The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America April-June 2015 - (Page 6)
FrIendshIp Tours
Unsettled by Truth:
A Border Awareness Experience
by Allison Paksoy
T
he summer before my senior year of college, my parents
adopted a cat. When they found him, he was covered in dirt
and matted fur. He hung his head low and did not purr. When
you ran your hand over him, he was skin-and-bone to the touch.
Then my parents took him to the vet, where he was groomed.
They took him into a home where he received nourishment and
love. Day by day, he became more confident and started to reveal
more of his personality. He began to purr. He was like a brand
new cat.
Some weeks later, my step-dad brought up this transformation.
Speaking to the condition in which he was originally found, my
step-dad said, "If being in those conditions does that to a cat,
imagine what it does to a human being."
I thought about that interaction while sitting in a courtroom
in El Paso, TX, watching as 10 young men and one young woman
stood in front of the judge in shackles and blue jump suits. All
were first time offenders and none had a criminal history.
"We shackle them in case they get violent," the judge said
when we were able to speak with him after the sentencing. "I don't
even see the shackles anymore. It's a good thing. It helps me to
not see them as criminals."
But I can't forget the shackles. I don't want to forget.
What does it do to a human being to be treated like a criminal
when s/he is not one? What does it do to a human being to have
to apologize for "crimes committed against God and the United
States" when s/he was only trying to make a better life for him or
herself ? What does it do to a human being to be seen as invalid
by other human beings?
"It's important to come to the border. To come here is to be unsettled
by truth."
These were the words spoken to us by Ruben Garcia, one of
the founders and the current executive director of Annunciation
House, our host for the week in El Paso. Being unsettled by truth
was the unofficial theme during the "Justicia en la Frontera/Justice
at the Border" Friendship Tour.
We were unsettled by truth as we gathered at the border fence.
Some children on the other side ran up to see the approaching
foreigners. Their mother kept a watchful eye on them from a
distance. Despite the fence that indicated and assumed arbitrary
differences between "us" and "them," and despite border patrol
agents watching our every move, we met with them.
Like all children, they wanted to know if we had candy.
They wanted to laugh with us. They wanted to show
us their puppy. Yet the fence between us made contact
and relationships limited.
"These are people I'll never know," said one of our
group members. "How can I get to know them through
a fence?"
As we were leaving, one of the little girls dropped
the fork she had been playing with onto the US side of
the fence. As I stooped down to pick it up I thought,
"isn't it interesting that this piece of plastic has more of
a 'right' to be here than she does." I slid the fork back
through the fence to her, wondering what border patrol
might be thinking.
We were unsettled by truth as we learned about US
policies and practices and their harmful effects. Policies
such as the Merida Initiative, an agreement passed into
law in 2008, between the US and Mexico, to stop arms
and drugs from being trafficked across the border. This
resulted in highly militarized police forces in Juarez and
other cities throughout Mexico.
Left: Children on the Mexico side of the Juarez/El Paso
border fence interact with visitors on the US side.
Photo by Allison Paksoy.
6
Baptist Peacemaker
APR-JUN 2015
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America April-June 2015
Crossing Borders in 2015
BPFNA Welcomes New Office Manager
Unsettled By Truth: A Border Awareness Experience
What Nagaland Needs: Report from a Conflict Transformation Training
Songs of Victory in Uganda: Report from a Conflict Transformation Training
It Was a Large Day: Reflections on the US-Cuba Policy Change Announcement
My Vocation as a Peacemaker
Christians & Commitment To Truth & Justice: How Churches Are Responding to the Ayotzinapa Kidnapping
Report from the SOA Watch Vigil
BPFNA World Peace Network to Fund Five African Peace Projects
In the Land of the Willing: A Review of Ken Sehested's New Book
Prayer & Politiks: A Review of Ken Sehested's Online Journal
Resources & Opportunities
2014 BPFNA Highlights
Contributors
Rags of Weariness
The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America April-June 2015
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