As I watched the last episode of Mo last night, the scene where the family was made to strip as they exited Israel reminded me of when my brother and I went across the border to have lunch after visiting with relatives in Fronton, Texas.
As we returned, the US Border Patrol asked us what we had brought back, and we replied that we had nothing. I guess there was something about us the blue-eyed gringo didn’t like about us because he proceeded to take the car apart and did not find anything because we had nothing to declare. He then took us inside and proceeded to do a full body search on us. That is the type of experience one does not forget.
I have no idea if what occurred in the last scene is correct, but it makes me understand what the Palestinians must endure to stay in a land that they had been in for thousands of years.
That was not the only indignity we had to endure for being American-Mexican-looking US citizens. When we were younger, and our family went to visit our grandparents in South Texas, the American-Mexican-looking citizens were all pulled to the side of the road and questioned extensively about our citizenship. Meanwhile, the blue-eyed-looking gringos were waived through without being questioned about their citizenship.
In a way, I am glad that many of the recent new citizens are starting to see what it was like for us Tejanos back in the days that Trump and his fascist followers want to take us back to.
But God is always there to help us get on with life.