{"id":194056,"date":"2026-03-07T00:48:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T00:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/194056\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T00:48:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T00:48:08","slug":"one-riot-one-ranger-statue-of-texas-rangers-draws-naacp-ire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/194056\/","title":{"rendered":"One Riot, One Ranger statue of Texas Rangers draws NAACP ire"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Texas Rangers recently unveiled the \u201cOne Riot, One Ranger\u201d statue at their ballpark, and the Arlington chapter of the NAACP<\/a> has put out a statement expressing \u201cdeep disappointment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 12-foot bronze sculpture, which was modeled after Jay Banks of the Texas Rangers law enforcement agency, had been stationed at Love Field dating back to the 1960s. However, the statue was removed from the airport<\/a> in the summer of 2020 amid protests about Banks\u2019 actions.<\/p>\n

According to the book \u201cCult of Glory: The Bold and Brutal History of the Texas Rangers,\u201d Banks was the commanding officer when former Gov. Allan Shivers sent the Texas Rangers to Mansfield to stop the desegregation of a high school, despite a court order. Banks was seen relaxing while an effigy of a Black person was hung from a tree.<\/p>\n

Banks later wrote in defense of the racist mob assembled at the school, according to the book.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were just \u2018salt of the earth\u2019 citizens,\u201d Banks wrote. \u201cThey were concerned because they were convinced that someone was trying to interfere with their way of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Arlington NAACP said in a statement that it wrote to the Rangers baseball team before the statue was installed at Globe Life Field, but its comments went unheeded:<\/p>\n

\u201cPrior to the installation of the statue, the Arlington NAACP reached out to representatives of the Texas Rangers organization to express our concerns about honoring a historical figure connected to events that undermined civil rights and educational progress in our region. Despite those concerns being raised, the organization ultimately chose to move forward with the statue\u2019s installation.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the statue was unveiled, the Rangers released a statement about what it meant to the franchise, sidestepping Banks\u2019 history.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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,\u201d they said. \u201cWhile the \u2018One Riot, One Ranger\u2019 statue commemorates the legend surrounding the agency\u2019s involvement in the stoppage of an unsanctioned Dallas prize fight in 1896, it also stands as a tribute to all who have served the organization over its storied history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related Stories from Fort Worth Star-Telegram<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Lawrence Dow<\/a><\/p>\n

Fort Worth Star-Telegram<\/p>\n

Lawrence Dow is a digital sports reporter from Philadelphia. He graduated with a master\u2019s degree in journalism from USC. He\u2019s passionate about movies and is always looking for a great book. He covers the Texas Rangers and other sports.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Texas Rangers recently unveiled the \u201cOne Riot, One Ranger\u201d statue at their ballpark, and the Arlington chapter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":194057,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[150,152,151,428,1947,76958,429,76959],"class_list":["post-194056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arlington","tag-arlington","tag-arlington-headlines","tag-arlington-news","tag-globe-life-field","tag-naacp","tag-one-riot-one-ranger-statue","tag-texas-rangers","tag-texas-rangers-statue-controversy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}