Your Land or Your Life

I still remember the day my father pointed to a huge Mesquite tree about a block from my house where I grew up. As we were walking towards town, he stopped and told me that when he was about twelve years old he found a man hanging from that particular tree. He told me he ran home and brought his dad and a neighbor. I asked him who had done it. He told me that the Texas Rangers had hung him. I was about eight years old. He also told me that I was too young to understand those things but that I would when I got older. As I got older, I continued to hear stories that were similar and then I understood the horror and injustice. Before I die, I feel obligated to share the truth hidden from our history books. I dedicate this short novel in memory of the victims of greedy land grabbers and evil Texas Rangers who committed the atrocities. This story may be categorized as a short novel and fiction. So be it. It is, however, a story of the horrific acts of bigotry, greed, and murder committed in South Texas. May we all follow God's Golden Rule; God Bless