While I still need to risk life by taking a picture of it, I wanted to mention something I've seen up on Telegraph Pass East of Yuma on I-8 (about a mile from the Border Patrol Checkpoint).
The first time I saw the spraypaint, it just said "AYUDA" . That was pretty quickly painted over, but was replaced afew days later by "AYUDA RAZA" sprayed on the rocks there. It's a hazardous turn there in the pass, but it's pretty clear someone wanted to make an impression, and it did. Whoever painted it did put themselves at risk, and probably in more than one way
It haunts me some, since I know that the person writing it was probably not stranded ont he side of the road, but was rather making a plea for help for los de abajo, immigrantes, workers, whomever. I don't want to read too much into it, but given Yuma's incredibly complex and sometimes angry politics, I think I should read into it some.
The area is odd as it is, with the checkpoint so far from the border-- a place I have to go through to get how to from Yuma. It's funny how antagonistic a checkpoint can be, even if you're doing nothing more than passing through. Some people also ask the oddest questions: "Just you two? Sure you got no one in the trunk?" I told that guy he could take a look if he wanted. Ay, where will this all end?
1 comment:
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