As an attorney with over forty-three years of practice, I have learned that the truth often depends on who is presenting the evidence. In a courtroom, a fact is only as good as the testimony that supports it. If you exclude the witnesses who were actually present, or if you rely solely on hearsay from those who were watching from a distance, you do not get justice. You get a fictional account.
For too long, the history of the Mexican American in the Southwest has been treated in much the same way. It has been written largely by observers rather than participants. We have allowed comfortable myths to harden into accepted historical fact in our textbooks. We are often presented as passive figures in the development of Texas, or worse, as obstacles to it.
I write because I have seen the damage these incomplete records can do. When I began researching for my book “Shattering the Stereotypical Mold”, I did not want to rely on the general summaries found in library archives. I wanted the primary sources. I wanted the list of grievances the students actually wrote in 1968. I wanted the court transcripts that detailed the arguments regarding our right to speak Spanish in school.
The research was substantial because the gaps in the official record were massive. I found that much of what we accept as the history of the 1960s civil rights movement in South Texas is superficial. It misses the specific economic conditions of the borderlands. It ignores the deep connection between the migrant farmworker cycle and the awakening of political consciousness in our youth.
We must understand that history is not a static thing that sits on a shelf. It is a verdict that is constantly being deliberated. If we do not bring our own evidence to the table, such as our letters, our legal battles, and our oral histories, then the verdict will be handed down without us.
My goal in writing is to correct the record. I want to strip away the misconceptions and document the sources of our community’s strength. We must be the ones to preserve our history, challenge the stereotypes, and give voice to the stories that have been left untold. If we do not write it, someone else will write it for us, and they will likely get it wrong.
