“The Border Patrol State” is an article written by Leslie Marmon Silko, a Native American writer, who also has written another book titled Almanac of the Dead. This article originally appeared “In the Nation” on October 17, 2014. Silko claims that the border patrol agents where racially profiling any white person traveling with a person of color, nuns, women with very long or short hair, and also white men with beards and long hair. I believe her intent of writing this article was to bring awareness to the harsh and injustice that were taking place on the highways that border patrol watched over.
Silko expressed her concerns about this situation because she had fell victim to that injustice she was trying to shine a light on. Silko, presented her article as a call to action, this article was published in the magazine The Nation, and she was targeting the public as an audience. To show how the border patrol dehumanizes, and harassed people from south of the border,” there was an awful feeling of menace and violence straining to break loose” as she stated when she a run in with the border patrol.
I think her main targeted audience that she was hoping to reach with this article was whoever reads The Nation. If she could not reach the government with this article, but could raise concern with the public the government would have to take action. In my opinion, Silko felt like she had to do this because, one she had the platform to do it, and two somebody had to take a stand for this injustice that had been going for so long. If she could accomplish this she would be making the highways that connect New Mexico and the U. S. a little safer to travel and, bring an end to the harsh, and cruel injustice.
There is a lot of evidence that Silko use in this article to back up her claim of how the border patrol mistreat and harassed eople from south of the border. Silko personal anecdote that she included in this article, takes place on highway in New Mexico at or around midnight as she was leaving Albuquerque retuning to Tucson, Arizona. She was traveling with her companion Gus who was driving at the time this harassment took place.
As they were driving down State Road 26 they came upon a road block with six border patrolman block both lanes of the road, then they was ordered out of the vehicle. When Gus asked why he was snapped at and asked “are you looking for trouble” as to entice an altercation of some sort. Silko stated hat “there was an awful feeling of menace and violence straining to break loose” she also stated that “it was clear they would be happy to drag us out of the car if we did not comply”.
Silko said, she thought “how easy it would be for the border patrol to shoot us and leave our bodies on the side of the road like so many others found in these parts”. Once they exited the vehicle they called the dog to sniff the vehicle, and although the dog did not find any illegal drugs or human beings stored away the border patrol was still not happy. “The mood got uglier; the officers seemed outraged that the dog could not find any ontraband”, unfortunately what happen to Silko is an everyday occurrence there as she pointed out.
That’s not the only time when she has fell victim to the border patrol dehumanizing and discriminating behavior. Silko and her two campion was detained at True or Consequences, to despite her and her campion’s Arizona driver license. “There was two other men who were both Chicanos that was also detained at the same time, despite they too presented ID and spoke English”“. While they were being detained the border patrol would wave other vehicles thru whose occupants were white.
Silko, also included an important static and case study. No one person, no citizen, is free to travel without scrutiny from the border patrol. In the city of south Tucson, where 80 percent of the respondents were Chicano or Mexicano, a joint researched project by the University of Wisconsin and the University of Arizona recently concluded that one of every five people there had been detained, mistreated verbally or nonverbally, or questioned by I. N. S agents in the past two years.
In my opinion even though Silko provided very strong evidence, I can’t say that it covered all perspective, just because it was a one person perspective article she did not included other people personal anecdote. It is very creditable, on the fact that it is a one person perspective, because this is something that she has experienced firsthand. It is adequate enough to support her claim, that the border patrol dehumanize, harass, and mistreat people from south of the border.
Silko tone in this article to me, was a firm but settle tone you can tell that she was very passionate about this injustice that was/is going on with the border patrol, especially because she has been a victim not once but twice. The language that is the used in passage is formal, I say that because it is very well written and also you can tell that the Arthur/Silko was well nformed and educated about this topic, which made it just that much easier to follow along without getting lost in unrelated events in the article.
Silko was not only telling you a story but she was painting a picture with her writing, it was very vivid and descriptive. The way she describe the events happening you could picture them in your head “it was nearly midnight on New Mexico State Road 26, a dark, lonely stretch of two-lane highway” or “the night was very dark, and no other traffic had come down the road since we had been stopped”. I will say that her choice of style was well suited for her targeted audience. Some appeals that was used in this essay was logos, she was able to provide logic information like the joint research project by the two Universities.
Silko wasn’t shy to show her pathos/ emotions you could tell she was mad, scared, and stressed “to my relief, the strange violence the border patrol agents had focused on us now seemed to shift to the dog. I no longer felt we would be murdered”. Silko let us know her ethos/credibility for being an Arthur by letting us know that she has book that she was promoting titled Almanac of the Dead, and also she has firsthand knowledge of what she was writing about, which really ive her the credibility to write this article.
These appeals are very effective. My overall opinion of this article is that I really enjoyed reading it, it was well written and knowledgeable, and it was organized well and absolutely engaging. I would have like for her to include other people stories that had went through the same thing she went through, that way it want seemed to be just a one person perspective. I would also been great if she could have interviewed a border patrol person just to see what they had to say about it, but for the most part overall I enjoyed reading it.
