Santos Rodriguez: Texas Brothers & Remembering Injustice

Growing up with an older brother, I always have somebody that will have my back when push comes to shove. Sure, there was also a lot of pushin’ and shovin’ going on between us, me taking that bad end of the stick of it, but through the brotherly fighting and losing, I luckily harbored a sense determination to be better.

The competitiveness and fighting with my brother continued through our childhood, but there were also moments of fun and goodness we shared. I remember the countless times we ran into Nick’s Sport Cards & Memorabilia searching for baseball cards - the ones with a piece of the player’s jersey, “jersey cards,” were the best. On many late afternoons we played epic games of wiffle-ball in the front yard, and basketball in the back. Once I entered high school and he was in his senior year, consistent peace formed between us. Of course not everything is perfectly hunky-dory, but now at the age of 27 and my brother, 30, we still live together. If either of us are hurt or sick we are there for one another to help.

I bring up my brotherly experiences, good and bad, because there is a story of two brothers in Dallas that is not told enough. A story that everybody should know. This isn’t a feel good story, this is a tragedy. A tragedy that must be told and continued to be told, so that we as a community can prevent more of these horror stories from occurring on our watch.

In the 1960s Santos and David Rodriguez were brothers who grew up in the Little Mexico neighborhood of Dallas (N. Pearl St. and Harry Hines Blvd.), walking the same streets that I walk today. Their upbringing was filled with hardships, starting with their mother being sentenced to jail for murdering her boyfriend, when they were 10 and 11 years old. The two went to William B. Travis Elementary School, and Santos was described by his teachers as deep thinking, gentle, but also at times naïve and easily influenced. Yes, at times Santos and David were trouble makers, much like I was and many of us were at times. The brothers, like me and my brother, loved playing sports. Santos was seen at Pike Park Community Center often playing soccer, and supervisors at the rec remembered how Santos was always willing to volunteer to help clean the park and community center. These brothers were like most Texas brothers, but that all changed in the matter of minutes.

On July 24, 1973, Santos, 12, David, 13, were pulled from their home by police officer Darrell L. Cain. Cain, 30, was an army veteran and a father, and on the night of the encounter with the Rodriguez brothers, he had been on the Dallas Police force for 5 years. Accusing the boys of robbing a nearby gas station ($8 from a cigarette vending machine), Officer Cain and Officer Roy Arnold handcuffed them and put them in the squad car. The Rodriguez brothers denied the accusations and tensions rose.

The officers drove the boys to the vacant parking lot of the gas station, where the petty crime occurred, for an impromptu interrogation.  Even with the applied pressured to the handcuffed brothers to admit to the crime, they repeated that they did not do it.

Then for a reason that we will never know, and that Cain himself will never comprehend, Officer Cain held his gun to Santos’ head to play a game of Russian Roulette. The purpose? To get Santos to admit to stealing from the gas station.

Unsuccessfully threatening Santos to confess to the burglary, Officer Cain pulls the trigger on his .357 Magnum – click – empty chamber. Again Officer Cain bullies Santos to admit to the crime. “I’m telling the truth!” Santos pleaded. The second pull of the trigger sent a bullet through Santo’s head, penetrating below his left ear, and killing him instantly.

Officer Cain immediately exited the vehicle, leaving Santos slumped over, blood pooling in the police car. David, still handcuffed, telling his brother “You’re going to be all right.”

Much like we continue to see today, 40 years later, protests began to demand justice and change. While Cain was convicted and received jail time, there was still the issue of differences between minority and white sentencing due to systemic racism in our judicial system.

It took too long, but our community is moving in the right direction, as the Dallas Park Board signed off on a fund for the installation of a statue dedicated to Santos, expected to be finished in 2021. The 8 feet tall statue will be placed at Pike Park next to the now renamed the Santos Rodriguez Center (recreation center).

The recreation center is still in need of funds for restoration and facility improvement, so that it can function as a safe haven and a place for growth for today’s youth.

 I sit in my home playing games with my older brother, thinking about the stolen chance for David and Santos to be doing the same.

To learn more, follow Human Rights Initiative of North Texas and the SMU Embrey Human Rights Program.

 Also, check out the 2018 documentary Santos Vive by filmmaker Byron Hunter, which debuted on July 24, 2018 at the Texas Theatre in Oak Cliff.

Sources:

https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/07/24/205121429/How-The-Death-Of-A-12-Year-Old-Changed-The-City-Of-Dallas

https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/dallas-on-its-way-to-memorializing-santos-rodriguez-11734464

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Santos_Rodriguez