LATE & CURRENT COLONIZATION
The divide between the two nations began even before the construction of the border wall. The colonizers had ingrained their inner separation from others: separated an individual from the collective, and the individual from the self upon their arrival. For the border to be built, it must be inside oneself first. The materialization of this inner illness came first in the form of a cattle fence, separating ‘my’ cattle from ‘your’ cattle. Separating my resource from your resource. Separating my property from your property. Separating animals from land. Separating animals from humans. Separating human from human. This inner colonizer spread through forced assimilation and as a survival instinct. It has changed shape throughout the years since the colonizers arrived in the 1500s. As the divide between humans, the land, the waters, and other beings intensified, the border was further constructed along the Rio Grande. The colonization of the Spaniards created the divide between mixed and indigenous, a tactic used so that these new mixed people would not return home, would not gather with the communities the Spaniards hoped to extinguish, and thus a new identity was given to these mixed people: mestizos, or Mexican. Neither Spaniard nor Indigenous, given false promises to be treated more as a Spaniard, but always treated as closer to being Indigenous. Then American colonization occurred in the 1800s, and through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, left many of these mestizos on new American soil, or displaced, or worse, killed. American colonization further alienated these Mexicans living in America. On paper being called White, yet treated as a Mexican. While the Spaniard colonization separated mestizos and Indigenous people, American colonization separated Mexicans from Americans and completely disregarded the Indigenous within these populations. However, they were given a new identity, Mexican-American. The colonizers always used the tactic of separation, internal separation to make physical separation possible.
The cattle fence then became a fence, a border, not only for animals but for humans as well. In the mid-1900s, what we now know as the border wall, began to be constructed and has continued to be enforced and protected through militarization. The border wall looms over the landscape, fragmenting our already divided environment and people. Along the Rio Grande, people in lifeless green suits stand tall and proud, guns threatening to be pulled from their waists at any moment, particularly at the sight of brown bodies. The only thing scarier than being caught and the high risk of death is seeing your own skin looking down at you, with most of our Border Patrol agents in the Valley being Mexican themselves. Within El Valle, more than 3,000 Border Patrol agents prey along the border, with 9 stations, two checkpoints, air and marine operations looming across our lands.
The Valley is one of the most militarized, fenced, and secluded areas in the United States, with a checkpoint at San Antonio and border patrol on the edges of the Rio Grande Valley. Unknowingly, we are the only region that is caged, a small distance away from being landlocked by police bodies, with our entrance and exit of the Valley heavily monitored.
The creation of the border wall, its inhumane structure with razor wire, and enforcement through the Border Patrol caused the deaths of many migrating people. There have been increased deaths recently as a result of the extreme environments and lack of resources migrants face as they are forced to take more dangerous and extreme routes to cross. If they manage to pass the border wall, they face the constant threat of Border Patrol, who are known to take advantage of their power. Border Patrol agents forcefully separate families, racially discriminate, use excessive force, are part of the child and human trafficking ring, and commit sexual violence against migrants. The border wall and its enforcement have created a myriad of issues ranging from social, environmental, political, and humanitarian issues. It has been proven to be ineffective at stopping human migration but has been effective in harming our communities, lands, water, and animals through the use of violent, invasive, and coercive tactics.
In the Rio Grande Valley, the border wall has caused at least 1,600 deaths according to Border Patrol documentation from the years 1998-2019. However, many more deaths go unaccounted for as the bodies of refugees are lost on the land, carried away by the river, hidden by the agents so as to avoid repercussions, or are traded/trafficked and face death under those circumstances.
ENVIRONMENTAL INJUSTICES
Our precious lands have endured years of death, loss, and unnecessary transformations for the sake of this “advancement”. Environmental issues have existed in the Valley since the arrival of the Spanish colonizers and are still heavily present in our daily lives. Our lands, our waters, our animals, and we have all suffered the brunt of the exploitation of the land at the hands of outsiders and ourselves.
In the Valley, our beloved Tamaulipan Thornscrub has undergone hundreds of years of exploitation and extraction. Since the introduction of ranching to the present day, over 95% of our thornscrub has been cleared away. It is estimated that only 1.5% of our thornscrub forest remains. Our beloved Tamaulipan Thornscrub, once dense with Honey Mesquite, Texas Ebony, Cenizo, Palo Verde, and Huisache that used to stretch across all of the South Texas Plains region, is now mostly fragmented remains of what was. Our sacred bodies of water, the Rio Grande, its distributaries, our wetlands, and our resacas, all facing the same fate of relentless exploitation, clearing, degradation, and pollution. Ranching, agriculture, and the introduction of irrigation caused a lot of the thornscrub to be cut down as land was needed for cattle to graze, crops to grow, and irrigation systems were needed for water to flow into these projects. Fertilizers used in mass amounts for the sake of producing as much as possible began to contaminate our waters. Looming structures erected for the purpose of controlling water would soon follow. Dams were imposed onto the Rio Grande River, further harming our delicate lands as areas were left in a drought state and the counter-side was left with flooding, both damaging the sensitive ecosystems and beings living in the delta. Gradually, urbanization entered the Valley, further exploiting our lands and severely polluting our lands and water, and exacerbating fragmentation. The erection of the border wall has also had deadly effects on our lands and waters, causing severe fragmentation and pollution. It impedes the natural flow of animals to migrate and results in the isolation of animals and in some cases, the possible extinction of certain species such as the ocelot. Today, these colonial issues are still highly present in El Valle, with our lands still being labored into producing mass amounts of crops, to which less than 1% remains in the Valley to feed locals creating a man-made food desert in an area where agriculture thrives, large amounts of our lands privatized by generations of ranchers who were part of the reparticiones by Spaniards, an ongoing drought, and severely polluted bodies of water and land. The Valley is brimming with environmental issues that impact our everyday lives and that of our neighbors, humans and non-humans alike.
Within the more low-income cities of the Valley, many of our communities face environmental injustices and environmental racism, as their lands and waters are often used as dumping grounds for toxic chemicals. The people of Mission and Donna are exposed to superfund sites and have recorded deaths, severe health consequences, and mutations as a result of exposure to these sites. The Rio Grande Valley, and by relation its distributaries, have constantly been contaminated by both Mexico and the United States with fertilizers, huge corporations, and individuals, causing the waters to be undrinkable and to have swimming advisories. Our waters have to go through intense filtrations to be made accessible and drinkable to our communities, with many of the animals and plants depending on these waters to be exposed to unhealthy waters often causing toxins to build up in their bodies. It is also important to note that access to bodies of water in itself is often not possible as the government has heavily militarized our ancestral waters. When accessibility is granted, our waters are not safe zones to swim in as they are heavily polluted.
The presence of water in our communities has been systematically made violent toward the community and alienated through pollution and militarization. Of equal importance is the absence of our precious water- a drought that has persisted for 3 years as a result of climate change, the forced placement of dams, and irresponsible use of water, and poor water systems. The blame, though, is being put on Mexicans by large agricultural corporations and government officials, in an attempt to further divide our people rather than blaming the corporations and elite who are responsible for the effects of climate change.
The dark effects of colonization have polluted our lands, our waters, and our culture. El Valle, like many other places, has not been exempt from the effects of colonization and capitalism with their modern-day extensions of gentrification and cultural erasure. This trend is not unique to outsiders, as more and more locals are also driven by this want to “advance” or “urbanize” and reshape our lands and businesses to reflect the culture in bigger cities near El Valle, such as Austin, San Antonio, or Houston. This incessant capitalistic desire to move toward this form of luxury, comfort, and social status has wreaked havoc on our minds, hearts, lands, and people. The Valley has been rapidly transitioning into an urban area, with an increased presence of large corporations that have profits in mind and exploitation well practiced.