Enough! A Report Back From the Border Vigil Against US State Violence
Enough! A Report Back From the Border Vigil Against US State Violence
Thursday, 13 October 2016 10:34
By Steve Pavey, Truthout | Report
SOA Watch activists gather on the morning of October 9 for a vigil in Nogales, Arizona, and
Sonora, Mexico. Crosses, flowers and fists are raised after we remember the name of each
victim of US state violence. (Photo: Steve Pavey)
Over a thousand activists from the US and Mexico converged at the border wall on Sunday, October 9, for a vigil to remember the victims of US state violence and celebrate our resistance against it. Gathered on both sides of the border, in Nogales, Arizona, and Sonora, Mexico, we commemorated those whose lives were lost to this violence by saying their names to bring their spirits and witness before us. After each name we sang ¡Presente! to remember that the victims of violence are still here with us, they are not forgotten, and we will continue the struggle to resist US state violence in their name.
The SOA Watch movement began in part from the inspiration of the murdered Archbishop Óscar Romero of El Salvador, who said, "There are many things that can only be seen through eyes that have cried." The movement issues an ongoing challenge to US politicians and policy makers to listen to the analysis coming from the cries of the oppressed.
We can name only a small number of the victims of the militarization of the border, victims of the war on migrants and refugees and victims of the war on Black, Latinx, Muslim and other communities in the US. However, when we say their names, we also invoke the other hundreds of thousands who have suffered and died. Martin Luther King Jr. named the giant triplets of the Empire's domination machine -- racism, capitalism and militarism -- and this white supremacist colonial machine represents a continuation of the "trail of tears" that still ravages the Indigenous people of this country.
Our collective response to this violence was to sing an adapted version of a song traditionally sung at the SOA Watch gatherings at the gates of Fort Benning: "No más, no more, tear down the border walls. ¡Basta ya, no más violencia, basta ya!" meaning, "It is enough already! No more violence, it is enough already!"
More:
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/37968-enough-a-report-back-from-the-border-vigil-against-us-state-violence
Good Reads:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1016168466
