Contemplating Border Deaths

Sent by an African American who recently joined Latino activists on a tour of the Mexican border to learn more about the impact US immigration policies have on the lives of those who try to enter the US.

   To the Fallen in the Deserts of Death

In memory of those who went searching for a better life

and found only death

In memory of those
who risked everything and lost everything
They went with hope in their eyes
and struggle in their soul

In memory of those who will never come back
we offer these flowers…
To them
with respect we say:
Your thirst, is our thirst.
Your hunger, is our hunger.
Your pain, is our pain.
Your anguish, your bitterness and your agony,
are also ours.

We are a scream that demands justice…
So that no one, ever again, has to abandon their land,
Their beliefs, their dead, their children, their parents, their family.
Their roots, their culture, their identity…

We are a silence that takes
voice…
So that no one has to go searching for a destiny in other lands.
So that no one has to go into exile
and waste away alone

We are a voice in the desert that cries
out:
Education for all!
Opportunity for all!
Work for all!
Bread for all!
Freedom for all!
Justice for all!

We are a voice that the desert cannot swallow up
To demand that our native land give equally to all of its children
the opportunity
for a dignified and decent life
“For the right to live in peace”
Mexico, Winter
2004
Othón Pérez

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