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Is Sunnyslope all that Sunny?Class Trip!
The culture of the border is everywhere you look in Arizona. As you drive threw Sunnyslope, and see only Spanish on all of the bill boards and bus stops, to Scottsdale were the crew men working in on the landscaping communicate to one another by only Spanish. Our state is diverse, including immigrants. I found many different areas in the phoenix metro area that constitute a trip to the border. The two areas’ I viewed were 16th street and Roosevelt, and 7th Ave and Durango. I first went to 7th and Durango because it was close to my home. My experience there was unlike any that I had experienced before and the dynamic was heightened by my bringing my grandma along. I told her I was going to some research, and told her about the project. She insisted on coming with me as there are “safety in numbers” as she so eloquently put it. My grandmother is 70 years old, and grew up in Chicago, so naturally she is no stranger to minorities and minority areas. The area on Durango consisted of many interesting things that I would not have normal attributed to a border neighborhood. There was a barbershop were there were many old men sitting reading the newspaper and listening to the radio in Spanish. The station was mainly a talk radio station and some of the comments the announcer made seemed to upset the older men. When we walked in and sat down it was obvious we were not wanted there. Not only were we the only women in the shop, but we neither spoke Spanish or were Mexican American. The men were silent when we walked in and just looked at us. Finally one said “only boy hair” to us. I tried to explain that I was doing a school project and was taking in information about communities all over phoenix. No one understood me. A young boy around 10 who was helping his grandfather was able to tell him what I was saying, and I was able to ask a few questions. I was asking things like; How long have you been in America, How old were you when you came here, How many times a year are you able to go back, and if you plan to move back ever. The men were suspicious because I was asking so many questions. I herd one question the other to the effects of Imigra, which I do know means immigration. They were hesitant to answer but only one of the men had actually been back to Mexico. Many had been here for years and has no plans of going back. I asked if their families were here or located in Mexico. Most have their families here with them but a few did not. I asked if they had families and one of the men, who I would say was about 50 years old, was extremely proud of the fact that he had a family and showed me the pictures in his wallet. He had 5 children 3 daughters and 2 sons. I asked if he got to see them, and he was sad, like I ripped out his heart, and said not often. I asked if he was able to send money back home to help them out. He didn’t like that question but said no, he was saving, and I couldn’t quite figure out what he was saying my limited Spanish not helping with this particular conversation. I think he wanted to help his children and grandchildren cross the border and he was trying to pay for it. After about 20 minuets, Gram really felt uncomfortable and wanted to go. As I was leaving one of the men who pretended not to speak English asked me, why have you come here today? I was a bit shocked and proceeded to tell him about the migration and culture class. I told him because I could not take the trip to the border I had to go to other areas that were border like. He told me to go to 16th and Roosevelt and not ask too many questions but just view the people. It would be good for my reporte.
We sat in the car for a moment and Gram was silent. I don’t think she ever thought that these people had families that they left behind and have not been able to see in years. She commented that the man who was saving, presumably to being his family over had not seen his grandchildren ever, and missed a lot of his children’s lives. It really makes you stop and think. It reminded me of the maquiladora’s and as I was driving her home, I told her the story of Juarez Mexico and how the women are murdered and killed because of there jobs, while the men have none. It reminds me of the article in Borderlinks packet about the top ten reasons to oppose the free trade agreement by Global Exchange. I did not know that in the US due to NAFTA 400,000 jobs have been lost, and replaced with jobs that only paid 77% of the amount they were making previously. In Mexico it killed the many of the middle class families, 8 million to quote the article. These agreements placed patents in monopoly like ways and keep things like prescription meds that are so expensive out of the hands of third world countries that need it so much more then we do. I showed her our packet and let her read about the maquiladora’s, the article “We are not Machines: Corporations that bring jobs must bring justice too” by Maria Torres and how they were starting to gain rights and starting to get less work hours in a week, and how there communities were starting to be paved and have sewage service. I think if nothing else on my trip with Gram, I enlightened her and taught her a few things, when she has taught me so much.
16th street and Roosevelt was an interesting place to drive by, there were lots of people out and about and the main thing I noticed many of the people were walking and riding bikes, something that’s not all that noticeable or seem as obvious or apparent as it was in this section of town. I drove by a home depot that was not too far from the area of 16th and Roosevelt. There were five or six men standing out front at 3 pm in the afternoon, assumable they did not get work that day, but were very persistent. The migrants do jobs that no one else are willing to do. They just want a better life, and it’s obvious that we need them, just as much as they need us. Without them who would was our dishes, and clean our malls, and dig out graves and landscape our yards? This is not to say that is all they are good for, but those people who are all about throwing the migrants out of the country they really need to think about the things they do for us, like pay taxes and social security when they can’t even get those benefits back to themselves.
I guess Sunnyslope can be sunny one day. Right now it is not the most friendly neighborhood, but one day hopefully it will be!
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