The title of Rachel Nez’s 2005 documentary, The Border Crossed Us, is the phrase used in chants and on signs at immigration rallies. Given that Native Americans were here before any other group in the U.S. or Mexico, this poignant phrase was never more true. I’ve added this clip here because the phrase always reminds me of the similar African American immigration experience, as expressed by Malcolm X’s when he noted, “We didn’t land on Plymouth Rock. The Rock was landed on us.”
Amid the dominant national voices surrounding the immigration debate, you may have missed that of the Native American groups affected by border policies. In the past few months, Arizona’s Senate Bill 1070 has caused renewed interest and ire surrounding this issue. However, many groups, like the Tohono O’odhman of Arizona and the Sonora Desert region of Mexico, have had to endure the injustice of immigration policies for many, many years. In the 2005 documentary The Border Crossed Us, Navajo filmmaker Rachel Nez explores Tohono O’odham efforts to change laws that hinder many of the (particularly older) tribal members who do not have paperwork to travel freely between the U.S. and Mexico. In order to do so, they must prove that they are indeed U.S. citizens or, in the case of Tohono O’odham Mexicans, have documentation to visit the U.S. The Tohono O’odham have not traditionally used documentation to prove their citizenship and therefore cannot prove their status. Therefore, in many cases, relatives across the border cannot visit with each other or practice traditional rituals and customs.
The documentary is short but useful for anyone discussing immigration issues as they relate to Native peoples as well as how native religion and customs are viewed by outsiders. In one especially moving moment in the film, a young man discusses how disrespectful border agents are when going through his grandfather’s religious objects. The young man asks how we would feel if someone started rifling through the Pope’s items. Although this did not have to do with immigration per se, I thought the young man’s succinct questioning would be a great starting point for a classroom discussion on respecting other groups’ value systems and ways. This part made the film especially memorable to me.
When I first saw this film at the NMAI Native American Film Festival in New York City back in (I believe) 2007, I asked Ms. Nez about the status of the bill discussed in the film (yes, I actually did stand up for Q&A for once). She said that it was too soon to tell. A few years later, I see that the Tohono O’odham continue to fight against these policies, including recently leading a contingent against S.B. 1070 March.
