Frank X. Moraga
By Frank X. Moraga / Amigos805
Maybe it was the story told by m. henry in “What Coyote Brought” about that trickster who volunteered to protect all the animals’ cache of food (bad idea), and then turned around and built a giant wall around the goodies.
Along the same lines goes Tom Russell’s song “Who’s Gonna Build Your Wall?”
Or Robert Neustadt’s lyrics to “Voluntary Return.”
They all certainly make an impression, as they should, about the topsy-turvey world of immigration reform.
“Border Songs,” a total of 31 performances on two CDs was produced by Neustadt and Chuck Cheesman to benefit the Tucson-based No More Deaths / No Más Muertes, a volunteer group that caches water in the desert, provides medical assistance and food to migrants and helps recently deported people on the Mexican side of the border. The album includes an information booklet detailing the recent history and tragedy of U.S. border enforcement policies.
Each $20 album sold provides up to 29 gallons of water for immigrants caught in the heat of the Sonoran desert, said Neustadt, professor of Spanish and director of Latin American Studies at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. At the urging of his students, who take part in an annual field trip to the border, Neustadt recently initiated the university’s first Immigration Awareness Week, which brought together documentary filmmakers and others who talked about immigration issues on both sides of the border.
Since the “Border Songs” CD was released in October, it has raised more than $23,000 for No More Deaths.
No matter where you fall on the immigration debate, the image of someone dying of thirst should send cold shivers to your soul. Buying “Border Songs” is one way to warm your soul and quench someone’s desperate thirst.
Visit Border Songs on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/BorderSongsCdProject for more information.
To buy the CD, visit:
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bordersongs
— Frank X. Moraga is editor/publisher of Amigos805. He has served as business editor, director of diversity and general manager of a bilingual publication at the Ventura County Star, and as a reporter in the community editions of the Orange County Register and Los Angeles Daily News.
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