In their shoes and souls: Local activist braves border crossing to tell others’ tales

Printed on the front page of The Central Virginian on Thursday, May 15, 2008

Sue Frankel-Streit will not forget.

The sound of footsteps echoing through the Mexican desert like thunder and the sun’s heat beating on her back, will always be ingrained in her memory.

A social activist, Frankel-Streit and her friend Jeff Winder walked the dangerous 37-mile trek from Mexico to a border checkpoint in Arizona.

The purpose of the three-day trip, which took place at the end of April, was to draw awareness to the social injustices she believes immigrants experience in this country.

“To tell the story is to say you came illegally,” she said. “So we felt if we could do it and talk about it, it would help relay how difficult it is.”

Frankel-Streit is a member of a group called People United who believe in open borders. The organization is part of an immigrant justice movement that is growing in the commonwealth.

“People were living here before the artificial borders were here,” she said. “They say, ‘We didn’t cross the border, the border crossed us. This was our ancestral homeland before there were cattle fences.’”

The journey was prompted by the group’s protest of anti-immigrant   legislation recently passed by Prince William County. The regulations allow law enforcement officials to ask for citizenship papers if someone is cited for any offense, Frankel-Streit said, including minor infractions such as speeding tickets. Frankel-Streit believes this is racial profiling.

“They are being arrested because of the color of their skin,” she said.

Group members began to brainstorm how they could help Hispanics in the state. Relaying the story of the harsh journey was their way of doing it.

“As white activists, we felt we needed to start to take some risks and step up,” she said. “And we thought it would give us a better understanding, as an organization, of experiences that they have had.”
Equipped with bookbags loaded with water, Gatorade and snacks, the pair walked 12 to 13 hours each day over rocky terrain.

Frankel-Streit learned how difficult the trip can be physically, and wondered along the way what motivates individuals to do it.

The mental hardships could even be worse, because people leave their families, culture and language to risk their lives on a journey that some do not survive.

“The area people can cross in the desert is getting smaller and smaller and the last places to be walled off are the hardest to get to,” she said. “That means the terrain is dangerous and you don’t really need a wall because it’s hard to get through.”

The activists battled the sun’s 90-degree temperatures, because they didn’t want to draw attention to Mexicans who generally travel at night to remain obscure.

But traveling while it’s dark makes it more dangerous, because many can’t see where they are going on the tough landscape, which can result in injuries. It’s also easy to get lost.

Winder survived the trip despite a sprained ankle, but some immigrants’ haven’t been as lucky.

Juxtaposed against the beautiful terrain are memorials for those who have died making the trip and numerous shoes, many with worn soles–some completely missing, some that belonged to children.

Bookbags which became burdens along the way littered the area that Frankel-Streit describes as symbols of the Mexicans’ “trail of tears.”

Achieving their goal, Frankel-Streit and Winder successfully crossed the border holding a banner announcing the journey.

The pair, who were not carrying proof of citizenship, were not stopped by border patrol officers while arriving at the border checkpoint.

Frankel-Streit believes that moment confirms the racial profiling that exists at the border and in this country.
Since the trek, the social activist is now traveling throughout the state telling her story and the story of millions of Hispanic immigrants who can’t tell it themselves.