Reynosa Tamaulipas

A friend of mine was recently in Reynosa, and he came back with a CD that contained this gem of a song. It's been stuck in my mind for the last few weeks, and luckily, I was able to find a YouTube video of this glorious life altering song. I don't think it's possible for a song to create a more funny and truthful picture of Reynosa or perhaps of any bordertown. My goal is to one day start a fake Tejano band and do a heartfelt trashy tribute to Pharr, but I need to learn the accordion before I do that and get cowboy boots. So anyways, *Drumroll* REYNOSA LA MALDOSA:

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.