It has taken me a long time to see what all the fuss is about. And I begin with the hundreds of people who die every year in my desert, when it makes absolutely no sense because I know they shouldn’t be there in the first place. I find it hard to believe that anyone with common sense would risk it. They are, I suppose, okay if you get to know them. It’s something I don’t like to think about. My neighbors are hard working enough, some of them legal and others are not, hardly aware of them most of the time, and they work harder than I ever would. They’re in here less for the freedom and more for the jobs, some say to take jobs away from us, so why encourage them; and then this artist Neil Bernstein comes along. Bernstein builds what he calls a piece of art, a sculpture, a bridge, a GOLDEN GATES BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED BORDERS, a memorial to Mexican immigrants who risk their lives illegally crossing the border, Bernstein telling me I should care.
I believe I first started working side by side with Mexican immigrants when I first moved to Tucson over thirty years ago, but the story was different then; and the story was about success. The wall/fence is perhaps the only story today that explains the fuss. It is very strong and getting longer. The goal was 370 miles by the end of 2008. A deterrent forcing crossers through a more deadly chute. Chetoff says, it serves a purpose. “I’ve seen pictures of human waste, garbage, discarded bottles and other human artifact in pristine areas,” said he. By human artifacts does he mean human skeletons? Or is he inferring that we’ll spend years cleaning up the mess. (Another mess for Obama.) The pendulum of public opinion continuously swings; the floodgates for immigrants open and close. A light in the desert (Bernstein’s bridge); too far away from a dying pregnant woman. Where are her children tonight? And during the night, somebody or a group of somebodys will destroy the light (Bernstein’s bridge) and leave it scattered in the desert. (Vigilantes or vandals would destroy the bridge four more times; there’s persistence for you.) Its destruction is symbolic of the controversy, of a promise broken, pipes busted, as precious water is lost in the desert sand. What Bernstein has to say with his art should be taken seriously; but like him or not, at least listen. And when the debate is over and the sun comes up, please don’t let the early morning desert breeze bring a smell of things we’d rather forget: the smell of a body rotting in the heat. And if this picture alone is not enough, I don’t know what to say.
To find out more about the artist, google Neil Bernstein, artist.
Randy Ford
The Brainpan 