More than a month and a half after the Texas Rangers unveiled the “One Riot, One Ranger” statue at Globe Life Stadium, the New York Times is still moaning about the “controversy.”
The statue in question is a 12-foot-tall bronze Texas Ranger statue, with his ubiquitous cowboy hat and a six-shooter on his hip, which was dedicated at the stadium on March 2 and now stands in the left field concourse. But this is not the first time the statue appeared in public view. It debuted at Dallas Love Field Airport in 1963, but was removed in 2020 after left-wing activists complained that it was “racist.”
Critics of the statue claim that it depicts Texas Ranger Captain Jay Banks, who they say was the Ranger who led the efforts to maintain segregated schools. Activists further claimed that the title of the statue, “One Riot, One Ranger,” was derived from a report of the Rangers restoring order when a black man accused of assaulting a white woman was kidnapped by an angry white mob and was burned alive in 1930.
The Athletic claimed the team was “wary” of its statue and accused the MLB team of trying to soft-sell the statue’s March debut by holding the ceremony during spring training, when not many reporters would be in Dallas, and refusing to answer questions about the ceremony afterward.
“The reason to be wary of potential controversy was the man who served as the model for the statue: Jay Banks, a former Ranger law enforcement officer known for enforcing school segregation at Mansfield High School and Texarkana Junior College in 1956, at the direction of then-Gov. Allan Shivers,” The Athletic asserted.
Supporters of the statue, though, deny those claims and say the statue memorializes the “lengthy history” of the Texas Rangers law enforcement agency, and insist that the incident that inspired the statue’s title occurred when the Rangers stopped an unsanctioned prize fight in Dallas in 1896.
“The Texas Rangers have long occupied a revered place in Texas history dating to the creation of the organization over 200 years ago, before the days of the Republic of Texas,” the team said in a statement. “The statue that stood for decades in Dallas will greet guests at Globe Life Field as a familiar symbol of our team’s origin, enduring spirit, and connection to the community.”
The paper then tried to contrast Major League Baseball’s celebration of Jackie Robinson Day with the “racist” statue in Dallas.
“On Wednesday, MLB will celebrate Jackie Robinson Day,” the Times’ sports site added. “Robinson’s integration is one of the most celebrated elements of the sport’s history. Outside Globe Life Field, community leaders are planning a press conference to talk about why they believe this statue is antithetical to Robinson’s legacy.”
Of course, Jackie Robinson Day has nothing whatever to do with the statue raised more than a month and a half ago in Texas. And, despite the claims of activists, the statue is not a direct depiction of Ranger Banks, whom Democrat Texas Governor Allan Shivers had ordered to stop the racial integration of Mansfield High School in 1956.
The records related to the statue’s creation do not mention Banks at all, but activists and left-wing reporters have always linked the statue to the historic Texas Ranger. And the activists’ claims are all that The Athletic needs to assert the claim as fact.
Still, there are photos of Banks standing next to the statue after it was created, and the aged Ranger even claimed years ago that he was its model.
Activists and members of the NAACP have targeted the statue since it was erected at the airport — and then removed in 2020 — claiming that it glorifies segregation and racism. And The Athletic tried to get the Rangers and MLB executives to make statements about the statue. They intelligently refused to respond to the site’s questions.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: Facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston, Truth Social @WarnerToddHuston, or at X/Twitter @WTHuston
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.