In Black America; Christine Nix, The Texas Rangers First African American Woman

From the University of Texas at Austin, KUT Radio, this is In Black America. My entire career has been spent as either the sole female or the only African American, or the only African American female in my group. So by then you get a little bit accustomed to it, but I don't think you ever get away from putting added pressure on yourself of knowing that you are a role model, that you are setting the pace and you have to do your very best so that it makes it easier for those coming behind you to come through that door. Dr. Christine Nyx, assistant professor in program coordinator of criminal justice at the University of Mary Harden Baylor, and the first African American woman, Texas Ranger.

Nyx spent two and a half decades in law enforcement, first as a central Texas police officer, and later with the Texas Department of Public Safety, which included more than 10 years as a Texas Ranger. Forms in 1823 to protect angled settlers in East Texas. The Ranger started out as a band of hired guns. After Texas won its independence from Mexico in 1836 and merged with the United States in 1846, the Rangers moved from militia to a paramilitary role. Prior to 1993, the Texas Rangers were a bastion of white non-Hispanic men, and they were notoriously resistant to diversifying their forces. All that change in Governor Anne Richards took office. I'm John A. O'Henz in Jr., and welcome to another edition of in Black America. On this week's program, Dr. Christine Nyx, the first African American woman, Texas Ranger in Black America. We don't have a lot of African Americans that tell their children you should consider law enforcement.

Until we do, we can't expect things to change, and we have to encourage them to stay on the right path so that they have those opportunities, because it's a wonderful way to get benefits. It's a good way to get a career. It's a good way to build up those skills so that if you decide that's not where you want to be, it will help you get other jobs, and we're not doing enough of recruiting within our own families and communities and to law enforcement or into the other first responders such as First Aid or EMT. In 1999, the Texas Ranger was far behind other state law enforcement agencies in their recruitment of women. Nationwide, women made up 13.8% of all law enforcement officers, and 4% in state police agencies versus 2% in the Rangers. The Texas Rangers are the oldest law enforcement organization on the North American continent with statewide jurisdiction. In 1994, when Dr. Christine Nyx became a Texas Ranger, the agency had just started hiring women a year earlier.

10 women were in an Academy class, but only 7 graduated. During her law enforcement career, Nyx investigated murders, rapes, white collar crime, and political corruption. In 2004, Nyx decided to make a career change. She began her first year as a doctoral student at Sam Houston State University. Ten years later, she graduated with a doctorate in criminal justice. Today, Nyx is the only four-time faculty member in criminal justice at the University of Mary Harden Baylor in Belton, Texas. Recently, in Black America, spoke with this Texas pioneer. My father was in the Air Force, and both my parents are from South Carolina, and that's where we started out. That's where he started out. His military career in the Air Force, and so there are five siblings. We grew up at one point we were living in the projects, and eventually moved on to base housing, and that was a big difference in lifestyle. Growing up in South Carolina, it was different.

We were very country in our upbringing, as best I can put it, very country. We were real close growing up, and I just remember having a lot of freedom of running around different places in the South. Do you remember some of the more fun places you all lived in growing up? We were stationed at Merle Beach Air Force Base, so it's right on the beach. One of the things I remember growing up is that when we would go to the beach, we always wanted to go to the other beach, because they were segregated at the time. And then when I was an adult and went back, you could almost see the demarcation line between the two beaches, and since then it wasn't segregated anymore, but you could tell kind of where that line was at. It just looks a little bit different. When you moved to Abilene to attend high school, were you all back in the States prior to that?

No, we were in Spain. My dad got in order to go to Spain. One of the odd things about growing up in South Carolina and going to school there is that we were... Every student was taking Spanish classes, because that was the Air Force mission for that particular base. So most people were rotating into Spain, so if you could imagine a bunch of children with southern accents speaking Spanish, I can only imagine what it sounded like when we got to Spain. So we did a three-year tour in Spain, and then we went to Abilene where my dad was stationed at Dias and eventually retired from there. Tell us about being exposed to the Army Reserve training at Abilene High School. Well, I didn't get into it at Abilene High School. My dad was really old-fashioned. Okay.

Ben from the South, and so he would not let me go into the military. He wanted me to get a degree as a CPA. I can't keep my own checkbook. I can't imagine doing anyone else's. And even back then, I knew math was my weak point, or he wanted me to teach, be a teacher, and I had a little bit more spirit than that for him. So I went to college when I was 17. I couldn't find my Army RTC contract until I turned 18. And for two years, I didn't tell him that I'd find an Army contract to go into the military. So I got my exposure by curiously through him and the military. It says dependent, but then I went into the Army Reserves with the intention of going active duty, but it didn't work out that way. So that was the ROTC? That was RTC, yes. That's kind of where I found myself as an RTC. I was extremely shy growing up, and that gave me an outlet to overcome being.

And when I say painfully shy, I was painfully shy. Speaking of checkbook, one of your first jobs, somebody's accounting a bookkeeper in Temple? I worked for a car dealership that's no longer here, but it's not my fault. They survived long after I left, but I was the bookkeeper, and my job was to do payroll. And I had this huge machine that if you made a mistake, it would say error. And one Friday, I was doing the payroll, and the machine just went berserk. They had to bring in the lady who had retired. And she was much, much older Caucasian woman. And when we were talking, she told me, and I was from the South, remember? So I've been taught to respect my elders. She told me that she was knitting Africans, and I thought, hmm, and I'm still young, and doing my very best not to bust out laughing when I realized she was talking about she was knitting Afghans, not Africans.

But I did mess up their books pretty bad. When did you begin working for the Temple Police Department? After I messed up those books, really bad. What led you to them? I messed up the books really bad. They were having, they had a, they were recruiting at the time. And so I had always kind of had an idea that I might like to do policing. And it was the only job where I didn't have to do secretarial duties or bookkeeping. And so I applied for them and with my education, I had a four-year degree and being in armor reserves. That kind of helped me get into the police department. I really enjoyed it. And what, were you a patrol officer? I was a patrol officer. I looked like I was 22, 23. I might have been 24 by then.

And I looked like I was about 12 to 15. And I looked at my hair and hidey braids across my head. And people would call the chief. They wouldn't let me come in. They had a complaint. Call the chief and tell them there's some little girl dressed up in a place uniform saying she's a police officer. Could you send a real police officer to my house? I understand. If you're just joining us, I'm Johnny Ohanson Jr. And you're listening to End Black America from KUT Radio. Dr. Christine A. Nick, associate professor and coordinator criminal justice program at the University of Mary Harden Baylor in the first African American woman Texas Ranger. Speaking of Texas Ranger, what led you to think about becoming a Texas Ranger? Well, after I worked forward the Temple Police Department, I took a eight-month active duty tour with my reserve unit. And they sent me to the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California. And I became one of the German linguists for our unit because that was our field of expertise at the time where we were assigned to go.

And so I did that. And when I came back, I was looking for a job and DPS was hiring. So I applied with them and ended up being hired, went to driver's license in Houston, then back in the temple. Then to Waco became the recruiter for five years. And then at that point, they had already had two women that had hired into the Rangers. And DPS was being very progressive in their promotion of minorities and females. So I applied for Ranger. And that's what led me to that. Did you suffer anybody part being broken during training? My out of a black eye, my nose was broken, I had a broken rib, you know, the normal stuff you go through when you're in a physical academy. Was it much different from what you went through when you were in the Army Reserve?

Oh, yes. Way different. I never got punched in the face while I was in the Army Reserve. But then again, in the reserves, I don't expect to get into a fight every day with anyone. So it was different. Was there any of the added pressures that you put on yourself going through that process? Yes and no. My entire career has been spent as either the sole female or the only African American or the only African American female in my group. So by then you get, you get a little bit accustomed to it, but I don't think you ever get away from putting added pressure on yourself of knowing that you are a role model that you are setting to pace. And you have to do your very best so that it makes it easier for those coming behind you to come through that door. I never would have imagined that DPS or the Texas Rangers would have a language institute that foreign language would be an integral part of what one does. Oh, they did. I went to the language institute with the military.

I did a lot of special training with when I went into the Rangers. You go to a lot of schools and a couple of specialty schools I went to was forensic hypnosis and forensic composite art, interview and interrogation, houses negotiations. You know, these more suited towards achieving the goal of criminal justice, keeping the peace, public safety and that type of thing. Tell us about that forensic portion of what you did. I became a forensic hypnotist and I have to say that was one of the tougher schools that I've attended as a police officer because it was very intense. It's a 40 hour a week class, but it seemed more like 80 hours because you're learning in class and then you're practicing and putting in to use what you're doing because with forensic hypnosis. The purpose of it is to help people remember an incident that they're either a witness or a victim to and so there are a lot of it's very structured, it's very strict and how those sessions are conducted.

Of the cases you investigated, is it one that really has stuck with you over the years? I think the one that stuck with me over the years would be a young African American man that was accused of killing an older person in his town and we went for the capital death penalty. He ended up not getting that, but he went to prison on something else. So he beat that charge, the capital murder charge, but he didn't beat the other charges that had been laid against him. So about six months into his son, his mother called me and she tells me who she is and I'm thinking I'm about to be chewed out or cussed out or something and she tells me that her son is having trouble in prison that people are picking on him.

They're beating him up, you know, assaulting him and I said, man, you do know that I'm the person that led the investigation trying to get him the needle, the death penalty. She said, yes, ma'am, but you were fair in the way you treated him. And so that has stuck with me and I tried to relay that to my students. It doesn't matter what they've done your job is to bring the facts to the table and not make judgments. And someone is interested in pursuing a career such as you had, what are some of the things you would tell that individual? That's what I tell all my students. I don't care what happens. I don't care where you're at. Don't lie and don't assign blame. If you messed up, say you messed up. And it'll take him long ways. It'll take him through the interviewing process to get in. It will take them through their career when they're in hard spots. And sometimes it's really hard to say, yeah, I messed up and not blame someone else.

How important it is for young people to understand what you do in your young life follow you through your old years and may have an effect on a position or profession that you want to pursue in the future. You know, that's something that I wish that I could go into elementary schools and just every day pound that into their head that there isn't no such thing as all the early income free that consequences will follow you. And there is no excuse that I'm poor. I got into a bad crowd and theory theory classes. That's what we call rational choice free will. You may conscious decisions based on what you decide you're going to do based on reward and punishment. If you're willing to take the punishment now, then you have to be willing to suffer to punishment in the future when your past catches up with you.

You're going through training and in the Texas Ranger. Were you treated fairly as far as your colleagues understand that you're only equal footing with them? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Matter of fact, I think one of the nicest compliments that some of my Ranger buddies ever gave me was there are a lot of people they wouldn't mind going up against that they were on the bad side. And so I thought, yes, they accept me as one of them. Yeah. So how has your children been able to navigate their lives knowing that their mom was a Texas Ranger when I came home, I was mom. I didn't realize how much I'd structured that categorized it. So when I came home, I took everything I'll put it up and I was mom. One Saturday we got up to go somewhere and I put on my work boots and they both got upset and thought that I had been called out. I went and changed shoes.

They grew up knowing that you don't answer the door. If I gave them the signal and the story that man, I want them to walk away from me because I saw someone that either arrested or was investigating and I didn't want them to know that I had children. A lot of people didn't know I had children. They thought I had cats. I just, I just didn't tell people. They grew up when people would ask them, what does your mom do? They would say, she's our mom. Or if they insisted, they would tell them she works at Walmart. Really? Yeah, because you just never know. And I'm very protective of them. And now they're very protective of me. In 2004, you decided to make a career change. Why? In 2004, God spoke to me and I have learned and my walk is a Christian when God speaks. She'll listen. And if he don't, if you want to know if he has a sense of humor, tell him what you're going to do and see what happens.

So he spoke to me and told me it was time. I had just finished up my master's degree. I've been asked to consider working on a PhD and I really didn't want to because I'm frankly, I'm lazy when it comes to writing and studying. And so that was the door that was open. So I retired and pursued my PhD. And what do you like most about teaching? I like my students. I really do. People ask me all the time and I really am here because of them. I just had my first group come in. They're graduating in 2021. I really didn't think I would be here this long, but it really is a good fit for me. When you look at your students, is there a great difference from when you were in college? Yes. The diversity. When I told people I wanted to be a place officer, people in the 70s told me you're black and you're a woman. Now I have African American, Hispanic American. I have a great diversity in this program of students and it's just amazing to watch it change and evolve over the years.

And what does a student learn in your program? Hopefully, we have a motto here that we serve without expectation of recognition. They have to have a servant heart if you're going to be in public service. You can't do it for the recognition because usually the recognition is not what that you're expecting. So you have to be able to work with all groups. You have to work and understand that people see things from different perspectives of sociological imagination. It's based on your experience and your perception. So what we say may not be what they understand. So you cannot, if someone yells at you, you have to understand that if they're stressed or they're coming from a place that they're not comfortable, they're going to react. And you have to be able to be thick skinned and understand that that you have to put yourself aside in your own feelings and be able to deal with people appropriately.

Being a part of law enforcement for a number of years and now in the classroom, does it bother you with some of the situations that are going on between law enforcement and people of color? It does from both sides. I have two brothers and a son and it worries me that depending on where there are, they could be one of those victims. But on the other side of the police officer, I understand that sometimes you get in a situation that it comes down to you have to take the action that you deem appropriate at that time. As we talk about this in class, I understand. As the first African American female Texas Ranger, what does that mean to you if it means anything at all? Well, it's a great honor. And there's two things that happened when I was in driver's license in temple one day, I was standing up and there was a man that I had known when I was a temple police officer.

And he walked in and he saw me. He didn't recognize me, but he teared up and I thought something had happened in the parking lot. So I'm getting ready to try to consult with something and he said, I never thought I'd live to see the day that we would have African American female in the DPS uniform. And I thought that that's a lot of responsibility as an African American because not the pedestal, but the position of respect that he put me in. When I made Ranger, I went and picked up my children. When they called me and gave me the heads up, he made Ranger. When I picked up my children and put them in back and I tell him, hey, remember Mommy's been doing all this studying. Well, I'm going to be a Ranger. And my son was about three and he said, what color Ranger? And I thought, I wonder what you're talking about. And I said, I don't know. And my daughter who's six said, boy, she's not going to be that kind of Ranger. She's just going to be a Texas Ranger. And she won't have any special powers, power Rangers.

And any thoughts I had of being egotistical about being a Ranger went right out of my head because my son was very upset for about six months that I didn't have special powers. So it kept me grounded for all these years. I forgot to ask you, were there any other women in your class? When I was in the Academy, yes, man, we started out, I believe with 10 and graduated seven. And how long was the Academy? How long did it take you to ask you? 24 very long weeks. Do you want to know how many minutes? I'm joking. It was tough. Did you ever think that I can't do this or I can't do this was not an option? That was the hard part. I had a lot of options, so I didn't have to be there. I knew I could have gone to any of police department. I could have went back into the military. So that was hard knowing that I had options and I didn't have to be there.

There are days that I would think I have to put out with this. I don't have to get up at 4 30 in the morning and run figure eight until I can't breathe. And then trying to do PT with the broken rib and a broken nose was difficult. So I had to decide that I was going to stick it out. I asked you about your kids. What about your siblings? What were their reaction when you was telling them about your career choices? They didn't seem phased. After I got into ROTC, they pretty much figured that that was kind of normal for me. I also understand that your cancer survivor? I'm a three time cancer survivor, yes. How has faith gotten you through all this? I don't know how people do it without faith. I just don't. Someone told me that God brought you to this and I said,

no, this is not a God thing. This is Satan trying me and it's God bringing me through it. And that's the way I see it. I've just been favored three times and God and I both are just thumbing our noses at Satan. I just told him to get behind me. I know that's right. What was the most memorable moment doing your retirement ceremony? My son told me he couldn't be there. He had to work. And I thought of all the people I wanted my two children there. Because basically they're the ones that if I got called out, they'd find my boots, my badge, you know, help me take 30 in the morning. I'm someone around. So we're we've always been a team. And he said he couldn't be there. Just as the ceremony started, he walked in, surprised me that he could be there. Final question, Christine. What has been your most enjoyable moment in this profession? That's fine. As law enforcement. No, yes, ma'am.

I think the thing that I enjoy most is a variety of people that have met and the opportunities that I've had to serve. I enjoy serving the public. I enjoy serving my students. I think that's the thing that I enjoy most is being able to serve. Any final comments, Christine? No, I've enjoyed speaking to you. And I would encourage your listeners. I gave a speech with the Brazist NAACP there. And you'll bank with this summer. And what I tried to encourage people is we don't have a lot of African-Americans that tell their their children you should consider law enforcement. Dr. Christine Nix, assistant professor and program coordinator of criminal justice at the University of Mary-Harget Baylor. And the first African-American woman, Texas Ranger. If you have questions, comments, or suggestions after a future in Black America programs, email us at inblackamerica.ut.org. Also, let us know what radio station you heard us over. Remember to like us on Facebook and to follow us on Twitter.

The views and opinions expressed on this program are not necessarily those of this station or of the University of Texas at Austin. You could hear previous programs online at kut.org. Until we have the opportunity again for technical producer David Alvarez, I'm John L. Hanson Jr. Thank you for joining us today. Please join us again next week. CD copies of this program are available and may be purchased by writing in black America CDs. This has been a production of kut radio.