"Latinos as the 'Living Dead'

On Wednesday February 23rd, I attended a talk sponsored by the MSA were Professor John Marquez read an excerpt from his soon to be published book "Latinos as the 'Living Dead': The 'Necropolitics of U.S. Immigration Policy." Although not heavily discussed in class Professor Marquez talked in depth about border militarization and the fact that the US government implemented this plan as a deterrent for immigration. Basically, by militarizing the border, the government expected to use force and stop immigration; death, fear and violence as effective measures. This is a human rights issue as much as it is an immigration one. In attempts to protect borders, the government has enacted plans veneered an environmental issues (various human rights groups have placed water bottle in desert areas, which are also national parks to help those crossing) to stop and demonize immigrants.

In the realm of performance, Marquez's excerpt alluded to images of death, musical performance and identity transformation. First, images of death. In addition to deterring immigration by militarizing the border, the border patrol, if I remember correctly, would go into border cities and post pictures of dead immigrants, roting corpses and the such, to stop immigration. As an activist, Marquez and others would tear down these horrific images. While the images did portray a truth, the fact that it is a truth perpetuated by those posting the pictures is ironic. On the border, the humanity of border patrol officers and the immigrants they needlessly kill are lost. In order to protect and enforce sovereignty, that is being "threatened' by this mass influx of low wage workers, the border patrol working in the name of the government and US citizens, kills many innocent and unarmed people. (Additionally Marquez discussed that border patrol officers feel threatened when people on the other side of the border through rocks at them. These may not even be Mexicans immigrating, but that is not the point. The point is that they feel threatened by a rock and retaliate by shooting bullets. This is a "disproportionate use of force" and result in unnecessary deaths.)

Musical performance as a reaction to death in the border region is inherently linked to the reading for this week. Marquez mentioned a corrido written for a young man killed by La Migra. Sergio Hernandez Guereca was on the other side of the Rio Grande and apparently threw rocks at the border patrol and was shot in the face. His senseless death caused a friend of his to write a song about him stating that the "border patrol assassinated a child" and "without power I have nothing. " Having a corrido be the song of choice implies an antagonist nature to the song, protesting hardships, power struggle and an use vs them mentality. Corridos as explained in this week's reading are considered a lower class art form. Although I know nothing about Sergio, I can assume that he was lower class and without the power that comes with being upper class, he died because of a rock.

Lastly, Marquez discussed afterwards, the mothers that take action and become voices for their dead children, almost exclusively sons. This public display of grief and putting oneself in the spotlight to shine a light on the depravity of the border region, allows these women to become more than that. They become victims in a way, losing a child way before his time. They enhance the tragedy. They ask to know who killed their children and are met with silence.

Marquez's book and subsequent Q&A session were informative and disheartening. Informative because it sheds light on the little known , to me anyway, history of border militarization and Chicago's mayor elect involvement with it, along with the rocks vs. gun situation.

Disheartening because the border patrol seems to kill people indiscriminately, even shooting American citizen on this side of the border (not that this fact makes it any worse. People are people, regardless of nationality). It is obvious after listening to Marquez that to effectively curb immigration, humanitarian and non-militarized methods need to taken, while also giving border crosses the humanity and respect they deserve.

*Also, video of Sergio being shot is all over the web. I don't plan on watching it.