The Mex Files

On the “reconquista”, 1914

October, 14, 2007 · No Comments

Labor organizer and “Grandmother of all agitators” (as she was once called in the U.S. Senate, leading her to rejoinder, “I hope I live long enough to be the great-grandmother of all agitators” — she did, living to the ripe old age of 93, after having killed a mugger at the age of 8 8) Mary Harris “Mother” Jones came to El Paso in January 1914 to address workers complaining about Mexicans “stealing” American jobs.

Old enough to remember the Mexican-American War of 1846-48, Jones replied:

“You voted for the pirates that went down into Mexico and took land away from them. You gave the Mexicans hell, so they have a right to give you hell.”

Categories: Border Issues · Economy & Business · Emigrant labor/remittances · Gringo(landia) · Human Rights · Mexican History 1910-20 (Revolution) · Mother Jones (Mary Harris Jones)

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