JE #5

Marc Silver’s short documentary and article “Bodies on the Borders” brings light to a very serious subject that is often overlooked on both sides of the border. As the video enumerates, remains of 2,200 migrants have been recovered in Arizona near the U.S-Mexico Border, leaving families broken and either never finding their loved ones, or finding their decomposing bodies in the desert. The video strategically opens with a panoramic view of Tucson, Arizona highways and a voice over of our president Barack Obama stating the U.S will initiate “the toughest Border enforcement plan America has ever seen.” Close reading the cinematography of the short documentary, I find this voice over element as an accurate parallel to the way governmental administration inconsiderately implements policy that continually militarizes our border, forcing thousands of migrants to die annually. The people that make these life changing decisions do not experience the hardships immigrants face on a daily basis, but they will readily make a decision for the “betterment” of our nation, despite administrators’, especially our President’s absence in areas they mostly affect. Pima County in Arizona has been able to recover 66% of missing persons in the surrounding area, no thanks to Obama who continually militarizes that particular sector of the border. In comparison to Kathleen Alcala’s Flower in the Skull, we see the forced separation of communities and families especially within Concha’s story. Concha, probably like many migrant children today, abruptly realizes that her mother died. Also, much like the U.S government that constantly presses for a more violent “maintenance” of the border, the Mexicans within the novel, continually kill and hold the Opata captive because they are not the same people apparently (despite strong indigenous ancestry in Mexicans). In a sense, the Opata are violently displaced just like Mexicans in real life. More importantly, this article in discussion of the relevant Flower in the Skull, makes me question what we on this side of the border can do to help those dying for a “better” chance at life. Both texts exemplify how prevalent the dominant culture’s decisions affect the lives of the second-class and how those with higher privilege can abuse their power and perpetuate a strict social hierarchy.