Minutemen v. Mexicans

One of my favorite Guardian writers, Gary Younge, recently traveled the length of the US-Mexican border to get a small taste of culture, people, and conflict. I am interested, and feel obligated, to spend time learning about the parts of this world where my friends are working, living, etc. The tension of the border is shouting at me through this article. I can't quite imagine living on it like Aaron is right now. Anyway, these are some interesting and depressing segments of the article.

Younge begins the article by writing about two brothers who lived north of the Rio Grande in 1840. He gives a brief history lesson on the Mexican-American war and ends it with this nearly always forgotten fact: "The Gavito brothers didn't cross the border; the border crossed them."

He points out a number of ironies. "On any one day some young Americans will cross the border so they can legally drink alcohol and some Mexicans will die of thirst trying to cross it illegally so they can work."

Younge includes a quote from Josiah Heyman, an anthropology professor at UTEP, "They're [the US] burning billions of dollars to catch a guy who wants to mow somebody's lawn."

And I leave you with this, by far the most disturbing paragraphs in the article:

Quasimodo is a Minuteman in Columbus, New Mexico. A few days earlier I had spoken to Carmen Mercer, the groups vice president ... She delivered an ear-splitting tirade against the entire American political establishment for failing the country on immigration, then rang me later to say she had forgotten to mention the diseases and drugs Mexicans are bringing into the country ... He [Quasimodo, a gun-toting 70 year-old] also has a deep fear of Mexican immigrants, the more so since the occasion he went to an abandoned house in town. "I looked around and there were 12 guys just 10 feet away looking at me," he says meaningfully.

"Did they attack you?" I ask.

"No," he says.

"Did they look as if they might attack you?"

"No."

"Has an illegal immigrant ever attacked you?"

"No. But they could have had my fanny if they wanted it."

So now he carries a .38 pistol with him wherever he goes. "I couldn't hit the broadside of a barn with it, but it makes a noise and I hope that's all it ever needs to do."

Unfortunately, I cannot link you to the whole article. But I think you can tell where Younge is going with this. These Minutemen, like Quasimodo, are not the same brave, young, Minutemen from the colonies. They only wish they could go down in history as heroes like the originals did. And, the threat this time isn't a ruling, and often ruthless, overseas monarchy and their military. For all of us reading about the Minutemen and watching them on the news, it is obvious what this is, an adult version of the popular childhood game, Cowboys and Indians, only the guns aren't plastic this time.