The Ku Klux Klan’s Campaign Against Hispanics, 1921-1925: Rhetoric, Violence and Response in the American Southwest

283 Pages·2018·2.18 MB·English

by  Juan O. Sánchez

The Ku Klux Klan’s
Campaign Against Hispanics,
1921–1925
AlsobyJuAno.sánCHez
ReligionandtheKuKluxKlan:
BiblicalAppropriationinTheirLiteratureandSongs
(McFarland,2016)
The Ku Klux Klan’s
Campaign Against Hispanics,
1921–1925
Rhetoric, Violence and Response
in the American Southwest
J o. s
uAn ánCHez
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina
ISBN (print) 978-1-4766-7113-0
ISBN (ebook) 978-1-4766-3165-3
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© 2018 Juan o. sánchez. All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
Front cover image of Klu Klux Klan, March 18, 1922, library of Congress
Printed in the united states of America
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
To all those who have suffered because of the Klan’s
narrow- minded bigotry, prejudice, intimidation, and
violence. nothing, especially religion, should be used to
justify unwarranted and misguided misconceptions
whose ultimate aim is to denigrate others. such action is
counter to the fundamental principles we ascribe to as
citizens of the united states, and as members of human-
ity; to acquiesce to the Klan’s philosophies is to sanction
a twisted religious interpretation, and our inhumanity.
special thanks to Juan A. sánchez for his review of the
manuscript.
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Table of Contents
Preface 1
Introduction 5
1. The Klan, religion and Mexicans 13
2. Texas: The Klan stronghold in the
southwest 40
3. new Mexico: The Core opposition
in the southwest 106
4. Arizona and Colorado: The baby
realms of the empire 157
5. California: The Klan stumbles 184
Epilogue 226
Suggested Reading 233
Chapter Notes 237
Works Cited 255
Index 261
vii
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Preface
The Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s was just as active against Mexicans as it
was against African Americans. yet to date no major work has addressed this
aspect of Klan activity. Authors, whether mainstream or minority, typically
deal with this subject matter in passing, at times dedicating a sentence or
two, a couple of paragraphs or a page, but never providing extensive coverage.
When i first proposed this topic to my advisor in 1995 when nearing com-
pletion of my doctoral work, the reply was, “you won’t find anything.” in my
job as a research assistant i had already begun to collect what data i could
find, principally from spanish- language newspapers and passages in major
works that touched on the subject matter; i could fine little archival material.
After spending more than two years researching the Klan, i realized the defi-
ciency in Klan historiography concerning the order’s activity against Mexi-
cans.
What became obvious in my research into the 1920s Klan was its pen-
etration into every state of the union. in the movies i had seen and the journal
articles and books i had read on the Klan, its anti–black ideology was evident.
but where were the African Americans in the southwest? i was a migrant
worker in my youth, but although i traveled with my family throughout the
southwest following the harvest, and i recalled few blacks in the communities
of the region where we lived and worked, the research indicated that the Klan
had existed in those areas. The research i had already done on the Klan indi-
cated that they were principally racist and religiously intolerant. Their racism
was not just directed against African Americans but against eastern and
southern european immigrants, non–White minorities, and other foreigners.
Their religious intolerance was focused principally on Jews and Catholics.
based on the Klan’s philosophies, Mexicans fit into three of the categories:
they were Catholic, they were non–White, and they were considered foreign-
ers. i have personally experienced the racist, anti- foreigner sentiment—a sen-
timent, sad to say, that is still deeply entrenched within a significant portion
of White America.
1