I was called out not long ago by a local Indigenous organizer I respect a lot. He was concerned about my uncritical support for the PUENTE hunger strikers, and my failure to really dig into how the larger "immigrant rights movement" had co-opted the actions of the hunger strikers and twisted it to fit their own agenda - which was to throw every criminalized immigrant under the bus while calling for "NOT1MORE Deportation!" (translated: No more "unnecessary deportations", that is, of the "good immigrants" only). The National Council of LaRaza, anyway, thinks it's still okay to deport every criminalized immigrant ICE finds - which includes the prisoners that PUENTE families have been trying to free from detention.
Along those same lines, The NCLR as well as a lot of other immigrant organizations are clamoring for Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR) to be passed...this CIR. It's disastrous not only for immigrants, who are being tricked into thinking this "path to citizenship" will someday apply to most of them and their loved ones, but also to the Indigenous people most affected by border militarization - the Tohono O'odham, whose territory covers much of this part of the country. And despite how the current CIR plan on the table - S 722 - promises massive military buildup at the border and guarantees that they will pack more immigrants into private detention centers to enrich the evil people profiting from those places, I have indeed neglected the issues; my head has been kind of stuck in the AZ DOC and MCSO jails of late.
So, I'm taking a more thoughtful look around at the world again. I still support families and prisoners who take their fate into their own hands and launch direct actions instead of waiting for others to rescue them - it's not in their control what the rest of the movement does, if their efforts are exploited or objectives distorted by others. That said, however, I do owe folks here a more thorough look at the issues involved in CIR, border militarization, and how the movement of people and goods across international borders interacts with the Prison Industrial Complex. Feel free to check me too, if I'm missing something.
For now, check out this interview with Alex Soto and Klee Benally, both committed activists and talented musicians. You can find Shining Soul's website here and their music here- it's pretty potent. Klee's music is here, and his organization is here. I know both men from their work in the community resisting the brutalization and militarization of their land, exploitation of their resources, harassment of their people, and the desecration of their sacred sites.
---from Democracy Now with Amy Goodman---
Caught in the Crossfire: U.S.-Mexico Border Militarization Threatens Way of Life for Native Tribe
Democracy Now (March 14, 2014)Transcript follows the video.
President Obama has deployed thousands of new U.S. Border Patrol agents to the southern border of Arizona, a state known for its controversial crackdown on immigrants. Caught in the middle of the border militarization are about 28,000 members of the Tohono O’odham Nation. Their federally recognized reservation is about the size of the state of Connecticut, and for a 76-mile stretch it spans both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. Broadcasting from Flagstaff, we speak with both Klee Benally, a Diné (Navajo) activist, and Alex Soto, a member of the Tohono O’odham Nation and organizer with O’odham Solidarity Across Borders. He is also a member of the hip-hop duo, Shining Soul. "The Tohono O’odham people, which translates to desert people, are caught in the midst of colonial policies that are now militarizing our lands, from just the amount of Border Patrol agents, to checkpoints, to drones, to just the overall surveillance of our community," Soto says.
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: "Papers" by Shining Soul, a hip-hop duo that our next guest is a member of. Yes, this is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report.
I’m Amy Goodman. We’re on the road in Flagstaff, Arizona, a state known
for its controversial crackdown on undocumented immigrants under
Governor Jan Brewer, who announced this week she is not running for
re-election. President Obama has also deployed thousands of new U.S.
Border Patrol agents to Arizona’s southern border with Mexico.Well, caught in the middle of this are about 28,000 members of the Tohono O’odham Nation. Their federally recognized reservation is about the size of the state of Connecticut. And for a 76-mile stretch, it spans both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. Many O’odham must now pass through checkpoints when traveling through their land, and some members living in Mexico are almost completely cut off from their tribe.
Our next guest was part of a protest in 2010 where demonstrators opposed to border militarization and checkpoints occupied the U.S. Border Patrol offices at Tucson’s Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. Alex Soto is a member of the Tohono O’odham Nation and organizer with O’odham Solidarity Across Borders. He’s also a member of the hip-hop duo, Shining Soul.
Staying with us, Klee Benally, Diné, Navajo, activist.
Alex, welcome.
ALEX SOTO: Hello.
AMY GOODMAN: It’s great to have you here in Flagstaff, quite far, actually, from the border.
ALEX SOTO: Yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: Talk about the key issues right now.
ALEX SOTO:
Well, currently, my community is in the middle of just the current push
to militarize the border region. The Tohono O’odham people are—which
translates to "desert people," are caught in the midst of colonial
policies that are now militarizing our lands from just the amount of
Border Patrol agents to checkpoints, to drones, to just the overall
surveillance of our community. So, right now, you know, our way of life
as O’odham are being affected, you know, from traditional practices to
seeing family and friends, and just overall just being affected by the
militarization.
AMY GOODMAN: Describe the wall to us.
ALEX SOTO:
Well, on our reservation, keep in mind, the border region that you
shared, 76 miles, is not necessarily a wall yet. All it is, is vehicle
barriers. So, in my lifetime, at one point, you know, early childhood,
there was no fence. There was nothing there. So, through my lifetime,
I’ve seen the changes due to the current immigration policies that are
acted out by the U.S. government. And now it’s to the point where we
have vehicle barriers. But the current push for comprehensive
immigration reform is now pushing towards a Berlin Wall-like scenario in
my community right now.
AMY GOODMAN: Describe how you’ve seen the border militarized over the years of your growing up.
ALEX SOTO:
You know, growing up—and I’m only 28 now—just being young, I was always
raised to know that, as O’odham, you know, the land on both sides of
the so-called U.S.-Mexico border is our land. And so, when I was young,
there was no border there, other than chicken-wire fence for ranching
or, you know, practices within the community. Only until—since the early
'80s to the early ’90s, in particular with the passing of NAFTA,
did we see the push to then regulate the border due to the level of
migrant communities or indigenous people from Mexico now migrating here
due to policy, economic policies by the U.S. So, you know, through the
’90s, it has escalated more and more just due to that, into 2001, with
9/11, where it pushed more policies towards militarization. So right now
we're currently in that state, along—more or less because of
immigration policy, as well. So, hand in hand, these issues are
impacting us that are not necessarily O’odham issues, but the global
context is now pushing that militarization on our land.
AMY GOODMAN: I mean, it’s so interesting that we’re talking about immigration issues when you’re the original people of this land.
ALEX SOTO: Yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: Talk about the Know Your Rights trainings that you’re involved in.
ALEX SOTO:
I’m part of a grassroots effort in the community, along with many other
young people, who are taking initiative to now know our rights in
relation to Border Patrol, because in our community the Border Patrol
operates as if—you know, with no accountability. I mean, they—keep in
mind, our reservation is not in an urban setting; it’s in a rural area.
So, agents, they pretty much act out, you know, whatever they want. And
that being said, community members are in a position where they don’t
know what their rights are. So, my friends, in particular, the
collective that I’ve been involved with, solidarity work, they’ve been
putting that out there as far as what are the dos and don’ts. And in
particular, when it comes down to Border Patrol interactions, they
really are only supposed to ask your citizenship. They’re not supposed
to ask where you’re coming from or who’s your family or who is this
person in the back that looks, you know, in their eyes, illegal and so
forth, even though, as you mentioned, we are the first inhabitants of
the land. And keep in mind, we’re all indigenous people, as was
mentioned.
AMY GOODMAN:
I mean, it’s interesting you’re here at Northern Arizona University,
which has a large criminal justice department. Students move on from
here, many go into Border Patrol. Isn’t Border Patrol the largest
security force in the United States?
ALEX SOTO:
From my understanding, they’re getting up there to that point, because
in our community, we have nearby border towns, such as Ajo, such as Casa
Grande, where Border Patrol agents are—you know, that the push have
been—you know, the escalation of what’s going on. Small rural towns are
becoming just havens for them to now live. You know, there’s thousands
of residents, in particular in Ajo, who now have Border Patrol agents
housing there. So, it’s pretty sad in that regard.
AMY GOODMAN:
I wanted to end by asking both of you about your music as a part of
your resistance and your political activism. Talk about Shining Soul.
ALEX SOTO:
Shining Soul is myself and my other colleague, who’s from South
Phoenix, who’s a Chicano, Franco Habre, aka The Bronze Candidate. My
hip-hop project is called Shining Soul, so together we’re a duo. You
know, we rap. We make our beats. And with our music, we’re able to
express what’s happening in our communities, you know, in the spirit of
Public Enemy, in the spirit of NWA, to let not
just our communities know, but the outside world, that these issues are
affecting us, but it’s not just an indigenous issue or a Chicano issue
or, you know, any—it’s everybody’s issue. So, from music, you know, dope
beats and dope rhymes, as they say, you know, as an emcee, in the
spirit of hip-hop’s—you know, in its early starts, you know, I spread
that message in that regard, including his own regard is through his
music, as well.
AMY GOODMAN: Klee, talk about your music in Blackfire.
KLEE BENALLY:
Well, music is a tool for social transformation and change. I mean, in
an era where we see capitalism as the enemy of Mother Earth, and
indigenous people are tokenized, and we are—continue to face the ongoing
genocide of our people—because, I mean, you asked what is the impact of
global warming on indigenous people. It is genocide. I mean, the
resource extraction on our lands is the result that you see with the
symptoms of global warming. And so, music, for me, is an opportunity, a
powerful opportunity, to get that message out there and to let people
know that we need hope, but we need action. We have to meet that, match
that.
AMY GOODMAN: And, Klee, also talk about Outta Your Backpack Media collective.
KLEE BENALLY:
Outta Your Backpack Media was started in 2004 as a response to the need
for media justice in indigenous communities. So what we do is we offer
free workshops and resource kits for indigenous youth and empower them
to be able to tell their own stories, because we know, and as you know,
corporate media is not going to do the job for us. We need to do it
ourselves.
AMY GOODMAN: And who are you training?
KLEE BENALLY:
I work with indigenous youth, primarily high school ages, and we’re a
collective. We’re all volunteer. And what we do is we train youth to
become mentors themselves, to participate and educate other youth. So,
really, it’s a spreading, it’s a growing movement. It’s connected to the
music that Alex is doing; it’s connected to my music. And really, there
is a strong upsurgence and uprising of indigenous people, not just with
Idle No More, because we’ve never been idle. We are still part of this
struggle. We’re still here.
AMY GOODMAN: Idle No More being the indigenous movement in Canada.
KLEE BENALLY:
Yeah, and we’ve never been idle. My elders never gave up. When the U.S.
government forces were coming to take their land up in Big Mountain and
Black Mesa, which I believe you’ve been there—
AMY GOODMAN: My first radio documentary in 1985 was called A Thumbprint on Mother Earth,
and, yes, I came out here to Flagstaff, went to Big Mountain and looked
at the plight of the Diné and Hopi people. Often it was cast as a
battle between these two tribes. But, in fact, when you came here and
looked, you saw Peabody Coal behind the whole thing.
KLEE BENALLY:
And that’s the connection to global warming. I mean, as long as people
are tied up in these unsustainable lifestyles and continue down this
destructive path that fuels this war against our mother, the Earth, then
we’re going to have this conflict. And that’s—the resistance is still
going on today. People are still on the land. They are still staying
strong, carrying on our ways of life.
AMY GOODMAN: We’ll link to that documentary, A Thumbprint on Mother Earth,
and also to the work of our guests. Alex Soto, thanks so much for being
with us, O’odham Solidarity Across Borders, and Klee Benally, Diné,
Navajo, activist.
