As a Texan, it’s scarier than I could ever imagine, someone who lives 150 miles North of the Texas–Mexico border. Watching the news reports of civilians from red states travel down to our border in convoy fashion is terrifying to witness. If there were ever a time to implement the teachings of Solidarity in Catholic Social Teaching, this is the time. Coming together in Solidarity would protect the lives and human dignity of migrants and their families.
Let’s watch a news clip of the current Texas convoy. Some of the interviews with civilians claim they are traveling in peaceful protest, but I know the hard-right well, and they are anything but peaceful. CBS News predicts violence, and so do I.
@mamabea00 1/31/24#convoy #texas #border #bordercrisis #globalcrisis #getready #prep #fypシ #fypage #fyp
When I woke up this morning, I was delighted to see this headline from Newsweek. Texas Border Convoy Slammed by Eagle Pass Community Leaders Ahead of Rally (newsweek.com)
I want to discuss this more because I believe the contents of the article are significant. Here we have local US citizens in Eagle Pass “slamming the convoy.” According to this Newsweek article from James Bikerton, “a number of community leaders from Eagle Pass, Texas held a press conference on Friday to express their opposition to the ‘Take Our Border Back’ convoy, which is due to hold a rally near the town on Saturday.” US citizens who already live in this border town might possibly protest the large flux of immigrants from Mexico. Quite the opposite is true.
Eagle Pass town leaders named Mike Garcia, Pastor Julio Vasque, and Jessie Fuentes spoke against the potential hate which the convoy will potentially bring. These town leaders are encouraging the acceptance of diversity and honoring our neighbor. Fuentes further commented how upset he is about the convoy and how it has overtaken their city park and turned it into “a military base.” According to the article, a floating conspiracy theory states that the following, “terrorists coming across the border being funded by Jewish money.” None of this appears to be the types of things the Eagle Pass community wants.
Let’s observe another border town in Yuma, Arizona. According to this article from a local channel called KAYC, Yuma area law enforcement warns about border convoy (kawc.org), local police actually warn about the convoy. Although this article is much shorter, one quote stood out to me, “The Take Back Our Border convoy says they will peacefully assemble in prayer to “call on our government to take action for We The People and secure our southern border.” and, according to a report from Vice, by noon Monday “the convoy had just a few dozen participants, mostly men over the age of 60. The convoy’s promoters promised more than 700,000 participants.”
The patterns I repeatedly observe from white, older, male, conservative, Republican, “Christians” seem to be consistent. I can conclude without uncertainty that they are acting in fear over changing demographics, and they don’t want to loose power and control of others. It’s frightening to me but not surprising; I’m a life-long Texan.
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