Our travel day was a little longer than expected. But after two delayed flights and a long, wet drive south on Highway 281, the UIndy team made it to our destination in Falfurrias, TX. Please check back daily to learn more about our work and follow our progress.
I find myself reading this poem often, especially as we prepare for our next trip to the Texas Borderlands. The hypocrisy and the pain of this passage is what makes it so hauntingly beautiful and so full of truth. If it doesn’t directly impact us, we tend to change the channel, close the curtains or fold the newspaper. We rationalize that they must have done something to bring this upon themselves and therefore they do not deserve what we have.
This is why the UIndy team goes back year after year. It’s not because the work would not get done without our small team of five. Our colleagues are more then capable of doing it. But because as educators it is our responsibility to not only provide our students with the skills to succeed but also the compassion, empathy and experiences to see that their education provides them with privilege and a platform for service to marginalized and underserved populations.
And now is when they need you to be brave.
Now is when we need you to go back and forget everything you know
And give up the things you’re chained to
I look forward to seeing our friends in the community of Falfurrias and our colleagues from Texas State University. We will also visit Wilmer’s grave and make sure it is clean and has fresh flowers. I also look forward to working with this team of UIndy students who are all new to the process of exhumation at Sacred Heart. Thank you for taking the time to follow our journey.
~KEL
If You Could
by Danny Bryck
I know, I know
If you could go back you would walk with Jesus
You would march with King
Maybe assassinate Hitler
At least hide Jews in your basement
It would all be clear to you
But people then, just like you, were baffled,
had bills to pay and children they didn’t understand
and they too were so desperate for normalcy they made anything normal
Even turning everything inside out
Even killing, and killing, and it’s easy
for turning the other cheek
to be looking the other way, for walking, to be talking, and they hid in their houses
and watched it on television, when they had television,
and wrung their hands, or didn’t, and your hands are just like theirs
Lined, permeable, small,
and you would follow Caesar, and quote McCarthy, and Hoover, and you would want
to make Germany great again
Because you are afraid, and your parents are sick,
and your job pays shit and where’s your dignity?
Just a little dignity and those kids sitting down in the highway,
and chaining themselves to buildings, what’s their fucking problem?
And that kid
That’s King. And this is Selma. And Berlin. And Jerusalem.
And now is when they need you to be brave.
Now is when we need you to go back and forget everything you know
and give up the things you’re chained to and make it look so easy in your
grandkids’ history books (they should still have them, kinehora)
Now is when it will all be clear to them.
It is currently Christmas Day, and as I am among family – laughing, eating, and opening presents – it is hard to believe that in a week and a day I will be in Texas to start this grand adventure. I still need to get some last-minute supplies before I go, and I am beginning to think more about what is to come. I am both nervous and excited. Dr. Latham has done all she can to prepare us before we leave but I am still thinking that there is an element of the unexpected which lies ahead. We have been told that there will be 10 -days of digging – but I have never had to endure something like that before. We have been told that the weather will be unpredictable – but how will we adapt? We have been told that what we see may be sad or emotional – but how will I cope? We have been told that this experience is life changing – but how will it change my life? These are things that we cannot truly prepare for – but I have always been a fan of the unexpected.
I think that a big theme of this trip for me, and something that I am prepared to learn more about, will be the immigration aspect of what we are doing and why we are doing it. I am an immigrant, having lived in the United States since I was 6 years old.
My family and I still do not have US citizenship. We are currently here on green cards, which took my family 10 years of lawyers, travelling to US embassies in Canada, and upwards of $100,000 to obtain. Trying to become established in another country is not easy or cheap, especially the United States. When I think of our situation versus someone from South America seeking refuge in the United States, our situations are quite different. When we moved to the US, my dad already had a job waiting here for him. We had the money to afford the insane immigration and lawyers fees to do it legally. Obtaining Visa after Visa, until we became eligible to apply for green cards. We were not fleeing violence or corruption of our home country. We did not come here out of fear, but out of opportunity.
I am ready to see the other side of immigration in the United States. It is something that I am very passionate about, and it is something I have always wanted to get involved in. I really hope that we have a chance to visit the Humanitarian Respite Center, where Dr. Latham has said that hundreds of people filter through every day after arriving to the United States. I would love to help out as much as I can with that side of things, as well as with the forensic work that we will be doing while we are in Texas. I count myself lucky for the opportunities I have had since coming to the United States but I really want to understand that it can be so different and it can be so unfair.
Which is why I am so happy to have the opportunity to travel to Texas in the first place. This trip is special to me because I am going to get to learn more about what I love to do and what I want to make a career out of, and because I will have the opportunity to be more involved in an issue that I have always been passionate about. I am nervous as this is the first forensic archaeological field work that I will be doing. I want to do the best that I can in order to bring what little justice there is to the people who have not succeeded while crossing the border. I hope that they will all eventually be returned to their families and be laid to rest in peace. I am very excited to play a part in that.