Flight of the Neotropical Migratory Bird

How do you try to fit a line to a wing, to a feather as it moves through the air? Does that line become any more accurate when placed on the ground in an attempt to segment such a flight pattern into conveniently manageable portions? The lines tracing the ground we now inhabit do not trace the cyclical winds of flight, rather they cut across it, fracture it, breaking the path in innumerable disjointed places. And while this inorganic placement may seem arbitrary, it is anything but. Turning away from the directions of the wind, the paths worn down by feet, or the curves etched by the flow of water, these lines follow the tenuous grip of a settler colonial history over a land not its own. Shaky foundations built on genocide, slavery and violence of innumerable forms has led to a conglomeration of harsh angles and awkward curves approximating the shape of a cruel kind of power. The stories used to define this power have been as amorphous and vague as the boundaries themselves- whiteness, ownership, citizenship- and yet they produce a sharply cutting impact on those deemed to be across the other side of the imagined line. 

This piece is dedicated to those doing the work to keep each other in flight despite such incredible barriers, those caring for communities more expansive than walls or fences can contain. Based on interviews with Asheville and Charlotte based writer Itzel Garcia Ruiz (she/her/hers), and dedicated to the innumerable lives lost to the violence of American borders, including; 

Manuel Antonio Cano Pacheco, 19, DREAMer, “terminated DACA status”(2018 – Zacatecas, Mexico)

Carlos Gregorio Hernandez Vasquez ,16, CBP custody (2019 – Weslaco, Texas)

Maria Celéste Ochoa Yoc de Ramírez, 22, ICE custody (2020 – Fort Worth, Texas)

Jakelin Caal Maquin, 7, CBPl custody (2018 – El Paso, Texas)

Juan de León Gutiérrez, 16, CBP custody (2019 – Brownsville, Texas)

David Hernandez Colula, 34, ICE custody (2020 – Youngstown, Ohio) 

Pedro Arriago-Santoya, 44, ICE Custody (2019 – Columbus, Georgia) 

Yimi Alexis Balderramos-Torres, 30, ICE custody (2019 – Humble, Texas)

Wilmer Josué Ramírez Vásquez, 2, CBP Custody (2019 – El Paso, Texas) 

Mariee Juarez, 1, [recent release from] ICE custody (2018 – Dilley, Texas) 

Felipe Gómez Alonzo, 8, CBP custody (2018 – Alamogordo, New Mexico)

…Rest in Power.

Find more information and ways you can help at www.DefineAmerican.com and www.UnitedWeDream.org to ensure that immigrants gain the rights they more than deserve. Donations can be made to both organizations through the donation tab on each respective website.