Borders

In my last post, I talked about Safia Elhillo’s poetry collection and her poetry’s impact on me. Today, I am thinking about borders. I think we must all be aware, by now, of the situation at the United States borders, and of their immigration policies. I came across this article on my Facebook newsfeed, talking about the new policy whereby illegal immigrant families in the US will be detained together instead of being separated.

There are so many things I could say about all that is wrong with what they’re doing (and what Australia is doing to refugees, but that’s another story). But within my anger and outrage and helplessness, I come back to poetry, as I always inevitably do. All the talk of borders in the above article reminded me of a poem by Safia Elhillo:

border/softer

It’s interesting for me to think about the ways we police space. Borders are not physical constructs, but abstract ones. The lines on a map only exist on paper. People are being punished for walking across invisible, made-up lines, often doing so because they are fleeing a greater danger. Immigration and refugee policies like those in the US and here in Australia are rooted in racism and xenophobia. Unfortunately, the idea that certain ‘races’ are superior to others still perpetuates, to the point of being an unconscious and automatic way of thinking about and seeing people.

We have allowed prejudice to become rooted, creating borders and walls that only serve to divide and isolate us further. And there’s probably more to the issue than just that, but when it comes down to it, I think we, collectively, need to strive to see every person as an actual human being, deserving of basic human rights. Perhaps then, over time, we can begin to demolish these ways of thinking that we have internalised.

At the very least, this is my hope.