Brown and Blue: Mexican Americans, Law Enforcement, and Civil Rights in the Southwest, 1935-2025

This sweeping history tells a story of fits and starts of Mexican Americans’ interactions with law enforcement and the criminal justice system in the US Southwest. Looking at primarily Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas, it tells a complex story: that violent, often racist acts committed by police against Mexican American people sparked protests demanding reform, and criminal justice authorities frequently responded positively to these protests with reforms such as recruiting Mexican Americans into local police forces or altering training procedures at police academies.

Brian D. Behnken demonstrates the central role that the struggle for police reform played in the twentieth-century Chicano movement, whose relevance continues today. By linking social activism and law enforcement, Behnken illuminates how the policing issues of today developed and what reform remains to be done.

Brian D. Behnken is professor of history at Iowa State University and author of Borders of Violence and Justice: Mexicans, Mexican Americans, and Law Enforcement in the Southwest, 1835-1935.