by
Doug Miller / KHOU 11 News
HOUSTON—A
colorful sculpture of a vaquero waving a pistol and riding a bucking blue horse
is the only nod to history in Moody Park.
Nothing
around the playground equipment, the gazebo or the community center hints at
the most dramatic night in its history, the evening when growing tensions
between Houston’s police and Hispanic community exploded into two nights of
violence that became infamous as the Moody Park riots.
Now
some activists hope to establish a historical marker in the park commemorating
not the violence, but the man whose death a year earlier played a role in
sparking it: Joe Campos Torres.
“Our
children, our kids, a lot of us don’t remember the saga, the story, the lesson
and the history of Joe Campos Torres,” said Carlos Calbillo, the activist and
local history buff. “And we want to keep
that alive.”
Torres,
a 23-year-old veteran arrested during a disturbance in an East End bar, drowned
in Buffalo Bayou after he was beaten by rogue police officers in the most
notorious police brutality case in Houston history. His death happened during an era when the
Houston Police Department was rocked by a series of high-profile brutality
cases, when it suffered a poor relationship with the community it was sworn to
protect. African-Americans and Hispanics
were especially distrustful of the city’s police force.
One
year after Torres’ body was discovered in the bayou, a Cinco de Mayo
celebration in Moody Park erupted in violence. Stores were looted, cars were
overturned and set afire. An officer
responding to the violence was run down and injured by a speeding car. Two television journalists covering the riot
were stabbed.
The
death of Torres helped trigger an era of reform at the Houston Police
Department, leading to the creation of an internal affairs division to
investigate complaints against officers. The city’s political leadership
demanded changes to a culture that essentially ignored or covered up complaints
of police brutality.
“I
can understand why not too many of the younger people here in Houston know
about it,” said Richard Molina, one of Torres’ nephews. “But hopefully, we can
do something to change that.”
Cabrillo,
who produced a documentary about Torres’ death and what he calls the “Moody
Park insurrection,” is one of the people spearheading the drive for a
historical marker. He personally would
like to see markers not only in the park, but also alongside the stretch of the
bayou where Torres drowned.
“We’re
going to put up historical markers, not only at Moody Park, but also at ‘the
hole’ where he was murdered, to commemorate this dark episode in the history of
Houston,” Cabrillo said.
A
Texas historical marker seems a long way in the future – the state requires
that 50 years pass before such a designation is granted – but supporters are
now preparing an application for a county historical marker. They’re also
talking about lobbying for a mural honoring Torres at the Moody Park community
center, or even naming the nearest Metro rail stop after him.
“Throughout
the years when my uncle’s case was brought up, it would get brought up when
something negative happened in the city dealing with police misconduct,” Molina
said. “I’ve always felt that shed a negative light on the situation. I just feel like it’s time to do something on
a positive not