The Duval County Freedom Party: Part Two

POSTED BY: CARDENAS.AE@GMAIL.COM JUNE 13, 2018

Parr’s untold story

George B. Parr

George Parr’s historical narrative stopped short, leaving out the last quarter century when he had exercised control over Duval County politics. And things were not quite so hunky-dory as he portrayed them, although he had his supporters who agreed with him. After speaking with Anglo and Tejano, rich and poor, the Laredo Times’ reporter concluded that Duval County had one of the best road networks in South Texas and schools that rated as good or better as any other in the region. Parr himself had financed the education and business ventures of many local young men, including veterans.

But his detractors were many, and they held a different opinion entirely than did the enamored reporter.

José Tomás Canales, famed Tejano political leader from Brownsville, wrote in La Libertad of Corpus Christi

“Duval County…citizens are still living in the Dark Ages when they had dukes and bad dukes at that.”

The Freedom Party’s leader, Manuel Sanchez, said the political machine had forgotten the people. They had little interest in the county’s rural schools which were no better than “shacks” dangerous for the children who walked miles in muddy roads to attend classes. Meanwhile, the elite that served under Parr sent their children to schools in Alice, Corpus Christi, and San Antonio.

Ten years later, the Republican Party’s candidate for County Judge, the beloved Dr. E.E. Dunlap, echoed similar sentiments. In a 1962 affidavit, Dr. Dunlap relayed a conversation he had with George Parr in the early 1940s. After Dr. Dunlap explained his views on education, Parr replied:

“Doctor, if you educate a Mexican, he is as smart as you are, and then you can’t control him. If we had good schools, the oil field workers will settle down and put their children in school here in Duval County; we can’t control that type of people. If our schools are bad, the Anglos will live in Alice and elsewhere, putting their children in better schools and driving to work, but they won’t vote here.”

The doctor also echoed Sanchez when he said: “The most condemning fact concerning our schools is the fact that now and in the past, all the members of the school board of trustees, that could afford to do so, have sent their children away to private or boarding schools…”

The parents of the children that stayed Duval County, meanwhile, had to travel out of the county to find decent paying jobs. They put themselves in danger on the highways, running the risk of having an accident, to provide for their families because jobs were not available in Duval County except for the supporters of Parr’s political machine.

The Freedom Party’s candidate for County Judge, Donato Serna, pointed out at a political rally in Freer that while the rest of the state was growing at a 23 percent rate, Duval County was losing population.

John Ben Shepperd

Perhaps the most damning observations on conditions in Duval County came from Texas Attorney General John Ben Shepherd. He detailed some of the disorders in Duval County his investigators found while looking into political corruption:

• sixty-three unsolved and unpunished murders in the previous thirteen years;

• a refuge for criminals fleeing the law from other states;

• fear of 200 “gun-slingers” on the county’s employment as deputy sheriffs;

• denial of peaceful assembly of citizens;

• intimidation of voters at the polls;

• spying on citizens;

• kidnapping citizens and pistol-whipping them into submission;

• incarceration without cause;

• denial of bail or legal counsel;

• government meetings held in secret to prevent citizens from attending;

• violation of the secrecy of the ballot box; and

• running people out of the county, squeezing them out of business, beating or killing them for voting against the political machine.

(Next week we continue with Part Three.)

   

9 COMMENTSON "THE DUVAL COUNTY FREEDOM PARTY: PART TWO"

1. Aurora | June 21, 2018 at 1:36 pm | Reply (Edit)
   Simply awesome…. thank you very much

• alfredo@mcmbooks.com | June 21, 2018 at 5:27 pm | Reply (Edit)
  Thanks. Glad you are enjoying them. Three more blogs on this topic will follow.

2. M.E. Garcia | June 20, 2018 at 2:58 am | Reply (Edit)
   My father was with the Freedom Party. He was the only one of his siblings with the Freedom Party and a couple of cousins.
   I remember going to the rallies with my parents. I love to read your stories. Great work!

• alfredo@mcmbooks.com | June 20, 2018 at 8:21 am | Reply (Edit)
  Thank you for your comments. Four more parts to come.

3. Robert J. Garcia | June 16, 2018 at 10:15 am | Reply (Edit)
   I really enjoy your posts. My father’s family was from San Diego. My great-aunt was Superintendent of Schools, Maria Garcia.

4. Juan P. Castro | June 16, 2018 at 9:22 am | Reply (Edit)
   Alfredo well done, keep up this very important task of exposing the TRUTH, much of it still goes on in a more sophisticated process.

5. Jo Nell Huff | June 15, 2018 at 3:13 pm | Reply (Edit)
   I remember my father attending Freedom Party rallies in the 1950s. A great series as I learn more of the history.

• alfredo@mcmbooks.com | June 16, 2018 at 9:31 am | Reply (Edit)
  Glad you are enjoying these posts.

J-M. Garcia | June 14, 2018 at 11:38 am | Reply (Edit)
Ever researched James Baker who was
FFA sponsor/Agg teacher?
Personally think he was one of the best in
San Diego/Duval County during ‘50’s – 60’s!