After a month on the job, reflections at BorderLinks

I've been in Tucson over a month now. I've shared some stories and reflections about general thoughts that have come about in times of intentional reflection, but really haven't told you, my faithful follower, about neither the community life aspect or the site placement aspect of this YAV year- both things which are really fundamental to the experience.

So here's a bit about my work at BorderLinks.

I'm working as a Program Organizer, which means in short that I design educational trips and experiences to the border region, in an effort to give delegations first hand experience of the real issues at the Border.

Another part of my work involves editing and laying out the BorderLinks alumni Newsletter, Ver-Pensar-Actuar. Those who we work with as an organization, people that work at BorderLinks, and people that have participated in delegations are encouraged to submit reflections to be included in the publication. I really think that the newsletter better explains the sorts of delegations and experiences we facilitate than I ever could. You can check out the newsletter from the BorderLinks website- go to the borderlinks website, www.borderlinks.org, our publications, then click on "Ver-pensar-actuar", then choose "October 2010"

Or just click here and then chose "October 2010"

Happy reading!

While the newsletter doesn't give a day-to-day of my work or what an actual delegation entails, through the stories, photos, and poems, I think it paints a better picture of my experience with BorderLinks than any words I could put here.

So be sure to check out the newsletter- read the articles, reflect with the poetry, sit with the experiences other have had along the border region.

And, I'd love to hear your own thoughts and reflections, too!

I'm sitting in a cafe right now with one of my roommates, Meredith. The following uses imagery depicting the intensity and agony of our afternoon.

Written by Meredith Wilkinson, Oct 2, 2010

I'm at Epic Cafe
It's a good day
Stevie is here.
So I have no fear.
She is great.
Like a happy date.
She has plaid pants.
Like a school dance.
She wants to be an OT.
And maybe for Free.
Probs not.
I'm a teapot.
The end.
My friend.

So, as you can see- even in the midst of a year listening for the call of the Gospel here in Tucson, AZ and learning to live simpler life, I still maintain my silly moments. Those silly moments sometimes really make my day.

Thanks, Meredith for making my day!

Injustices

He fought his way up the ladder
Middle class family
Academic scholarship to Duke
Law degree from Harvard
A year abroad, broadening his horizons

Hands raw from picking corn
Skin leathering from the sun
Someday he'll be Northbound for money to send home

100% Silk shirt, on one sleeve at a time
Made in China
Thriving on espresso
Working long hours to afford it

The storm raging through the town
Taking his crop
Taking his house
Taking his livelihood

"I now pronounce you man and wife."
She's pregnant now.
Celebration for the new baby girl to be.

He gathers enough
to hire the coyote
to be guided past the border
away from the 25 feet high scrap metal

Two months until the baby's due
Wife goes to the store
Daily errands to take care of the new family, the new home

Three days pass in the desert
He's run out of water and food
His memorabilia is long abandoned

"Paper or plastic?"
She opens her wallet
A man enters, shooting

Delirious from thirst, he finds water
left in the desert by the love of strangers
he makes it through
Arrives to Iowa,
to work on the farm
Cash to send home

Ambulance sirens wail
Blood stained, gasping for breath
her life is on the line

"Migra! Migra" shouted from all over
He feels the handcuffs behind his back
Thrown in jail

"I'm sorry, we tried everything we could
The baby couldn't handle the stress.
Mom is barely hanging on

Morning comes
30 minutes with his lawyer
A "fair" trial, along with those 69 others
Sentenced to 90 days in jail

"She may not survive
and if she does, there will be permanent damage"

For trying to provide for his family

For trying to provide for her family

Two injustices
One place

Stephen Colbert Speaks Up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1T75jBYeCs

Thanks Miriam, for your blog post that lead me here. I think you all should listen to that clip above. It helps that its humorous, too.

Operation Streamline

On Thursday, 9/23, Ali, Jacob and I went to Operation Streamline. I took some notes while sitting in the courtroom observing the procedures with the intention to come back to them to write something capturing the experience and making sense of it.

I've tried to make sense of it. I've realized there is little to none to be found, so instead I'll copy my journal from that experience. I think my random, sporadic, initial reactions as a witness in that room will better illustrate the experience than if I were to labour days over this post to really hone in on an explanation of it altogether.

Brief explanation of what is Operation Streamline:

It's a federal program to deter people from immigrating illegally to the states by putting them on a mass trial (about 70 people on trial at once) and giving the person a jailstay and a criminal record. The intention behind it is that the person entering illegally would be so distraught after his 30-90 day jail stay and criminal record he's now received, and the threat of a felony and impossibility to ever enter the US legally if he were to do it again, that he would go and tell all of his peers not to do it as to deter them as well.

----
There is a smell in this courtroom. It's a mix between blatant hypocrisy and total paralytic fear. It's a hanging reminder of the overall "rotten" idea of the "Operation."

It's a wierd feeling, flood of emotion being in this court room watching these precedings. The actual set up of the room- the wooden witness benches, the leather seats for the jury, the sides for both sets of lawyers, resembles what I learned about in the textbooks in school, and my one and only prior experience in a courtroom. I was so priveleged growing up that my initial experience of a courtroom was playing- participating in Mock Trial. But the real mockery here is what's going on in front of me. "A fair and speedy trial," my ass. The defendants, yes- you read that right- defendants (usually between 40-70), fill the twelve leather seats off to the side for the jury, and the first few rows of the witness benches. Today there are around 50 people sitting in front of me, all on trial at once.
The judge asks the lawyers- "Have you each had sufficient time to meet with your client?"
One of the lawyers didn't even have time to be in the courtroom with his client right now, nevertheless to have spent the appropriate time preparing for the trial. (note- I later learned that as a part of this "operation," the lawyers are given 30 minutes to meet with their client the morning before his/her case.)
Some of the lawyers surrounding me sit shuffling papers, looking important and driven. The lawyer right in front of me, however, is playing a game on his iPhone.
The judge says "I want to make it clear to you the rights you individually have" to the group of 50 on trial, at once.
"Has anyone forced you to plead guilty?" This question got to me every time I heard it. Those on trial had been taught to answer "si" and "no" accordingly- making the precedings seem more like a play, where they're performing some memorized and practiced actions, rather than an actual trial. No one may have forced the hand of any of these men and women to plead guilty, but, coming from three-five days in the desert, being reprimanded, threatened that he will be separated from his family, one is not left with another real option.

The first wave of 6 men completed their "fair and speedy trial," and preceded out of the courtroom- in handcuffs and with chains around their ankles, passing right past my line of sight as they exited the door to the right. The first "offender" to walk out of the courtroom was laughing hysterically. It's like he understood the joke that this process makes of our judicial system.
Another question asked by the judge to each group of 6 as they stood their "individual" trials- "Any legal reasoning why the court shouldn't accept these please of guilty?"- Yes. This isn't how our system is supposed to operate. This isn't a fair trial. I see no jury of peers.
This is disgusting. Me da asco. Right now, I regret my citizenship. I regret that my government is playing this role, and putting on this trial. I don't even understand why this system is in place at all- it is masquerading as something that follows the US court systems and procedures.

It's as far of a cry from the system I learned about in school, and how it's supposed to work, as if the 50 individuals "on trial" here today had been tazed, tortured, ripped of their dignity, and kicked over the border.

Prayer Requests

One of my roommates, friends, and co-worker, Ali, has a friend whose mom has recently been diagnosed with Brain Cancer. She asks for continued prayers for the Schuyler family. Chemotherapy has started, but the prognosis is not hopeful. I ask for your prayers for both Ali, as she tries to balance being in ministry away from her home and friends in need, and for her friend's family.

I ask for prayers for BorderLinks as an organization. That it continues to practice its mission of popular education of Border Issues, that delegations don't shy away from the opportunity to be a part of it because of the media's portrayal of Border Violence, and that as an organization altogether it continues to operate and be able to operate.

I ask for prayers for all of those who are lost, thirsty, separated from family, abused, and hungry.

I ask for prayers for the government, that it can represent and protect people and ideas rather than partisanship and money.

----
9/25/10

Prayers for those bereaving everywhere.

Prayers for those associated with "Operation Streamline." Those on all sides.

Three moments

An activity we (Ali and I) did as a part of our orientation at BorderLinks was to depict the "rivers of our lives." We were only given a few minutes to complete this task, so undoubtedly, not all of the flowing parts made it onto the drawing.

These following three moments were the first three that I thought of in terms of shaping my young life, and more-over the person I am today. Perhaps I was thinking about them because just before completing the task, I'd read the mission of BorderLinks, and it very much so reminded me of the Montessori Method. But more on that later.

So, here's to you, Mrs. Suzelle Poole, Mrs. Mary Loew, and Ms T, the Guides of my childhood.

The Golden Rule
I'm sure I remember this moment more as a dream than how it actually happened. One day in my primary class, (that's 3-6years old, for you non Montessori children), Mrs. Poole gathered us together for a Grace and Courtesy lesson. That day's lesson was the Golden Rule.

I went to Sunday School growing up, and I'm sure I'd heard it in other ways with my childhood teachers. But this particular moment sticks in my mind. I really struggled with the idea of "do unto others as you would have them do to you." I remember asking something like "but what if someone really just wants to be mean? Are you mean in return?"

I feel like I was a pretty good, nice, caring child. But, instead of reinforcing those attributes, I feel like that moment, learning the Golden Rule, served to teach me retribution. It showed me that actions are done to elicit responses and certain behaviors in other people. Instead of being nice, friendly, compassionate and loving because we want to, we do it because we want others to do the same to us.


So moment 1: The Golden Rule- I learned that others don't necessarily think with their hearts first. That others may be led by other, more selfish desires.

Timeline
All throughout lower elementary, I feel like I had a timeline project to complete. I don't ever recall finishing a single one of them, but I do remember starting many. One in particular is a timeline of animals, starting with the Trilobites, and tracing evolution to Human Beings. I remember asking Mrs. Loew, "In Sunday School we learned that Adam and Eve started the world. This timeline shows that we evolved. Which is right?" Her response was, as any good Guide's response would be, very calm and collected; she said something along the lines of "well, some of those stories are believed to be metaphors, and this timeline depicts the scientific idea of evolution." To which I replied something along the lines of "Which is the right one?"
"Well, it depends on the individual"
"Isn't there a right answer, though?"

Lesson: There can be many different interpretations of "the facts."

Interview with a Superstar

This moment is, by far, my favorite. I was probably 11 or 12 at the time, and of course, knew everything. The class had been assigned to interview someone famous. So I decided to interview Ms T, my Upper Elementary Guide (4-6th grade). I developed a list of somewhere between 20 and 100 questions. Before the interview I patted myself of the back, congratulating myself for thinking of absolutely every worthwhile interview, for being such a thorough 11 year old journalist. And, just in case I had forgotten a worthwhile question, I'd even thought of that possibility. My last question was "Is there any other question you think I should have asked that I didn't?" I thoroughly expected the answer to be "no,", of course, since I'd certainly covered all of my bases.

But, that was not the case.

Ms T responded "yes" to my last question. And I was unprepared. So I followed up with "what question did I leave out?"
"You didn't ask me what I want to be when I grow up?"

I was confused. She was a teacher. That was her title. She was grown up.

So, I asked the question anyways. I don't remember the response. But I do remember that moment being when I realized that we will always be growing, and never have to give up on learning, changing, and experiencing new things.