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“You said that you were in the wrong body, that you should be a man.”

In this excerpt from his memoir, Rodriguez provides a stirring recollection from his adolescence: the first time he experienced racism as a result of being an immigrant in America. As he says, the experience "stays with [him] like a foul odor."

This chapter depicts the violent relationship between Tejanos (Texas Mexicans) and Texas Rangers in the late 19th century and early 20th century, culminating in the notion that “though a Tejano spent his life under the watchful eyes of whites, he was beneath all notice in death.”