All I want for Christmas is a World Without Borders (The Cost of Human Imagination)
"I’ve been lookin’ for peace, I’m searchin’" - WHATUPRG
Human imagination made me “undocumented.”
We talk in the present moment as if borders are an abject part of our reality. Collectively, it might be useful to take a step back and question why that’s the case.
Throughout future installments of La Cuenta, we’ll be exploring the logic of borders and statehood that have made me “illegal” in the eyes of the U.S. But make no mistake, labeling anybody as illegal, undocumented, or a non-citizen (what we’re calling “ilunnon” logic) is a human invention.
Somebody invented the idea of a border. They simply willed it into existence. And somebody, as a result, invented the idea that one person is alchemically less “legal” than somebody else. These are not physical or biological characteristics. The late David Graeber describes this context usefully: “There’s all these imaginary lines drawn around the world with not so imaginary weapons protecting them” (from around 11:05 here).
Borders might have been built by imagination, but their very real enforcement “keep[s] me paralyzed” (to quote WHATUPRG from this week’s Propina below).
Of course, the border that separates the permissibility of my life in the U.S. is not the only one that exists. There are many borders that we might construct and deconstruct. In this spirit and for the holiday season, let us consider other borders that might cleave our livelihoods:
Borders between the living and the dead
Borders between the sacred and the profane
Borders between you and me
Borders that are meant to be crossed, that are meant to be brokered, that are meant to be broken
Borders between what is spoken and what must remain unsaid
Borders between the you that is seen and the you that is felt or lived
As I reflect on another undocumented Christmas and the frivolity of borders that impede my freedoms, I am reminded of a Bible passage:
For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come. - Hebrews 13:14
My body might be undocumented and policed by terrestrial laws. But my heart is not. I am a citizen of heaven.
To what dreams do you hold and what borders might you dare to cross?
Propina
This week we are sharing a recent single from rapper WHATUPRG:
I’ve been lookin’ for peace, I’m searchin’
I’ve been lookin’, I just can’t find
I’ve been tellin’ myself I’m worth it
I’ve been tryna get out my mind
We’ll see you next week.