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Marcha Migrante VBy: Holly Angeles, Jen MorenoIssue date: 2/28/10 Section: Backpage
SASABE, MEXICO -- For thousands of Mexican migrant workers looking for jobs, this dusty and tumble down pueblo in the state of Sonora is the first part of the journey to el norte. Sadly, for hundreds of the same people, the unforgiving desert of the American Southwest is also the end of their journey.
Southern Arizona has replaced San Diego County as the killing field for migrants entering the United States. Its starkly beautiful, but treacherous Sonoran desert straddles la frontera and has become la tierra del muerto for men, women and children fleeing poverty for hope that they never find. Bodies often remain lost for months, even years among the rocks, saguaros and ravines south of Tucson.
Against this forlorn backdrop the relentless civil rights activist Enrique Morones and his band of Border Angels work to draw attention to the poorest of the poor and the weakest of the weak who, as Woody Guthrie famously wrote, "fall like dry leaves to rot on the top soil." Morones led a caravan of rights activists on Marcha Migrante V this month to urge political leaders in Washington D.C. to pass immigration reform that could end the tragedy on the border that claims an average of two lives a day.
Morones had some star power on his side this year as he led his caravan from San Diego to Sasabe, Tucson, Phoenix, Calexico and Holtville. Playwright Josefina Lopez, who wrote the stage play and motion picture "Real Women Have Curves," was joined by rock musician Ivan Gonzalez, formerly of the Mexican super group Mana. Lopez trembled in anger as she looked over the muddy graveyard at the back end of Holtville's notorious Terrace Park Cemetery where more than 700 unidentified migrants are buried in unmarked pauper's graves.
"This is murder," Lopez said with quiet rage. "The immigration policy today is a crime against humanity. I'm here to bear witness so I can write a story that will move people."
Morones said it is important that the media and artists use their communication talents to let the rest of America know what's going on in the Southwest.
Follow link for rest of article: Backpage
SASABE, MEXICO -- For thousands of Mexican migrant workers looking for jobs, this dusty and tumble down pueblo in the state of Sonora is the first part of the journey to el norte. Sadly, for hundreds of the same people, the unforgiving desert of the American Southwest is also the end of their journey.
Southern Arizona has replaced San Diego County as the killing field for migrants entering the United States. Its starkly beautiful, but treacherous Sonoran desert straddles la frontera and has become la tierra del muerto for men, women and children fleeing poverty for hope that they never find. Bodies often remain lost for months, even years among the rocks, saguaros and ravines south of Tucson.
Against this forlorn backdrop the relentless civil rights activist Enrique Morones and his band of Border Angels work to draw attention to the poorest of the poor and the weakest of the weak who, as Woody Guthrie famously wrote, "fall like dry leaves to rot on the top soil." Morones led a caravan of rights activists on Marcha Migrante V this month to urge political leaders in Washington D.C. to pass immigration reform that could end the tragedy on the border that claims an average of two lives a day.
Morones had some star power on his side this year as he led his caravan from San Diego to Sasabe, Tucson, Phoenix, Calexico and Holtville. Playwright Josefina Lopez, who wrote the stage play and motion picture "Real Women Have Curves," was joined by rock musician Ivan Gonzalez, formerly of the Mexican super group Mana. Lopez trembled in anger as she looked over the muddy graveyard at the back end of Holtville's notorious Terrace Park Cemetery where more than 700 unidentified migrants are buried in unmarked pauper's graves.
"This is murder," Lopez said with quiet rage. "The immigration policy today is a crime against humanity. I'm here to bear witness so I can write a story that will move people."
Morones said it is important that the media and artists use their communication talents to let the rest of America know what's going on in the Southwest.
Follow link for rest of article: Backpage
