Airport Protest No Ban No Wall
By Ben Allen
Privilege and the Wall
After a long day at school, after dropping the ball on a Chicano Lit essay,
I watched the Frampton-Santa Cruz weigh in, watched those tiny men threateningly flex their muscles,
and I decided to go for a run.
I ran down Utah, past the boxing gym that was under construction and being repainted from white
to something less gaudy, and I watched the fighters skipping rope through the window in the wall,
before I continued on my end of day run, my privilege.
My privilege,
allows me to “drop the ball” on my essay, it allows me the chance to even write my essay
about the struggle at the border of this country, its wall
where the leaders flex their muscles
where the leaders are white
and where they tell men and women with brown faces to run.
I’ve had a pretty easy run,
because of my privilege.
Because I am white,
the struggle at the wall is an academic one, condensable to a three paged double spaced MLA format essay,
and at the end of the day, I may exercise my muscles
and not think twice about the wall.
However, now there is no academic wall.
Now the wall is very real because we have allowed tyrants to run
this land, which was never theirs to being with, only taken with their muscles,
from those with no privilege
whose oppression is part of a collective essay
that has been erased from The History of Man (White).
But look into the eyes of Man (White).
Beneath his own personally constructed wall
lies his fear of a brown ese
telling him to run,
of the oppressed exercising their own privilege,
that is intrinsic from working this land with their muscles.
And their muscles are strong muscles,
brown, not white,
holding both power and privilege
enough to destroy any pinche wall
and return them to the communities that had been run
before there was ever a struggle on which to write an essay.
And afterwards, there will be no more History of Man (White),
but a History of Humanity, which will run
long after the breaking down of the last wall.
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So muscle was deplorable when white used it, but will be admirable when brown uses it.
No comprehende, senor.
What I do understand but is still baffling, is this continued campaign to make this issue of national boundaries and security, a racial conflict. Mexican is not a race, it is a nationality, and if one is of a mind to eliminate the restrictions of borders because of economic sympathy, why not go all the way? Remove the locks from your homes doors. Leave the keys in your car. When you cash your paycheck, take it in cash and stick the bills on yourself like post it notes that say “kick me”.
If deporting people who enter illegally is wrong then why don’t we abolish all laws and penalties for property crimes like burglary and shoplifting? I am hungry, so why can’t I fulfill my primal needs, and just steal?
This concept that “they are just looking for a better life” (condoning breaking the law) can be applied to all types of property crimes.
Unfortunately an open immigration policy can only lead to a future nation of the offspring of thieves, felons and brutes who resorted to primal instinct rather than wait their turn in line in a civilized manner.
Mr. Lucier, assuming you are not a troll, I will attempt to enlighten you.
The difference between the brown and white muscle is that the brown muscle is being used to break perceived oppression. Force to end force is always OK.
Yes, you are correct; there are just 3 races and Mexican (or brown) is not one of them. It’s a misnomer, nothing more; many people erroneously use it, get over it and stop trying to use a simple mistake as a “straw man” so you can argue against it with absurd false comparisons.
Also, please recognize that the federal government has allowed the problem of illegal immigration to grow to the point of now being too large and complex to have an easy solution. That seems to be what you are arguing for; it ain’t gonna happen.
Finally, if really think that the offspring of thieves, felons and brutes can only result in un-named badness, don’t go to Australia.
Comprender is the verb you’re looking for, Lucier. Comprehender is just a silly invention from your knowledge of English. Maybe you wanted to seem like you know what you’re talking about, maybe not. But welcome to San Diego (Spanish for San Diego) which was discovered by Samoans and Spanish folks after the indigenous had occupied it for many many centuries.