Once I saw the fence while wandering and getting lost, as I always do, driving with or without directions, and almost crossed the border (uma puta fronteira) without carrying my passport.
It is an ugly steel like concrete wall, gray and shameful, dividing people that are equals, who speaks the same language, given that in California, 35.9% of the population is formed by "latinos" and look alike. Not to mention that from the beds of the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo to the mountains of Utah once was Mexico's territory.I saw the fence in broad daylight with cameras and wires watching the shiny (well, not so shiny) San Diego and the slums of Tijuana.
Please correct me if I am mistaken, but the world didn't put down what was suppose to be the last division: the Berlin Wall, in 1979? And now the government who wants the world to believe it is the icon of democracy is building a barrier to keep other citizens out? Are we really in the twenty=first century? Do they really think that a fence is going to prevent desperate people driven by poverty and hunger to pursue their dreams of a better life? All this noise and our tax dollars spent on this shame are not going to stop the human creativity. Since late 70s there has been fences. Along the Arizona-Sonora border, locals from both sides have used their creativity to turn the evil around. They enjoy volleyball matches against each other. So the fence was no longer a barrier but also a volleyball net.
It just shows how people can overcome the difficulties, how they can transform situations and be creative. Government has to admit that both teams are playing at home, with the fence as the net.
Fences and walls don't stop people. The U.S. - Mexican border has the highest number of both legal and illegal crossings of any land border in the world. While heavily regulated and policed, it is occasionally given over to playful uses. On the San Diego-Tijuana crossing, human cannonball David Smith was once blasted over the border fence from a beach in Tijuana into a safety net set up on the California side of the border.
Last week I crossed the border to go to Tijuana to see a Manu Chao concert. It was a very nice concert and I had a great time as always happen when I have the opportunity to see Manu Chao. Before I got there though I went thru some unpleasant experience of trying to invite people to go with me. I say unpleasant because of the reaction of some people when I mentioned that the concert would be in Tijuana. Some people replied that they wouldn't "risk" going to Mexico. Some even told me they wouldn't go there because they were "white" (!?!). Then I realized I am fortunate enough to not allow the color of my skin stop me going to places and interacting with other fellow human beings. I felt sorry and ashamed for those people who thinks the color of their skin makes them better than me or someone else. And I said to myself: Thanks God you don't want to go, because I don't to be around you. Thanks, but no Thank You!!! |
| Katia Grigsby Photography 2008 © All Rights Reserved |
So I hope and pray that if you find a fence in your way you do as I do: trespass your own fences as much as possible, putting down your own boundaries.
Sometimes other's people fences gets in may (as it happen with my invitation). When it happen I often get around it or over it. Usually coming face to face with a fence is simply another worthwhile experience. May you put your own fences down too and ideally, of course, the world will maintain an open-door policy.
Katia Grigsby 2008 © All Rights Reserved
Katia Grigsby 2008 © All Rights Reserved
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