Deaths of 18 Men in a Locked Boxcar in Texas

The deaths of the 18 people locked inside the train in Texas on July 2 is indeed a tragedy.

The media coverage was insensitive and insulting. With no mention of the plight of Mexicans who come to the U.S., some television stations presented the INS view that Mexicans should be stopped from entering the U.S. or else they’re going to hurt “us” and themselves. The repetitive use of the derogatory term “illegal alien” deprives Mexicans of their dignity and insults the Chicano community.

“Illegal alien” pejoratively connotes that (1) Mexicans are inhuman objects (2) on a meaningless, criminal quest (3) and are invading the U.S. since they obviously don’t belong here. The aforementioned ideas are false, dangerous, and insensitive toward conditions among Latinos.

Unlike lost cattle migrating on land not theirs, the men on the train likely had families that they sought to uplift through better incomes. Mexicans are people who value dignity, family and prudence with a highest standard.

Many undocumented Mexicans have families to support and act on instinct; one must go to where there are resources. America is overflowing with natural resources. It is not criminal to desire adequate food, clothes and shelter.

To say Mexicans don’t belong here is foolishly ignorant and racist. The six southwestern states were violently invaded and corruptly signed over to the United States by Mexico in 1848. This skulduggery produced the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo which guaranteed free travel between the two countries.

If anybody, it is the U.S. government that is the nefarious criminal, impeding people from obtaining decent opportunities of survival.

ELIAS SERNA MARTINEZ

Santa Monica