The Forgotten Dead Summary

Forgotten Dead Review

The Forgotten Dead documents the brutal mob violence of Mexican Americans in the south west. William Carrigan and Clive Webb documented the ways in which these instances of violence were scarcely reported and rarely reported on. They stated how violence of lynching is too specific and mob violence is a much more accurate way to describe the violence that racial and ethnic minorities experienced. They also made the point to explore the difference between the experiences that ethnic and racial individuals experienced mob violence. The authors also explored how the elite would so easily invoke their Spanish heritage to protect themselves from other with people. Which me raises the question of how light skinned they were …show more content…
Most of this people were of Mexican decent and own land that Anglo people wanted. They justified these acts with the lack law enforcement and such violence being necessary to deter further criminals from acting. Anglos would accuse individuals of being horse thieves and then convene to punish them for these alleged acts. In some instances these accusation and violence occurred because they wanted in Mexican people out of the area. This being the case in California in mining towns. In the case of Antonio Coronel in 1849 in Hangtown there was a notice that stated that all non-citizens leave or face violence. Some foreigners refused to leave and armed themselves within a building. Antonio Coronel tried to give the people gold to composite for these men and attempt to save them, however the offer was refused and ultimately the men were hanged. The acts of barring Mexicans from mines were so rampant that an author published “The Great Greaser Extermination Meeting” this poem described how violence would be used against Mexicans that did not leave the area. This further proof of the need for Anglos to intimidate and dislocate a population so they can gain wealth and power and use that further to cause harm to groups of people they see as less

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