How to navigate this online exhibit

Our history is not easy to learn. It is painful, and also very important in understanding our current context on the South Texas border. This is an invitation to read and reflect, at your own pace, with the material but also to learn about yourself and your family history. We ask you to approach this exhibit as a learning tool and as a virtual library, one that you can come back to. Each section has citations to articles and books linked to the References section. Throughout the exhibit, we use words like colonization, settler imaginaries, and place myths. In this section, we define these terms to share a complete understanding of the frameworks we are using to explain the social and cultural landscape of the Rio Grande Valley Delta.

The Rio Grande Delta

Image from: https://wildearthguardians.org/rivers/rivers-the-landscape/

The Rio Grande Valley is really a Delta. The Rio Grande river flows into the Gulf of Mexico near Boca Chica Beach and Playa Bagdad. The river is literally shaping the landscape of the land between Mcallen/Reynosa to Brownsville/Matamoros. The Rio Grande Delta is home to a biodiverse ecosystem, one that we depend on. In the Lower Rio Grande Delta live, in this tropical and arid place, also live descendants of the original peoples of this land, the Esto’k Gna, and families of agricultural workers who have worked the land and represent brown shades of beauty and resistance. We are a world’s majority area, with immigrants from Mexico, Central America, South America, India, the Middle East, and many other areas. The Esto’k Gna are the native people of this land who fight for its air, water, and sacredness each day.

In the Rio Grande Delta, we have a rare ecosystem that is precious to our health and our survival. Migratory birds show us that migration is natural and beautiful. Our wetlands are important resting points for migratory birds in their routes to their seasonal nesting spots, and provide shelter to many other endangered species. The militarized river can only release some of its tension into the gulf, as most of its waters do not reach the Gulf of Mexico. The water embraces our everyday worries and provides nourishment and joy. The montezuma trees, with their large roots have a reciprocal relationship with the river and our resacas. The subtropical climate provides a fresh breeze in the hottest seasons and our sabal palms provide shade and cooling for all species. Our community is friendly, it is a family structured place, where networks exist and knowledge that we are social beings is part of el sentido comun. People speak with humility, and use humor to understand that life comes with difficulties. The lonely individualist life has wounded our souls and the American dream has proven false. Each person who lives here has their own story, and each of our stories make up the story of this place.

What do we mean by colonization?

Mashup image, source: National Geographic Online “Colonialism”

The land where we are settled on was stolen from native peoples. This is the main principle to understand and remember about all histories of all lands. The lands in Texas were not “lonely”, they were inhabited by many tribes of native peoples that did not view the Rio Grande river as a border. Calling land “lonely”, “empty”, “unoccupied” is part of a settler imaginary that we address through this exhibit.

Although colonization is a global issue, this exhibit focuses on The Americas colonization. Colonization is taught to us in school as “the discovery of the Americas”. This is an example of how history is erased and rewritten. The European “discovery” was a series of violent invasions, a system of stripping of lands, and the commodification and enslavement of brown and black people. North America was colonized by European empires, the English, the French, and the Spanish. The European colonization brought violence, genocide, and oppression to native peoples and established the slave trade in the Americas. Colonization sought land for profit, established an economic structure based on exploitation of the land, its resources, and enslaving brown and black people.

The land where we are currently settled on was stolen from native peoples. This is the main principle to understand and remember about The Americas’ history. The lands in Texas were “not lonely, nor empty, nor unoccupied,” they were fully inhabited by native peoples that embraced the Rio Grande as a natural, living system. Calling land “lonely”, “empty”, “unoccupied” is part of a settler imaginary that we are addressing through this exhibit.

¿Qué son Settler Imaginaries? And how do we dismantle them?

Texas public history education hero-rizes Anglo figures and upholds the myth that Mexicanos are bandits. In the present day, these false myths directly impact the social and political landscape. Anglo students who learn this history feel justified in their racist attitudes and in their support for racist government policies like the border wall and increased surveillance and policing of Mexicans. It also creates internalized self- hate for Mexicans who believe these false narratives and end up supporting these same racist laws. (Juan Carmona, interview, September 15, 2023)

Learning more about hero-rizes Anglo figures, we return to Stephen F. Austin known as “the founder of Anglo-American Texas, where his hard work, dedication, and diplomacy enabled the Texas colonies to grow from lonely frontier outposts to an independent republic”

When we speak of the “settler imaginary” we are referencing the racist ideologies (a system of ideas), and worldviews that colonization violently imposed with the displacement and murder of indigenous peoples, the commodification of land and people, and the extraction of land for profit. We also are referring to the persistent forms of colonization from imperialist, capitalist, and neoliberalism that continue to view land and people as profit. The vicious act of colonization is a worldview in action. This worldview is persistent today.

Through this exhibition, we will examine the settler imaginary as the root of environmental destruction in the Rio Grande Valley Delta. In this exhibit we draw a parallel between the narrative of “there is nothing here” to the settler imaginary myth of land as “empty”. Finally, we show how these narratives and myths continue to be used by corporations like LNG and Space X, and complacent local governments to gain profit and power from the extraction and occupation of land in the Rio Grande Valley Delta. Below is an example of a settler imaginary myth:

Here, a former City of Brownsville District 2 City Commissioner responds to billionaire, Elon Musk, after he tweets that he will essentially establish a city on Boca Chica beach, a natural wildlife area once fully protected by the Texas Open Beaches Act. These statements are reflective of settler colonialism in many ways, namely the idea that you can settle in an area that has been inhabited by local people and wildlife for thousands of years, displace those who inhabit the land, and declare a new city to be built. The response by Tetreu, can be thought to be even more disturbing, but also works to affirm Elon Musk as a colonizer. The land waited many years for you to find it. In her worldview, he found this land, just like the European explorers found North and South America. This assumes that the land is empty and just waiting to be found and capitalized on. The land is there for the sole purpose of extraction.

Our identities are tied to this land. It is not empty, just as we are not empty. Land is not lonely, ecosystems thrive, and biodiversity depends on healthy ecosystems, which in turn provide an ideal habitat for humans. Our cultural and historical preservation is tied to this land.

Through this exhibition we invite you to question the settler imaginary idea that “there is nothing here”. “There is nothing here” is not new, it has a long history. We argue that this same false narrative can also affect how we see ourselves. If you were born and raised along the South Texas border, on either side of the river, we also invite you to reflect on how these narratives and myths shape how you view this place and the people here. How is this perception then connected to how you view yourself?

We need to dismantle settler imaginaries and the false narrative of there is nothing here to protect our abundant ecosystem and culture. We are working in the first step towards dismantling this harmful narrative, that is learning about our erased and untold history.

How did we get here? How can history explain the times we are living in? Scholar Monica Munoz, says that history bleeds into the present”. (7, The Injustice Never Leaves You) and this is especially true on the U.S Mexico border.

This exhibit offers history that was untold or erased from the ‘official’ South Texas history. It is the product of research by determined borderland scholars and it is essential for understanding our current life in the South Texas borderlands.