Tucson Treasures, Part Two

In my last post I wrote about my conversation with Jose Rodas.  He was so generous in connecting me with Dr. Anna Ochoa O'Leary.  Anna is an Associate Professor in the Department of  Mexican American Studies in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Arizona.   Jose walked me across campus to the Cesar Chavez Building where the department is housed.  He let me know that the Department Chair, Dr. Richard Ruiz, had died suddenly on February 6.  The department was reeling from the loss of its beloved leader.  An article in the UA Campus news shares the story of this remarkable man.  As we walked into the building we came to an altar dedicated to Dr. Ruiz.  It was beautiful.

Altar in Cesar Chavez Building

I took a moment to appreciate the memorial to a man who I never met, who was very close to me in age and whom has had lasting impact in his life and work.  I was so moved and am still by beauty of the altar and how the very public expression of grief can be healing for everyone.

Having witnessed this I found Anna waiting in her office for me.  She is a gracious, warm person who is very easy to speak with about difficult subjects.  She had invited me to attend her seminar the following week on the Feminization of Migration so I knew this was a chance to visit with her one on one and get her perspective on issues that were not related to the course.  We spoke about the plight of the undocumented immigrants who (as she put it) "are our neighbors who are living in the shadows."  When I asked for her thoughts on what we can do she shared the following:

• The problem is not going away by doing what we are doing.
• Sealing the border will not work.  The solution needs to be humane.
• The Mexican government does not have the will to fix the problem.
• We have to support organizations that do the work.
• We need to get people to understand that US economic policies have created the problem, especially NAFTA that lowered the price of corn and put Mexican farmers out of business.
• The problem needs thorough understanding.  We need to move away from the "Reader's Digest" version of information about the issue.
• Support ongoing work like that she is doing with the Binational Migration Institute (BMI).  Dr. O'Leary and her colleagues published a book, Uncharted Terrain, that is helping support the work of the institute.  Part of what the institute does is take students across into Mexico to learn first hand about migration and the impacts it has on human lives.  She was preparing to take her graduate class to Nogales, Sonora, that evening to visit the San Juan Bosco Albergue shelter and to interview people who were staying there.  Mike and I had the opportunity to visit the shelter on our Borderlinks delegation so I knew what the space looked like.

Anna spoke to me about some of her current work and some of the pressing issues she sees.  She is concerned about the lack of protocol for disposing of the remains of Undocumented Border Crossers (UBC).  She and her colleagues are working with NGO and government officials to work more diligently to identify the remains before disposing of them.  It sounds harsh to write about disposing of remains of UBC victims but it is what is standard practice.  The dead and the families of the deceased are some of the casualities in the undeclared war on migrants and we see this happening in not just the US but also in Mexico and other dangerous areas of Central America that are crossed.  The ambiguous loss I wrote about yesterday is a fact of life for the survivors.  Many never know the fates of where, when, how their loved ones die on the perilous journey.

She is also very concerned about the post-migration trauma that is impacting both women and children.  She echoed the sentiments of Rev. John Fife that we are destroying the fabric of more than one generation of families.  Anna later sent me an article she published in The Conversation, in November of 2014, Family Values and Deportation don't go together.  I highly recommend it to you.

Anna in her office with Cesar in the background

Anna gave me a list of pertinent documentaries that we hope to use to encourage our local film society and/or human right film festival to show.

Mike and I were fortunate to visit the Feminization of Migration class the following Monday.  The class was an intimate group of graduate students who had taken the trip to the border shelter the previous week.  We were able to listen to the debrief.  We learned about more of the challenges the migrants face.  

We also listened the discussion about two articles the students read for that night's class.  Anna later shared copies of both with me.  Some of the discussion focused on understanding the migrants from Chiapas and Oaxaca may not even speak Spanish.  There are over 17 indigenous languages in each of the states and the right to a "fair trial" in the Operation Streamline courtroom is often compromised by not having interpreters in the language.  Although some attempt is made to remove the non-Spanish speakers from the "line-up" it does not always work well.  The court is facing legal challenges brought forth by public defenders.

Here are a couple of comments I heard during the class:

• "Migration is disrupting the integrity of the family - much like it did in when Africans were imported as slaves and their families were broken up (all the time, before, during and after their arrival in this country)."
• "We (United States) dismantle the humanity of people historically.  First American Indians, then African slaves and now Mexican and Central American Immigrants."

The class watched half of a powerful film - Maria in Nobody's Land.  The class would watch part two this week.  We will hopefully watch it ourselves.  The pictures of the train, "the beast," that carries migrants through Mexico are unforgettable. The stories and faces of the El Salvadorian families searching for words of their loved ones brought tears to my eyes.  I am hoping we can watch it in Bellingham with others who care to learn more about this issue.

We left Anna's class grateful for being able to share the experience and for knowing that the issue is being thoughtfully and rigorously examined.

I hope to keep in touch with Anna and am grateful for her generosity in sharing her work and her students with me!

Thanks for reading!