You and your little organization, and I use that word loosely, are perhaps the most pathetic collection of posers and wannabes I have ever encountered in my entire life. In fact, let’s forget that perhaps. You are indeed the most ridiculous group of over-priviledged white children that I have had to deal with. You used this town, it’s people, and it’s many issues simply to draw attention to yourselves because mommy and daddy are too busy making money to pay attention to you. Please do not deny that the majority of you come from wealth. One need only count the number of laptops, i-pods, digital cameras, and top of the line tents to know you are rich kids who can afford to leave school behind for a week to go camping. But instead of taking out your teen angst on your parents you chose to focus it on the government whose protection your live under. And why should’nt you? If you tell Dad to go fuck himself he’ll take his money with him and then how will you be able to afford more bongos.
You came here with no clear message, no clear goal, and obviously no plan. You show up to draw attention to the evil of borders and then proceed to build one around your camp.
Not long ago some very brave and patriotic americans taught us all how to fight for what they believed in. They marched, boycotted, and sat-in. They showed us what it was to believe in a cause and fight for it. They fought and many died so that others would have the right to live a better life….you on the other hand had a dance party. You watched movies on your $1500.00 laptops. You slept in $200.00 sleeping bags and took videos and pictures to put on your blogs to prove what a rebel you are. You played your songs and preached anarchy, chaos and the destruction of government as you consulted your lawyers. You skipped the workshops and meetings to sit by the fire and play guitar or go to clubs in Mexicali. You booed your own organizers when they tried to stop the “dance contest” to have a meeting. You so eloquently voiced your hatred of the Border Patrol by saying, ” I’d rather grab another dude’s sack than do your job.” Not quite Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech.
You wasted days of your lives and you know it. Nobody in Calexico gave a damn about what you are doing. They laughed at all the silly white kids trying to be revolutionaries. If you doubt my words then just consult the local paper. I believe the name of the editorial, which was just about the only press you had in the area, was entitled “No Borders Camp: Dumb idea”. The only interest you got from the south side were from the chollos who stole your shit when you were busy cursing the Border Patrol for their “unnecessary presence along the fence”. Right…who needs law enforcement there anyways, except maybe those of you who expressed fear of walking the distance between the camp and the port of entry.
You curse the Border Patrol and the immigration laws of the United States. You don’t see the service they perform for you and your loved ones on a daily basis. That’s because you don’t want to see. You made your mind up before even arriving here. I doubt most of you have ever even been to a border town before except when you were on your way to spring break. You chose to ignore the countless criminals, drug smugglers, and terrorists who would very much like to cross our borders and do what they wish. You don’t care to ask how many murderers, rapists, child molestors, wife-beaters, gangbangers, drug dealers, drunk drivers and other assorted miscreants are apprehended or deterred by the men and women of the Border Patrol every year. Take the time and look at the victims of crimes perpetrated by illegsal aliens in this country. Maybe you can invite the parents of one of the many little girls who were raped and murdered by an illegal alien to your next camp. I’m sure they’d have lots to talk to you about.
You came here hoping for a confrontation and you did everything you could to provoke it. But you could’nt get the Border Patrol to bite. You called them names, you insulted them to their faces and they did what they are trained to do….their jobs. For four days they stood face to face with you as you preached hatred and violence against law enforcement. You called them fascists and pigs, and they did not hit you. Because better people than you fought for you to have that right.
You tore down the flag that better people than you wore on their uniforms as they fought for freedom, justice and the destruction of tyranny. The same flag that represents the rights you hide behind. When you began your little “day of artistic expression/riot” there was a homeless man on a bench outside the Clinic on first street in Calexico. As agent after agent ran to defend their brothers and sisters from you ne’er do wells, he yelled out to them with anger in his voice, ” They tore down my flag!!!, those little sonsuvbitches tore down my flag”. You managed to piss off the most disenfranchaised man in Calexico, way to go kids. You dishonor every American who put on a uniform and actually did something to make the world a better place. And you do it the day before this country celebrates it’s Veterans. Men and women who held the hands of their comrades as they died horrible deaths in places you won’t go because they don’t have a wi-fi connection or a Starbuck’s.
You spread lies to make your little “event” seem more important and intense than it really was. You label a picture with one agent holding a camera as “heavy surveillance”. When anytime a Border Patrol Agent looked at his watch he had 12 of you filming him. You show pictures of agents arresting illegal aliens and tell tales of how they are deprived of water, even though the picture clearly shows a water cooler on the back of the air conditioned truck. You say that the pepperball guns agents used carried rounds that can make a person, evacuate their bowels instantly…did you see that in a movie or what? What kind of James Bond bullshit is that? Honestly, with all the “artists” there, did’nt any of them take creative writing? Your press release concerning your “kissing booth” yesterday, which was suspiciously released almost immediately after it occured, claims that your people were tased? Did the Border Patrol use their imaginary tasers on you. Maybe their invisible? They must keep them locked up next to the “super-shit yourself guns”. Go call your local Border Patrol Station, or Customs and Border Protection, or the Department of Homeland Security. or Michael Chertoff and ask them to show you the tasers that the Border Patrol has. You could, but you won’t. Because we both know the Border Patrol does not carry the taser in it’s arsenal of non-lethal weapons. At the very least watch your video of the “brutal attack”. Where are the tasers? Where are the scenes of the 15 agents beating one protestor? Come to think of it, where are the first few minutes of the confrontation as bongo boy repeatedly pushes against the agent trying to talk to him? Where are the videos of your companeros on the south side throwing rocks and bottles of piss at the agents. Must have ended up on the cutting room floor right? You people have a real knack for propaganda. Joseph Goebbels would be proud of his 21st century proteges.
When you can’t lie you play stupid. A Bi-National kissing booth? Another strike at the heart of the evil American Empire. I truly had to smile as you tried to slip it in that you only wanted to cut a small hole in the International Boundary Fence, aka Federal property. No big deal right? Maybe you won’t be pissed off then when somebody starts cutting holes in the side of your houses( I mean your parent’s houses of course).
You got away with vandalism and destruction of property for days, but you just could not end it peacefully. You had to destroy a little more, push a little further, break a few more laws. You read the local paper and saw what a joke the people of this county thought you were. You could’nt go back to your blogs, zines, and student papers without something to show for it. Who wants to watch a video of a bunch of hippies dancing to bad music trying to relive the sixties? That won’t get hits on your site. You needed action. When the agents did’nt beat you when you called them names, or shit all over their home, and desecrated their flag you did all that was left. You commited crimes.
Those of us who were there to witness the last few days will always know the truth of what truly happened. You can attempt to rewrite history. Try to exaggerate your supposed victories and hide your mistakes and shortcomings. But tomorrow you will go back to class and Calexico will go back to the exact same town it was. You have accomplished nothing and deep down you know it. You excelled only at making yourselves look immature and foolish. We both know that in a few years you will graduate from whatever school mom and dad have paid to watch you for the last four years. They’ll give you a big hug and some expensive graduation gift in return for staying out of their hair. Then you’ll in turn cut your hair, buy some conservative clothing and go make money just like them. You may drive a hybrid or drop $100.00 to Greenpeace once a year as you horde the rest of your income. You’ll tell all your co-workers at the bank/law firm/office about how you fought for the rights of the underpriviledged as you sip your latte and underpay your secretary who is trying to raise 3 kids on the pittance you throw them. But you will always know that you were a fake. A bigger phoney than Holden Caufield could ever conjure in his imagination.
You were all just angry little babies crying for some attention. You wanted so badly to be unique and special, yet you looked like every other sad sack at the “camp”. All the bad facial hair and patches from obscure bands sewn onto your jackets can’t hide the spoiled child inside. You hide them behind bandanas but they will always be there. Selfish, petty, and greedy.
We all hope you had fun on your camping trip children. Go enjoy your lives and continue not making a difference. Show off your bruises and scrapes in an effort to get laid back in the dorms. Tell your lies and post your edited videos. Just please never come back here. Stay in your gated communities where the only minorities are the “help”. I ask only one thing. The next time you see a story about a police officer saving another person’s life, or putting themselves in the line of fire to protect a stranger. All for the same amount of money that your dad paid to send you to school for four years to study basket-weaving. I want you to remember what you called those agents who stood shoulder to shoulder with each other yesterday. Who without a word took their place on the line to protect another agent that they most likely never met before in their lives. Who would have died to save one another or any civilian who came to close to one of your rocks. The people who truly stand for an idea. Who fight for it every single day and get no thank you but a meager paycheck. Remember that you called them Nazi’s as they protected the flag that men carried as they defeated the Nazi’s. Remeber that you called them fascists as they stood by for days and respected your civil rights.Remember that you called them pigs after they shared their food with you. Remember you told them their children would be ashamed of them as you shame your forefathers. Remember your hate-filled insults the next time you see someone stand up to fight for the laws of this land as you dance.
Remember what you have done. Remember it honestly and without bias. Don’t remember what your editors have presented. Remember what you saw in Calexico, California in 2007. If you can find the courage to do that, then maybe there will be some hope for this generation.