How United are the United States?

http://time.com/5134390/francisco-cantu-the-line-becomes-a-river-border-patrol/

Nowadays when we think of borders and border patrol we likely envision the US/ Mexico border. That border has been at the fore front of American media and political debate for a few years now. President Donald Trump wants to build a wall along that very border. What we probably don’t think about are the borders between the states in the US. Borders that even now are being patrolled. Texas, North Carolina, and Arizona are a few examples of states that currently have their own border patrols.

 In the book The Grapes of Wrath the Joad family came up against a blockade on the California border. The blockade was there not to keep immigrants out, but to keep out the likes of the Joads and all other US citizens who were fleeing their homes due to the drought and dust that had taken over the Midwest. This issue hasn’t stayed in the Dust Bowl ear with Bum Blockades. If anything it has just become more commonplace in today’s society. Pretty soon immigrants aren’t going to be the only people who are kept from entering states in the US. Unlike the Bum Blockades, which didn’t have government funding, these new border patrols are funded largely by the Department of Homeland Security.
https://www.dailybulletin.com/2018/10/01/a-foreign-legion-mobilized-in-1936-to-fix-states-immigration-problem/


You maybe be thinking ‘so what’. I’m an American citizen so even if there are border patrols between states it won’t affect me, but that’s not exactly true. The migrants of the Dust Bowl were US citizens too, but many of them were turned away. The Bum Blockades were put in place to keep out poor, down on their luck Americans who had nowhere else to go. They were forced out of their homes due to environmental change. That was in the 1930s. Our environmental state is even worse off than it was before, so it is very likely that you and I may be facing a situation similar to the Joads’ very soon. It is also very likely that states will respond in the same way- closing off their borders to the people who need their help the most in order to “protect” themselves from the influx of displaced people.

If history is any indication then borders within the US may soon become closed and guarded and it won’t just immigrants that are being kept out…

Comments

  1. Allen WebbOctober 15, 2018 at 12:27 PM

    Good points - connect to Storming the Wall?

    ReplyDelete
  2. sfknappOctober 15, 2018 at 12:28 PM

    First of all, love the title. It's a good question to reflect on because we don't really seem to be 'one nation under god, indivisible, with the liberty and justice for all' anymore, do we? It's hard to look past the political chaos and divide within our borders. With time, things are supposed to grow; however, the United States just seems to be regressing. Sadly, we're imploding.

    ReplyDelete

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