MikeDunnAuthor<p>Today in Labor History January 28, 1918: Ranchers, Texas Rangers, and the U.S. Army attacked the Mexican-American village of Porvenir, in West Texas, slaughtering 15 men and boys in their sleep. The remaining villagers fled town, which soldiers burned to the ground. The Rangers had been sent to stop banditry. They accused the villagers, without any evidence, of firing weapons at them. However, investigations by the Army and the State Department found that the villagers were unarmed. Activity by the Rangers along the border had increased in the wake of Pancho Villa’s 1916 raid on Columbus, New Mexico. Tensions were particularly high because of the December 25, 1918 raid on the Brite Ranch, in the same west Texas region as Porvenir, thought to have been committed by Villistas.</p><p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/workingclass" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>workingclass</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/LaborHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>LaborHistory</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/texasrangers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>texasrangers</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/police" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>police</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/vigilante" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>vigilante</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/racism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>racism</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/mexican" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>mexican</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/massacre" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>massacre</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/texas" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>texas</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/newmexico" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>newmexico</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/panchovilla" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>panchovilla</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/mexico" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>mexico</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/revolution" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>revolution</span></a></p>