(top) Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico ... (bottom) McAllen, Texas, United States
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Wall supporters and opponents protest in Texas ... Thanx to AP Archive
This posting will be a Part 33 of the "Taste of Texas" series of this journal/ blog, with an opening video above concerning this wall. This will look at the Rio Grande Valley and the border wall/ fencing controversy for the most part of links ... which I been following, and wanted to have something recorded on it in this journal/ blog. The "wall", is just to get votes for Trump, since he failed his following on just about everything else he promised, and to also put the "Trump" brand name on it, like he does on much else for business promotions. This Rio Grande Valley (known to Texans as "The Valley"), is also just a small area of the massive 1254 mile common border with Mexico and Texas, starting from the shores of the Gulf of Mexico up to the desert and mountains of west Texas, and even through national parks/ forests, and other areas of wildlife preserves, and many areas of tourism ... it's literally huge. The Texas- Mexico border goes through so many different terrains in Texas ... the Brownsville- Matamoros area is subtropical, and all towns connected for miles as part of the Rio Grande Valley with the McAllen- Reynosa metro area, going further west/ northwest you have Laredo- Nuevo Laredo, which is semi- arid bordering the Mexican desert, mostly flat with some hills, then you have El Paso- Juarez, which is mostly arid with many mountains and desert. In areas further west of The Valley and Laredo- Nuevo Laredo up the Rio Grande, such as Terrell County, the cliffs just to get to the river are 300'ft tall/ deep, you would need to be almost an expert mountain climber to even try to get to the river that separates Mexico/ U.S. All of the areas of these cities are fairly good size metropolitan areas, meaning that they are like all one city, half in Mexico and half in Texas ... they function and feed off each other, people in McAllen- Reynosa, population 1.5 million, cross the borders in the thousands daily, for work, entertainment, medical, shopping, etc ... just as folks move around town in any city in America ... as you can see in the Vice News video below, where the mayors of McAllen and Reynosa explain ... the only difference is, they are different countries. If you talk to folks in these towns, they don't even feel separated, they basically work, play and socialize together, latino, black and white, citizens of Mexico or U.S. ... been that way for over a hundred years even. These areas, which I have been to all of them, are some of the most friendliest places in the U.S., I've been all over this country (mainland U.S.), and you won't find more friendly laid back people anywhere, it's the kind of towns/ cities where even strangers will talk to you and greet you, neighbours and people look out for each other, etc.
What is also disgusting about this border wall controversy out of Washington DC, started through the President and some other politicians, is what they have turned these towns into, where people are at each others throats now, as you can see in the opening video above. These folks don't live in the daily rat race and environment like y'all up there do ... nor have your convoluted neoliberal mindset. It is difficult for especially wealthy folks and politicians like Trump, that live in these heavily class and race segregated big cities such as NYC, Washington DC, Baltimore, Philly, etc, to imagine folks living more or less in harmony, in a much more relaxed and slower paced areas nearly 2000 miles from there. Coming down here with your political games and garbage and contaminating the lives of these people is WRONG ... the President is WRONG. I don't understand this President or many of them up there, I don't even recall seeing him (Trump) ever smile or laugh, and he seems super paranoid too, as if he just wakes up in the morning with the red- ass. Most folks don't want this border wall, or especially folks like Nayda Alvarez (first video below with Nayda and Fred) ... can you imagine waking up in the morning, coming out of your home and having to look at 30'ft concrete and steel wall? ... that was built basically for a billionaire politician to get votes, and his business promotions. Then you have folks like Fred Cavazos, Fred's familia came here from Spain in the 1760's and got this land ... now they want to use eminent domain, if they can't buy out these peoples land for so called fair market value, tear up these people's property for political control reasons ... you know, like ... fuck your lowballed markets value. No, you fight this shit tooth and claw till the end, they would never give you enough of their paper currency to replace your home, lifestyle, and the serenity you enjoy, and you could hardly live on the amount in any U.S. city. I also linked below, the corruption, bribes, money laundering, etc, that contractors do in these deals ... and another piece concerning how easy a wall would be for claiming asylum even, legally, because of how deep it will go into the U.S. interior at some places. I myself a month ago, talked to a guy who was formerly a coyote (brings illegals in), he told me all these wayz, that others already have right now, to get around any concrete and steel barriers, if and when they put this up ... in other words, coyotes/ traffickers already have calculated plans on how they will get around it. Some links and video of interest below I compiled ... and a closing video at the bottom of local Valley folks this last Halloween 2018, celebrating in downtown McAllen.
Word Out ....
Border resident paints message to President Trump on roof ... Thanx to CNN
***** TEXAS OBSERVER: 'Thrown Under the Bus': Rio Grande Valley Residents Criticize New Border Deal ... (newsread)
***** TEXAS OBSERVER: New Allegations in border fence lawsuit: racketeering , bribes and money laundering ... (newsread)
This Mexican Border City Thinks Trump's Wall Will Be Useless (HBO) ... Thanx to VICE News
***** HOUSTON CHRONICLE: Why a Texas border wall won't deter Central American migrants ... (newsread)
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***** PD/ RCJ: "TASTE OF TEXAS" ... PART'S 32 THRU 1
Terrell County, Texas (U.S./ Mexico border)
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JESSE C! TV: HALLOWEEN DOWNTOWN MCALLEN TEXAS ... Thanx to Jesse Castellanos
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***** RANCH CHIMP JOURNAL "WELCOME" POST
***** RCJ MUSIC/ ART'S HONOUR ROLL SOCIETY (my hand- selected music/ arts picks)
***** "THE RESISTANCE | PERILS OF THE POWER POSSE" ... ( a 2 part futuristic Ranch Chimp Journal dream to dream on )
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2 comments:
I'm from Buffalo, NY. One thing that really pisses me off are all the people who live up here & cross the northern border regularly for work or entertainment & would have a MAJOR Fng FIT if there were any more impediments to the ease of crossing that border (it used to be much easier, believe me). But these SAME PEOPLE will argue ad nauseum about needing A WALL on the southern border because of the hordes of brown-skinned people coming into the country. Most of whom they will never see.
When you were talking about the cities that are on the border & people are friendly to one another & have relatives & friends on both sides, that's what it's like in Buffalo & Niagara Falls & Fort Erie, ONT & Niagara Falls, ONT.
I really feel for the people of TX & that's something I have never done before.
Hi Apple Queen! ... I myself lived in Buffalo for some time as a kid (also down state in Brooklyn) ... good memories too! But yes ... I was actually thinking of Buffalo when I was writing this, and Yes, I remember how easy it was and common going across the border, it is exactly like that, thousands per day, just like down here, all towns from Toronto to Buffalo were like one long metro area. You may remember Crystal Beach Amusement Park in Canada, we would get on the Canada Coach Lines as kids from West Buffalo, go to the beach, and smuggle back fireworks on the bus back into Buffalo, heh, heh, heh, heh, heh {:-) ... pull up the seat cushion on the back of the bus, and put bags of them in there, when customs officers came on to ask citizenship {:-) ... Hey ... thanks for your input here, Apple Queen.
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