{"id":105,"date":"2018-11-04T11:16:56","date_gmt":"2018-11-04T16:16:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/midtermsmatter\/?p=105"},"modified":"2021-06-02T11:29:07","modified_gmt":"2021-06-02T15:29:07","slug":"a-nation-divided","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/midtermsmatter\/a-nation-divided\/","title":{"rendered":"A Nation Divided"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Lindsey Schmidt, Emerson Solms, Morgan Carmen, Kieran Murphy<\/p>\n

PHOENIX\u2014<\/strong> \u201cI feel that because I\u2019m Native American, I don\u2019t see boundaries such as the wall,\u201d says Mariah Sharpe, an 18-year-old member of the Tohono O\u2019odham tribe in Southern Arizona. Sharpe\u2019s Native American community straddles the Mexican-American border and does not even possess a word for wall.<\/p>\n

The international boundary cuts through 75 miles of the Tohono O\u2019odham Nation reservation and separates the 2,000 members who live in the Mexican state of Sonora from the 34,000 in Arizona.<\/p>\n

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\u201cTohono O\u2019odham Nation Map\u201d by Forest Purnell, Institute of Infinitely Small Things, <\/em>https:\/\/openborders.info\/blog\/tag\/tohono-oodham\/<\/a><\/u><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mexico\u2019s Territorial Evolution, Wikipedia Commons<\/em><\/p>\n

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While most<\/strong> of the Tohono O\u2019odham people live north of the border, most of the tribe\u2019s land is to the south. The borderline, first drawn in 1848 by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and finalized six years later by the Gadsden Purchase, places the majority of the tribe\u2019s land in Mexico. For over 150 years, the border has seen members travelling safely back and forth with only a tribal ID. Recently, the U.S. government, citing concerns about human trafficking and drug smuggling, has been increasing border militarization, sending 5,200 troops to the border the week before Election Day. Only one authorized border crossing remains on the reservation. The Tohono O\u2019odham have partnered with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and invest more than $3 million a year to curb trafficking.<\/p>\n

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Photograph by Lindsey Schmidt<\/em><\/p>\n

Tribe members <\/strong>believe President Trump\u2019s wall will jeopardize the very existence of their nation. Rhetoric in support of the wall, notes Sharpe, has started to \u201cgeneralize the immigrants as serial killers and people who are bad and mean harm to us when really they are trying to \u2026 come here for better opportunities to support their families.\u201d She hopes to eradicate the notion that, \u201cbecause we\u2019re from America \u2026 we\u2019re better than those who are in Mexico.\u201d In the end, stresses Sharpe, \u201cWe\u2019re all human beings.\u201d She worries that a border wall \u201cis only hurting the cultural \u2026 values of our people.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Mission San Xavier del Bac, Tohono O\u2019odham San Xavier Indian Reservation;<\/em> Wikipedia Commons<\/em><\/p>\n

Sharpe\u2019s opposition<\/strong> to the wall is echoed by prominent members of the Nation. The vice chairman, Verlon Jose, has proclaimed, \u201cOver my dead body will we build a wall.\u201d The Tohono O\u2019odham Nation existed before the Mexican-U.S. border, and the members are determined to exist even with the barrier. According to the tribal chairman, Edward Manuel, \u201cThe wall would interfere with our way of life, our ceremonies, with our traditional and our cultural activities that we do on both sides of the border, because we still have communities on the Mexican side.\u201d For the Tohono O\u2019odham, a longtime rallying cry of activists for immigrants\u2019 rights literally rings true: \u201cWe didn\u2019t cross the border, the border crossed us.\u201d<\/p>\n

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By Lindsey Schmidt, Emerson Solms, Morgan Carmen, Kieran Murphy PHOENIX\u2014 \u201cI feel that because I\u2019m Native American, I don\u2019t see boundaries such as the wall,\u201d says Mariah Sharpe, an 18-year-old member of the Tohono O\u2019odham tribe in Southern Arizona. Sharpe\u2019s Native American community straddles the Mexican-American border and does not even possess a word for<\/p>\n

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