USA HISTORY

Read this transcript from “The Texas Standard” radio show, then answer the question. Paulino Serda was a small ranch owner near Edinburg, Texas, in 1915 when a group of Mexican bandits came through town. They demanded he open the gates that connected the ranches so the group could pass.“And of course, you didn’t really say ‘no’ to these individuals, “ says Serda’s great-grandson Trinidad Gonzales, assistant chair of history and philosophy at South Texas College. “And apparently word got back to the Rangers that this had occurred. And when they went to his ranch, they asked to talk to him, to question him in private. And while that was going on, my great-grandmother heard the gunshots.”The Texas Rangers killed Serda, no questions asked. Gonzales’s family was one of many affected by some of the worst state-sanctioned violence in the history of the U.S. Today, he’s part of a group of scholars working to get this part of Texas history recognized.Why doesn’t Texas include this perspective in academic textbooks?