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Illegal: Life and Death in Arizona’s Immigration War Zone

Posted June 22, 2010 by Ted Hesson

On July 1, Arizona journalist Terry Greene Sterling will release her new book on the state’s contentious immigration debate, Illegal: Life and Death in Arizona’s Immigration War.

The book studies immigration from both sides of the border, and Greene Sterling anchors her narrative with the stories of migrants, most of whom are driven north by economic necessity. The author also addresses immigration policy, looking at how global economics affect migration patterns and how immigration enforcement in Arizona impacts communities within the state.

Here’s an excerpt from a chapter of the book entitled “Dairy People:”

It was a breezeless October evening, and the salmon-hued sunset radiated heat. A covered plywood porch extended along the western edge of the trailer that twenty-year-old Eddie shared with his parents and three siblings. The porch was furnished with a few plastic chairs and stools, and in the far corner, a washing machine connected to a hose drained soapy water onto the lawn.

Eddie sat on a stool, absently holding his BlackBerry. He wore a sleeveless green shirt with “Boston” written across the front, baggy rayon shorts, and basketball shoes. He’d been kicking a soccer ball on the lawn when I arrived. He still played in an adult soccer league. Even so, he yearned for the camaraderie of his high school team, and he missed his high school friends whom he rarely saw even though some “live, like five minutes away.”

He seemed lonely and said he wanted to marry soon. He hadn’t met the girl yet, but in his dreams his wife was Mexican or of Mexican descent. She would keep a clean house and cook tasty sopes, cornmeal cakes topped with combinations of fresh salsa, beans, shrimp, meats, or vegetables, just like the ones that his mother made. The woman Eddie hoped to marry would be the opposite of the American girl who had just dumped him. The American girl had gotten pregnant and couldn’t make up her mind if the baby’s father was Eddie or the man she chose over Eddie.

Eddie was brought to Arizona when he was seven years old. He spoke easy, fluent English. Although he’d never felt the sting of one-on-one racism, he lived in a state with laws he considered racist. “I’m kind of used to it,” he told me. “They don’t want us here. OK. That’s fine. I’m over it. I set it aside.” What made it easier for Eddie to cope with living in Arizona was that he told himself he was just visiting. So, even though he had lived most of his life in Maricopa County, and even though he worried about how well he’d adjust to Mexico if he were deported, he told himself that in his heart and soul he was a Mexican.

Sometimes.

But other times, he didn’t know who he was.

Or where he belonged.

And this angered him.

Here’s some background on Terry Greene Sterling from her website:

Terry Greene Sterling, the White Woman in the Barrio,  is the first Writer-in-Residence at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. She is a three-time winner of Arizona’s highest journalism honor, the Virg Hill Journalist of the Year Award.

A winner of 49 national and regional journalism awards, Sterling earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative nonfiction from Goucher College in 2004 and a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from the Cronkite School in 1984. She is currently under contract with the Globe Pequot Press for a book on immigration that will be published in 2010.

Tags : , arizona, arizona boycott, books, illegal: life and death in arizona's immigration war zone, nafta, roots of migration, sb 1070, terry greene sterling, white woman in the barrio

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