This is a pretty strong episode. In the U.S., there’s so much political discourse over people’s lives at the southern border, and it’s interesting to look at that conversation from a Mexican perspective. Here are some highlights from the discussion:
- One of the guests, a reporter, asserts, “The reasons people leave their country, those haven’t changed. It’s a primal act” – He goes on to add, “Nobody leaves the country they were born in with two babies on their backs to go to another country they don’t know just because.”
- An indigenous activist migrated to the U.S. as a young child – She describes her experience leaving the “universe” of her small rural community, saying, “So, suddenly, there’s no river. I don’t know anyone, no one speaks my language, no one understands my food. So it was like a very difficult experience of being an unwilling immigrant.”
- More than in any other episode, this one includes footage from the U.S. – new clips, snippets of political speeches (guess whose?), and xenophobic Americans screaming lies about migrants.
- The reporter breaks down that, despite the fearmongering in the U.S., the “migrant caravans” are simply a means for vulnerable migrants to secure safety in numbers on a treacherous journey – “The caravans were nothing more than a barely natural impetus of people who decided to share their sorrows and who decided to share the road, and they understood that, having three of them was better than being alone. If there’s 20, that’s better than one.”
- Another guest is the former Mexican ambassador to the U.S. – He points out how strong xenophobic anti-migrant sentiment can be in Mexico against Central Americans, asking, “How can we do what we are doing and then demand that the U.S. respect and protect the social and labor rights of our Mexican diaspora in the United States?”
- One guest, a musician, shares her experience as a Mexican American – “I feel that you grow up on a tightrope, like on a scale where you’re always kind of changing and despised from the country your dad, your mom are from, which is Mexico. And when you’re in the United States, you’re always like… ‘Oh, you know, where are you from?’ ‘Oh, like, I’m from LA.’ ‘No, but where are you really from?’”
- The reporter makes an interesting observation about “charity,” saying, “I think, in large part, the acceptance or disdain of communities has to do with how good we feel if I take a blanket one day and say, ‘I’m so fucking good.’ Or, ‘This pound of rice I gave, I feel so good’” – He argues that part of the current backlash against migrants is because people don’t know how to reckon with migrants “who believe they have a right to demand mercy.”
In his role of gently guiding the conversation, Luna makes both personal observations and larger social points. After acknowledging that he’s crossed the border numerous times as an adult, he adds, “I’m not bragging. Crossing borders having resources is very easy, isn’t it?” Later, he brings up the issue of anti-migrant backlash in Mexico, talking about the mayor who railed against migrants while calling himself “the Trump of Tijuana.”
And in a smaller amusing bit, I like the opening scene where the chef talks to Luna about his own experience crossing the border regularly. Parts of the discussion, of course, are serious, as he describes how much tenser it is to go through checkpoints under the Trump administration. But when he talks about taking his son back and forth across the border for school and extracurricular activities, I like when Luna exclaims, “Hold on. I won’t walk with you anymore. Did you just say ‘soccer’? No way!” Hee! It’s cute.
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