Dallas Morning News, The Scoop Blog
DIANNE SOLÍS
Published: March 11, 2015 3:50 pm
A Southern Methodist University scholarship will offered in the name of Santos Rodriguez, a 12-year-old boy killed in July 1973 by a Dallas police officer in a horrific episode in the city’s history.
The young boy’s death caused fury and protests in Dallas, particularly among Mexican-Americans. The scholarship seeks to dignify his life and the impact on Dallas.
“The Santos Rodriguez Memorial Scholarship will celebrate the life of this young boy by providing other young persons with an opportunity that he never had – the opportunity for a college education,” reads the SMU website on the scholarship announced today. “It will also dignify the memory of July 24, 1973 by perpetually transforming the terrible injustice of that day into a positive force for change.”
One requirement for the scholarship: The student major in human rights at SMU. SMU’s Embrey Human Rights Program is one of seven U.S. universities offering such a bachelor’s degree.
The first scholarship will be for $10,000 and available for the 2015-2016 year, SMU officials said.
“Our intention, on behalf of the program, is to revive the historical memory of Santos,” said Roberto Corona, community outreach coordinator for the Embrey Human Rights Program. “We hope new generations know who Santos was and how he was murdered and we also want to create this opportunity that maybe Santos could have had–to go to college and study.”
Rodriguez and his then-13-year-old brother David were taken from their home just north of downtown Dallas in the middle of the night by police officer Darrell Cain. Shoeless and in handcuffs, the boys were questioned in a police car about a theft of change from a soda machine at a nearby gas station. Then the officer placed the trigger of his revolver near the temple of Santos in Russian roulette-style questioning. The trigger was pulled. Santos died instantly.
Later, fingerprints at the robbery scene didn’t match up with the boys.
Cain was indicted–a rare occurrence for a police officer. When the police officer was sentenced to five years, protests again erupted in Dallas. Cain served about half his prison sentence.
Last year, some four decades later, a Dallas County grand jury indicted another Dallas police officer in connection with an on-duty police shooting. READ MORE
Read more about the Santos Rodriguez Memorial Scholarship
Read SMU’s press release announcing the Santos Rodriguez Memorial Scholarship