The Injustice of Place by Kathryn J. Edin

Author:Kathryn J. Edin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2023-05-26T00:00:00+00:00

WAR FOR CONTROL IN THE WINTER GARDEN

“There is one Texas that is . . . rich,” a Look magazine article titled “The Other Texans” claimed in 1963. Yet the vast majority of the population, the article continued, was “at the bottom of the scale on virtually every criterion measuring health, wealth, education and welfare.” Nowhere was this more true than in Crystal City, Texas, where by the early 1960s, Mexican Americans outnumbered Anglos by a margin of four to one. Yet the “rich” Texans in Crystal City—the tiny Anglo minority—controlled nearly every aspect of life for the “other” Texans living there.

In his account of this era in Crystal City, political scientist Armando Navarro details the many reasons why Mexican American laborers came to recognize that far from having their best interests at heart, the city’s Anglo leaders were corrupt. In one scheme known as the “Veteran’s Land Board Scandal,” speculators took advantage of a program providing low-cost land loans to veterans by purchasing land at rock-bottom prices and reselling it to program participants at egregiously inflated prices, with some government officials allegedly taking a cut. The scandal, which was brought to light in 1955, involved Zavala County officials and other county bureaucrats all the way up to high-ranking state officials. Another point of contention dating to the late 1950s involved federal urban renewal dollars, which, at the direction of Anglo leaders, were spent to improve the Anglo-dominated business district, while roads remained unpaved in Mexican American neighborhoods and half the town lacked a sewage system. Then, during the harsh winter of 1962, a freeze wreaked havoc on crops, leading to widespread unemployment among farm laborers. More than a hundred Mexican Americans marched to demand that the county offer a surplus food program. The authorities approved the program but refused to extend it after the first thirty days, fearing that if the program continued, the laborers might be less willing to remain in the fields.

Inspired by news of civil rights activism in the Cotton Belt, a group of Mexican Americans in Crystal City decided they wanted more say in the community. In their minds, that started at the ballot box. The first step was to get more people registered to vote, a goal hindered by the $1.75 poll tax. In early 1963, a poll-tax drive—an effort to raise money to cover the poll tax for Mexican American voters—was organized by the Teamsters Union in partnership with a group called the Political Association of Spanish-Speaking Organizations (PASSO). One historical account describes how mothers made tamales from ingredients donated by Mexican-owned stores, with young people selling them door-to-door for $1.75—the amount required to pay the poll tax for one person. Women organized boycotts against stores that refused to donate ingredients. The local Catholic church’s parish hall was pressed into service as a venue for dances and cakewalks. The price of admission? $1.75. PASSO trained young leaders like Jose Gutiérrez (who would go on to play a role in the 1969–70 cheerleader revolt) in the art of electioneering.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.