A person's a person, no matter how...

Howard Fineman, in his national bestseller “Thirteen American Arguments” basically says that there are thirteen basic arguments that the principles of our country are based on, and that these arguments were “set into motion by a Declaration of ‘self evident truths’ that every person is entitled to freedom and respect. These arguments range from topics like the environment, the terms of trade, the limits of individualism and fundamentally, the question of who a person is. With this particular argument, Fineman goes on to explain that the central idea on which this country is based, (the thought that all souls are created equal and are entitled to personhood, dignity, and respect), is not very clear at all. So he raises the question of personhood in his first chapter.

Visiting El Paso, Texas made me think about this idea of personhood. Because El Paso is located so closely to the Mexican Border, I couldn’t help but think about America’s immigration situation. This is such an interesting city to think about in terms of immigration because El Paso was the gateway city between the United States and Mexico for many years. It’s clear in the name because in English El Paso means “the pass. Thinking about this gateway city, several questions come to mind. Who’s to say when a person is fully a citizen? Who’s to say that someone from Mexico can’t come over to a country full of immigrants? I think it’s absurd, but at the same time there is some sense to it as well. If anybody was allowed to go whenever they wanted there would be no order and order is important. But when someone does have the privilege of coming from Mexico to the United States, why should they have to give up their culture for American culture?

While we were in El Paso, Aunt Lunell (our unofficial tour guide) took our class to the Ranch Market of El Paso in one of the more Mexican parts of town. “More Mexican,” because you can see at least small traces of Mexican culture influencing American culture everywhere in El Paso. Everyone in our group was fairly excited about getting fresh fruit because we had been eating very unhealthy for the past couple of days. And then we stepped inside. This was not a grocery store. This was a fiesta. There was energetic music playing and dozens of people walking around eating. Our group quickly fell in line, picking up fruit and other healthy snacks as well. Some of us even made our way over to the juice bar, conveniently placed close to the registers, and got fresh fruit juices. I got something called “Jamaica,” that tasted like grapes, cherries, and a bit of mango (?) and I loved it. It was just enough to fuel me on as we continue shopping. We bought bananas, oranges, mango, cereal, fresh bread, even a pineapple. We were so excited to buy and I think that the atmosphere helped lend it self to that. I’ve never been to Mexico, but I think that this was the clearest example of pure Mexican culture that I had seen in America thus far. I was happy that this group of people didn’t feel the need to dumb down their heritage in order to be accepted.

Later on that night our group had a conversation on the bus about how everyone was coping with the trip. People aired concerns, and everyone else listened. Going back to Fineman, I was happy to find that there was no hierarchy of personhood taking place on the bus. If one person had an issue then it was something that everyone took into consideration, because we all are equal. There were no major problems, but just a couple minor adjustments to be made. So we made them, and we ended another great day.

We thought that was the end, until our bus driver Rueben was stopped at 3AM by the border patrol. They targeted our bus because they suspected that we could potentially be harboring “illegals.” They soon realized that they were wrong and got off of our bus after making tons of noise. Up until then the day had been good, and I was under the impression that maybe life in El Paso wasn’t so bad for a Mexican American. This was a false impression. But thanks to the border patrol, I now know that there is still a lot of improvement to be made in immigrant relations along the border. Thanks guys. ‘Preciate it.