Friday, August 21, 2009

Pharr, TX Riot



I was going to write a description, but the description that YouTube user jgonza1846 provided pretty much tells the story:

February 6, 1971 The night of the Pharr police riots which left one young boy dead. Mexican-Americans started protesting in the afternoon in front of the police station. Angry over police targeting and mistreating Mexican-American residents . Firefighters had to use a water hose to quell a larger crowd of people who had started throwing rocks and pieces of brick. Alfonso Loredo Flores was getting his haircut at Ramos barbershop at the corner of U.S. Hwy. 281 and Bell Street. Flores had stepped outside to see what the commotion was about when he was shot and killed by law enforcement. In the video actual footage of block 400 North Cage, Pharr, Texas in 1971.


I actually live a few blocks away from where all this took place and I've heard about this story forever, so it's fascinating to watch. I hope the guy uploads the rest of this documentary. Very interesting to view this almost 40 year old version of Pharr, TX. Some of the footage is graphic, so you've been warned.





Eduardo Martinez

EDIT: August 24th, 2009

EM: At the 2:01 mark in the 2nd video you see a lit up film theater, so I thought I should post a pic of how the theater and Ramos Hair Styling Center look in present day Pharr.

I blame my love on clouds on Sergei Eisenstein, Dziga Vertov, and Aleksandr Dovzhenko! Credit to google map for the pics since I don't have a camera at the moment.

11 comments:

  1. does anyone know the name of the highschool where, minorities were sent before the desegregations, here in the valley? I haven't been able to find anything on the internet.

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  2. they had a high school?

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  3. There were no segregrated high schools

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  4. From The RailRoad Track's South Were Called El Barrio Americano..Cause That's Where All The White Folk's Lived (White Neighborhood)..
    North Of The Track's Barrio Pobre ( The Poor Side Of Town)... That's Where All The Mexican/Americans Lived...

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  5. The school concepts were based on neighborhood schools . We as mexican americans were intergated from the sixth grade on. we had one high school for three towns and it was intergrated. infact throughout the valley all the highschools were intergrated. We rarely had any problems in school .

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  6. PSJA I believe only had Jefferson high...that's the one down your st Ed. Edinburg is the only one I know that had segregated schools...Stephen F Austin was a "colored"school. It was advertised as being equal to the other school.

    Good blog Ed.
    Riley

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  7. Just wanted to say my cousin's ex was the son of the man who owned the barbershop he is dead

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    1. Are you talking about my Grandpa or my Uncle?

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    2. Are you talking about my Grandpa or my Uncle?

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  8. I can't see the Youtube video- do you still have the link or video name by chance? c:

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