Texas A&M University) y John Morán González (The University of Texas at Austin); editado recientemente por la UANL.

🔗https://libros.uanl.mx/index.php/u/catalog/view/163/226/562

❤️
Municipio de Torreón

02/23/2026

See you tomorrow, RGV!
Join RTF co-founder, Benjamin Johnson for a discussion on why “Texas Is Bigger Than You Think It Is.” All community members are welcome.
➡️Tuesday, February 24th at 2:00pm Edinburg Campus, EEDUC 3.204
➡️Wednesday, February 25th at 11:00am Brownsville Campus, BMSLC 1.105
UTRGV - The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley UTRGV Center of the Borderlands

02/20/2026

New Blog Post ➡️ https://refusingtoforget.org/terror-is-the-point-henry-ransom/ Refusing to Forget member Dr. Leah LaGrone demonstrates how the violence that the world is witnessing in Minneapolis and the murders that have occured in other cities since Trump resumed office, is horrific....but it is not new.

"...the shift in narratives and continued support for police brutality is not new. It is ingrained in the very institutions that claim the mission is to serve and protect. Terror is the point. Both strategies stand out in the historical record when studying the purpose of forming police organizations such as the Texas Rangers and Border Patrol."

02/18/2026

"While we often discuss the need to remove bronze figures of oppression, we also must reinterpret the historic sites of violence to tell the stories of those lost."

➡️Take a listen to the latest podcast episode of The Monumental Project: Remembering La Matanza from World Heritage USA. Refusing to Forget co-founders Benjamin Johnson and Trinidad Gonzales discuss our nation’s history of violence against Americans of Mexican descent in Texas. https://worldheritageusa.org/monumentstoolkit/podcast/