“The Borderlands,” Points South: An Oxford American Podcast; Episode 1, Season 2, Nov 4, 2021
A dispatch from the Rio Grande Valley. Journalist Michelle García investigates the history of the U.S.–Mexico border and the violent response to Black Lives Matter protests in the Rio Grande Valley.
Listen to the episode here.
Western Sahara: The War of Forgetting and the Forgotten People, TIME
A number of years ago I traveled to refugee camps in Algeria to report on the “forgotten people” of Western Sahara. The camp and the crisis was a product of colonialism and the ensuing violence followed by a cease-fire and a promise unfilled by the international community. Western Sahara had been a colony of Spain and later claimed by Morocco, with the backing of the U.S. and much of Europe.
War broke out between the nomadic Sahrawi, which formed the Polisario Front and Morocco. In 1991, a U.N.-brokered ceasefire included a promised referendum for self-determination for the Sahrawi. It was never fulfilled and many of the refugees, generations of families, live in the camps.
I wrote about the desert and the forgotten people in my essay, The War of Forgetting, which was published by Guernica and I shot reported a video piece for Time.
In Nov. 2020, after reports of aggression by Morocco, the Polisario ended the cease-fire. The fighting has resumed.
Against Mexico Documentary, 2012
‘Against Mexico’ Documentary Explores Texas Secession Battle Reenactments | Featured on PBS Newshour and Latino Public Broadcasting (trailer above).
Posted on Newshour May 2012: At first blush, a group reenactment of Texas’ 1836 battle to secede from Mexico has little to do with today’s political environment. But the notion of what it means to be an American is an issue that continues to stir up strong emotions, and resistance to a strong federal government can be seen in elections across the country.
Those emotions are underscored in a short documentary being highlighted by our partners at Latino Public Broadcasting. “Against Mexico: The Making of Heroes and Enemies” looks at the different ways in which Latinos and whites interpret the Texas Revolution, and the tensions between the two groups that continue to resonate 175 years later as Hispanic population growth accounted for 63.1 percent of all growth in Texas in the last decade.
“Against Mexico” delves into the Lone Star State’s complicated history.
Michelle García 