The USA is a land of contradictions. Not only does it have just about every type of landscape known to man, it’s also the world’s foremost melting pot. There is also the still smoldering injustice of what was done to the original inhabitants, whose daily lives are a never-ending reminder of the bloody past. Some will go as far as to say America is a land haunted by demons from the past.
In a place so complex and multi-faceted, stereotypes abound. Texas, the country’s biggest state, is probably also the most misunderstood. Outsiders often think of Texans as racist, gun toting, bible thumping rednecks. To be sure, there’s plenty of those. But Texas is also 50% Hispanic and its capital Austin is known as a liberal bastion throughout the world.
In west Texas there is a rugged desert area known as the Big Bend . Its name comes from the bend in the Rio Grande, the mighty river that is the US-Mexico border. Texas, which was once part of Mexico, has maintained very close ties with its southern neighbor, especially in the border territories. It’s not unusual for people to have friends and relatives on both sides. Until 9/11 people crossed the border freely, and the economy of Mexican border towns depended heavily on cross border traffic.
After 9/11 the border was sealed, and the economy of small border towns took a near fatal hit. The population of one of those towns, Las Fajitas, which sits right across Terlingua in West Texas, dwindled to just a handful.
Jeff Haislip is a Terlingua-based musician who decided to shine some light on the plight of border towns. On May 11, with the help of the mayors of Terlinga and Las Fajitas, and with the Border Patrol on board, Jeff and friends organized an event they called ‘Hands across the Water’ . A concert on both sides of the Rio Grande, with musicians from each side taking turns performing for their cohorts across the river, just a stone’s throw away. It was a joyful event, attended by several hundred from both countries and reported on by NPR’s Fronteras desk. The mayors of both towns met in the middle of the river and hugged. People embraced friends and relatives they hadn’t seen in many years.
Jeff Haislip:
“I will tell you one thing. On May 11 this year there was no place on earth that I would have rather been.
There was one guy in Mexico that when I asked how he felt about the border closing, said how I would feel if I was in South Korea looking north and wondering how you were going to get North Korea to open the border.
Blew me away at first, but now I see a country divided with borders closed for ‘political’ reasons.
At some point we will have to look at the consequences of the ‘old’ way of looking at things like our War on Drugs and the way they affect remote areas like this.
The Mayor of Las Fajitas says they cripple the small towns , the people have to move out
then the bad guys ( ie the drug cartels) can buy up property and move in.”
Jeff has started a kickstarter campaign to finance “Voices from Both Sides”, a CD with music from West Texas and northern Mexico to be accompanied by a short documentary DVD, to “let the artists who live here speak through their songs, poetry, and stories, explaining what has gone on since the closing of these border crossings.” The money will help to pay for everything from travel expenses for 8-10 people getting to & from recording sessions in Mexico, time in a local recording studio, film-making costs, and other expenses.
They’ve raised about 30% of the $5000 needed so far, but time is running out…as of this writing, there are only 13 days left. This promises to be a historic project that could help relax restrictions along the border and reunite these two areas. Already a small unmanned border station has been opened at nearby Las Bosquillas. In a post 9/11 world full of mistrust, prejudice and fear, projects like ‘Voices from Both Sides” show us that music and art transcend boundaries and that , after all, all of us are part of the human family.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1793089882/voices-from-both-sides
http://www.fronterasdesk.org/news/2013/may/20/two-border-villages-reunite-one-day/
Voices From Both Sides: Fiesta at Paso Lajitas / Lajitas from jessica lutz on Vimeo.
