EP3: Refusing to Forget

This week, our producer Jess Eng interviews Professor John Morán González, who is an English professor at The University of Texas at Austin and the Director for the Center for Mexican American Studies. Professor González is well known for his work on early 20th century history at the US - Mexico border, and specifically, the 1915-1920 Borderlands War, an undeclared war resulting in some of the worst state-sanctioned racial violence in American history. Growing up in the border town of Brownsville, Texas, Professor González always wondered why stories like these were being left out of the textbooks. In 2013, Professor González helped launch the educational non-profit Refusing to Forget along with four historians. Their goal is simple: retell the story of the borderlands and reclaim it as a part of Texas history.