Can "White" People Be Saved?: Triangulating Race, Theology, and Mission (Missiological Engagements Book 12)

by Willie James Jennings

Part of the history of displacement, including lynching of people of Mexican origin or descent between 1848 and 1928, is documented by Carrigan and Webb.39 During this period the lynching rate was 27.4 per 100,000 of the population. During the same time period, the highest rate of lynching for African Americans was in Mississippi with 52.8 victims per 100,000 of the population.40 Lynchings of persons of Mexican origin and descent were rarely investigated except under federal pressure after some years of diplomatic pressure by the Mexican government. President Porfirio Diaz’s efforts to facilitate trade links between the two countries finally led to the documentation of injustices and abuse along the Texan border. The US government would not respond to the reports until 1890, when the lynching of four men in a courthouse square took place before the men were brought to trial.