National Guardsmen, Go Home!
Today 330 National Guard troops
came to the Arizona-Sonora border
12 miles south of our home,
one for nearly every mile of the state’s line;
They are likely to break more laws
than they will enforce.
Even the Border Patrol
is better trained on human rights
& on respecting wildlife laws.
The Border Patrol needs more INTEL
to stop drug runners, their drones
and their ultralights that fly over my home
nearly every night, not an idle show of force
that has no tangible effects on them.
I now live in a militarized zone,
crossing checkpoints on my way to work
and seeing Guardsmen on my way
to physical therapy in Nogales.
It looks like the Israel-Palestine border
when you try to cross from Jerusalem to Bethlehem,
both holy cities. This Land too is sacred,
this Land is made for you and me,
not for Trump and the National Guard.
I will be among the many beginning
civil disobedience and conscientious objection
in my own backyard. Write your leaders,
picket all National Guard recruitment offices
and stop these violations of our right
to live without the specter of deadly force
poking us in the nose every day.
– Gary Paul Nabhan
