THEIR VILLAGES ARE DYING. They come from towns with no future, from families with no food. They are lucky to bring a ragged toothbrush on the trip and luckier to avoid rape, murder, or starvation on the way. On the way to hope. On the way to nothing, really, but a desperate dream of survival, a mirage of prosperity, the Land of Opportunity. Where Lady Liberty holds her lamp high…so the squads of ICEmen can see well enough to snatch up the hunger-wracked wanderers and hurl them into the frothy maw of Camp Halliburton.
Taking Spanish classes in 2006 wasn’t easy. I had to leave my friend behind. My friend, my magical power, my lifeboat. The English Language. I had to agree, for an hour at a time, to get out and walk. To know nothing. (Or very little.) To be quiet. Or I didn’t have to agree to be quiet. But for once, there was no other choice.
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