Hasty History #13: The Torreon Massacre

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In this week's BONUS Hasty History episode, we will be discussing the Torreon Massacre. This was a massacre that took place in May of 1911 in the Mexican city of Torreon, Coahuila, in which roughly three hundred Chinese immigrants were murdered by members of the Mexican Revolution. This was nearly HALF of the Chinese population in Torreon! Following their murders, their bodies were mutilated and robbed and their homes and businesses were destroyed.

A later investigation found that this massacre was the result of…you guessed it: racism. Mexico would not issue an official apology for the massacre until 2021; one hundred and ten years after the tragedy! This incident in History has been kept hidden with no statues or monuments marking the disaster. In fact, when a statue was erected to memorialize the victims, it was vandalized and removed. The victims of this massacre were thrown in unmarked graves that have now been covered by roads and playgrounds.

All the more reason for us to talk about this horrific incident and to shed light on something that History would rather we forget. Hasty History BONUS episodes are no-nonsense, crash course, cram session History lessons. No cocktail segment, no ads, no bloopers. Just a quick download of some heavy History content. Submit your topic suggestion for future Hasty History episodes at [email protected].