Where is the Border?

i can't get arizona off the brain, so i'm driving down. i'm leaving from brooklyn today and arriving in tucson next wednesday, july 28. while i'm there i'll be working with no more deaths on their organizing and documentation projects, and visiting with other arizona friends & organizers.

what's going on? on july 29, arizona is set to implement sb1070, a law that would require state employees to stop and arrest people suspected of not having proper migration papers. arizona is being portrayed as unique, but its laws are the culmination of local police-federal collaboration policies that are already being enforced nationwide. at least 11 states around the country are also considering implementing policies like sb1070, and president obama is deploying national guard troops to the border on august 1.

today a department of justice lawsuit calling for an injunction on sb1070 will be heard, so we're not sure what's going to happen, but people in arizona and elsewhere have been doing some remarkable organizing against criminalization. i want to learn from and contribute to their efforts.

how do i as a brooklyn dweller respond to calls for solidarity from arizona? the road trip to and from arizona will give me a chance to think through finding the border. having lived in upstate new york, i know that "the border" is not just the us boundary with mexico, but it's also a boundary with neighboring canada and first nations territories. and the border is also wherever people have their documents checked.

so what does it mean to travel from one border state to another? what does new york's history have to do with arizona's history? i'll be stopping at places that were important in the abolitionist movement against slavery. some of these involve finding the mason-dixon line and others are about trying to locate the shifting boundary with mexico. boundaries and freedom were and are tied up with one another. what were the routes to and spaces of freedom created through the underground railroad? what does the history of abolition and maronage mean for resistance to unjust laws look today?

there are protest and solidarity actions planned around the country on july 29, so keep an eye out for ways to get involved in where you are.