Ben Johnson
@benjaminhjohns1.bsky.social
I study history in order to understand and help others understand the crazy world in which we live. Environment, climate, borders, violence and memory are key. Also @refusing2forget.bsky.social. My opinions are mine, sadly almost never my employer's.
Never heard or heard of this speech. Wow
The Nexus Project@nexusproject.bsky.social · last mo.Today marks 63 years since the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Just before Dr. King took the stage to deliver his historic “I Have a Dream” speech, Rabbi Joachim Prinz, the Berlin Jewish community’s rabbi under Hitler and president of the American Jewish Congress, addressed the crowd.
This gallery of ICE crop/seed art at this year's Minnesota State Fair is incredible, especially the one based on Pablo Picasso's Guernica by Jennifer Nelson, which features the last words of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Morse code: www.cropart.com/Resist.pdf
Pretti’s parents said they found out their son had been murdered after watching footage of the shooting on the news. “We watched it on TV and was like, ‘That’s our son. That’s Alex.’ And they killed him,” dad Michael recounted. “No one called us.”
Gabe Ortíz@tusk81.bsky.social · last mo.Seven months after he was executed in broad daylight by agents of the state, ICU nurse Alex Pretti’s family “says it is still waiting for answers from the federal civil rights investigation and wants the two officers who shot him held accountable.” people.com/alex-pretti-...
She also really debunks the common justifications about religion, region, and age. Your grandparents and parents have shitty values because they have shitty values, not because of anything else. They could do better. Anyone can use their eyes to see the world and have the correct read.
rael gost pictuers@jackfeerick.bsky.social · last mo.What Dolly taught us is that it is in fact possible to be wealthy beyond your wildest dreams of avarice but still be a fundamentally good person with a strong moral compass, and the only reason more rich people aren't like that is because they don't want to be.
nice piece on the attack on border history. @refusing2forget.bsky.social "If you value a people’s worth and contributions, then you preserve their history in textbooks and curriculums,” the historian Trinidad Gonzales said. “You would preserve these physical markers." www.nytimes.com/2026/08/24/u...
In West Texas, Trump’s Border Wall Collides With Latino History (Gift Article)
A century ago, Mexican American families came together to build an adobe church near the border. Can its bell toll again as the wall expansion nears?
nytimes.com
Elsie Garcia and Monica Martinez from @refusing2forget.bsky.social on the Porvenir site and the current threat to it. www.tpr.org/podcast/fron...
Fronteras: Revisiting the 1918 Porvenir massacre — How border construction puts the future of the site in danger
In 1918, 15 unarmed Mexican men and boys were killed in the remote West Texas community of Porvenir. The commemorative site is now in danger of being bulldozed and cut off by federal border wall const...
tpr.org
New story on the threat to Porvenir. @refusing2forget.bsky.social . www.tpr.org/podcast/fron...
Fronteras: Revisiting the 1918 Porvenir massacre — How border construction puts the future of the site in danger
In 1918, 15 unarmed Mexican men and boys were killed in the remote West Texas community of Porvenir. The commemorative site is now in danger of being bulldozed and cut off by federal border wall const...
tpr.org
Strong piece about the damage and continued threat to the Porvenir Massacre site that descendants and @refusing2forget.bsky.social have worked so hard to commemorate. /1 www.marfapublicradio.org/news/2026-08...
Big Bend area border wall threatens to destroy the Porvenir Massacre site
As the Trump administration moves forward with a border wall in the region, a local archeologist says early construction activities have already damaged a notorious historic massacre site in Presidio ...
marfapublicradio.org
nice piece putting the current threat against the Porvenir massacre site in the larger contexts of ranger and border history. "Texas owes it to the massacre victims’ descendants to demand that the Porvenir historic site be preserved." /1 www.dallasobserver.com/opinion/trum...
Trump is bulldozing the site of a Texas massacre. It’s time to remember Porvenir
Closer to home, the Texas Rangers continue to take part in the whitewashing and glorification of a violent, racist past
dallasobserver.com
banger of an obit for @loyolahistdept.bsky.social MA alum Mary Morello. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/14/u...
Mary Morello, Free Speech Activist Who Defended Explicit Lyrics, Dies at 102 (Gift Article)
An Illinois teacher — and the mother of the rock star Tom Morello — she took on Tipper Gore during culture war skirmishes over warning labels on records.
nytimes.com
let's hope this sticks . . . www.texastribune.org/2026/08/17/t...
Trump administration pausing Big Bend construction
It was not immediately clear how long CBP plans to implement the pause. The Trump administration had announced plans to build an access road and vehicle barriers in the park.
texastribune.org
Sign the petition to protect the Porvenir Massacre site from the border wall. @refusing2forget.bsky.social protect-porvenir.editdog.chatgpt.site#petition
Porvenir Massacre | History, Descendants & Petition
Sign the descendants' petition to protect the sacred ground, archaeological evidence, and continued access to the Porvenir Massacre site.
protect-porvenir.editdog.chatgpt.site
Hurrah for People of La Junta for Preservation, Lipan Apache tribal government, and Far-Flung Adventures for fighting on our collective behalf. The article gives a glimpse into the re-emergence of Indigenous people (many supposedly "extinct") in recent decades. www.texasobserver.org/indigenous-g...
Indigenous Group Sues to Stop Big Bend Border Wall on Religious Grounds
The lawsuit seeks an immediate injunction, arguing that CBP construction and surveying activities in Big Bend violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
texasobserver.org
more on the outrage of possibly destroying the Porvenir massacre site. See link for a correction to the idea that the US cavalry rather than the Rangers were responsible. bigbendsentinel.com/2026/08/11/w...
Wall path planned through Porvenir massacre site
An expedition of activists sets out to tour the historic site with contractors Porvenir (Victor Kulagin video) It was bitterly cold that January night in 1918, somewhere in the low twenties, as 15 men...
bigbendsentinel.com
Refusing to Forget condemns the latest DHS decision to build a wall that disturbs a sacred site in Presidio County. Stand with us in supporting descendants and their families. Learn more about this history: refusingtoforget.org Take action: nobigbendwall.org
We can stop this by erecting a confederate monument on the site. Then they wouldn’t trash the place. @refusing2forget.bsky.social
Robert Downen@robertdownen.bsky.social · 2mo agoTrump's border wall is set to bulldoze the site of the 1918 Porvenir Massacre, in which 15 unarmed Mexican-American boys and men were killed by the Texas Rangers. The land is considered sacred ground by descendants of the victims.
the contempt for the dead, the living, the land, our history (spectacular and horrific) upon it. Just a gut punch. @refusing2forget.bsky.social www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...
Trump’s Border-Wall Construction Is Set to Bulldoze the Porvenir Massacre Site
It is considered sacred ground for the descendants of those killed in a mass execution. The border wall threatens to erase it from history.
texasmonthly.com
BREAKING: We're suing Texas A&M over the university system’s unconstitutional censorship policy. Administrators are canceling or restricting courses that discuss race, gender, and sexual orientation. Public universities are meant for sharing knowledge — not banning it.
Great news on the freedom of speech/honest history front. JP Bryan’s specious lawsuit against the @historians.org and Carlos Blanton has been tossed. /1 file:///private/var/mobile/Containers/Data/Application/8715AB9F-B356-40AB-B248-EBCBE4CC21C0/tmp/2026-07-30%252cReversedandRemandedOpinio1B8.pdf
My kids have measles, I can’t afford gas or steak, I’ve got explosive diarrhea, and there was glass in the last batch of Pillsbury rolls I ate. But at least now, Ross Douthat is on 60 Minutes.
we may have a self awareness problem here
PEIPolitical 🇨🇦@peipolitical.bsky.social · 3mo agoMiller: "It's not a coincidence that when you look at these violent Antifa demonstrations not one of the people that is demonstrating looks like a normal person. Not one looks normal. They're all deformed in some way in their appearance, in their dress, in their mannerism." #cdnpoli
A dementia added old man who watches too much Fox News and who is saddled with angst about the fact that he never earned or shared real love with anyone is yelling about exactly what you think he would be yelling about right now.
LIKE TRUMP/MILLER, ALL ICE AGENTS ARE LOSERS! Many are scared racists, White Nationalist ”Patriot Front, KKK, Proud Boys, Boogaloo Boys, Neo-NAZIS; too full of Trump’s fear/hate/lies to know that THEY’re the true criminals, NOT the innocent families they destroy. Some are just soulless opportunists.
Larry Mitchell@drlarrymitchell.bsky.social · 3mo agoThe two ICE agents who murdered a civilian in Biddeford, Maine today. Let's make them famous.
his first book was critical to big chunks of yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300.... Excited to see this book out . . .
Texas
An exploration of the multifaceted characters and complex events that have defined the Lone Star State from its inception through today When Americans tur...
yalebooks.yale.edu
Texas Observer@texasobserver.org · 3mo agoFrom @drdrbrockman.bsky.socia.: If Texas is, as its pledge of allegiance states, “one state under God,” this begs a question. What God? Whose God? A new book examines the diverse forms faith takes in the Lone Star State ... h