EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – A shoebox. A non-descript white plastic bag. Those are the conveyances of last resort for people on 1,000-mile-long journeys to a better life in the United States.
Their spartan contents – from family photographs and government IDs to a simple change of clothes – tell stories of motivation and resilience in the face of hardship.
That humanity often is lost in the rancor and politics of the immigration debate. That’s why the Mexican consulate in El Paso for the next two months is sponsoring an interpretative exhibit at El Paso’s Mexican American Cultural Center. It’s called “Maletas Migrantes,” or “Migrant Suitcases.”
“The migrant community contributes a lot to this country. We have to understand they are people that feel that have sorrows that have complications,” said Mexican Consul General Mauricio Ibarra Ponce de Leon. “We need to humanize this migration; everyone has to be aware migrants are entrepreneurs, they do a lot for their communities (in the United States) with their work, their culture, their traditions, their gastronomy.”
The exhibit comes to the MACC from the Museum of the Revolution on the Border in Juarez, Mexico. The 47 pieces presented in the Mexican venue were artists’ interpretations of what each of the millions of migrants who attempted to cross the border in recent years – sometimes with success, sometimes meeting tragedy – would carry on their journey.
One photo posted by the museum shows a man in jeans, tennis shoes and a baseball hat carrying a small suitcase with the image of a heart. “You leave many things behind when you migrate. Only carry what you can take,” reads an inscription.
Another shows travelers’ hopes crashing at the border wall. Toy soldiers hold guns in front of a wall; a makeshift wooden ladder lies just behind them.
In an ideal world, citizens of one country who want to move to another could follow an orderly process. The reality of the past few years along the U.S.-Mexico border is that people who need to escape violence, poverty and persecution will migrate any way they can.
“This exhibit gives us an opportunity to think about issues that are affecting us” on the border, Ibarra said.
Maletas Migrantes is on view at the MACC, 201 E. Franklin Ave., through Oct. 6. Visit their homepage for more information.
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