“¿Quién es? ¿Quién es?”: Revisiting the Racial Context of the Billy the Kid Legend

Abstract

Billy the Kid spoke his last words in Spanish. Calling out “¿Quién es? ¿Quién es?” before he was killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett, the young outlaw's final moments signal his diverse ethnic context. This article examines the Kid's close contact with the Southwest's communities of color – New Mexico's Mescalero Apache Indians, African American soldiers, and Hispano farmers – and why these communities have been removed from countless popular representations of the Kid's story. Their omission has helped to perpetuate a uniquely Western and white American ideal of individualism and served to legitimize a libertarian and ahistorical ideal of violence: the rebellion of an outlaw who defies the rest of his society and his times.