Dallas, TX – On Saturday, February 8, the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression NAARPR-Dallas hosted its Black and Brown Unity: History of DFW Struggle for Liberation Town Hall at the Pan-African Connection in Dallas.

The event was well attended and discussed systemic racism, historical repression and solidarity efforts in Fort Worth, Arlington and Dallas. Topics spanned education inequities, Confederate symbolism, police violence, and grassroots resistance, linking past injustices to modern struggles.

Speakers detailed Fort Worth’s segregated education history, including I.M. Terrell High School, the sole secondary school for non-white students before Brown v. Board of Education, and contrasted it with today’s diverse Trinity High School. Discussions about UT Arlington centered on its Confederate past, including the “Johnny Rebel” mascot, and pro-segregation university presidents like E.E. Davis and Jack R. Woolf. The speakers also addressed the 1921 lynching of Fred Rouse, which underscored Fort Worth’s legacy of racial terror.

Presenters a talked about the history of the Little Mexico barrios, established during the 1910s Mexican Revolution and the 1954 Hernandez v. Texas ruling that extended 14th Amendment protections to Mexican Americans, but noted that police violence yet persisted. The 1973 killing of 12-year-old Santos Rodriguez – abducted without a warrant, tortured and executed by officer Darrel Cain – sparked outrage. Cain served just two and a half years.

“We see that there are points where history repeats itself,” said a speaker at the event, linking Santos Rodriguez’s murder to modern cases like Atatiana Jefferson’s killing by Fort Worth police. “The state chooses to put their weight behind these wrongdoings. This is why we must demand community control of the police.”

The town hall closed with a call for united action against systemic racism, emphasizing that collective struggle, not isolated efforts will drive change.

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