Rlct1

TASK 1
I chose this excerpt below from Leslie Marmon Silko’s compelling essay, “The Border Patrol State.”
IT IS NO use; borders haven't worked, and they won't work, not now, as the indigenous people of the Americas reassert their kinship and solidarity with one another. A mass migration is already under way; its roots are not simply economic. The Uto-Aztecan languages are spoken as far north as Taos Pueblo near the Colorado border, all the way south to Mexico City. Before the arrival of the Europeans, the indigenous communities throughout this region not only conducted commerce; the people shared cosmologies, and oral narratives about the Maize Mother, the Twin Brothers, and their grandmother, Spider Woman, as well as Quetzalcoatl, the benevolent snake. The great human migration within the Americas cannot be stopped; human beings are natural forces of the earth, just as rivers and winds are natural forces.

The author’s subjectivity is revealed through how and what she writes about the Border Patrol. The Border Patrol is supposed to be seen as a protector of security, peace, and development. Silko, however, argues that the Border Patrol establishes numerous hindrances to the indigenous people of Americas, who are only returning to their homeland. These are the barriers between Native Americans and their right to mobility, freedom, and economic development. Her subjectivities can then be perceived from what she writes about. She writes about the Border Patrol’s “dark side.” The Border Patrol is not a protector of people from terrorism or crimes. It is the protector of ancient colonizers, who are now the ruling elites and political parties of the U.S. The manner or style of Silko also describes her subjectivity.   She writes from the lens of history and her culture. She says: “Before the arrival of the Europeans, the indigenous communities throughout this region not only conducted commerce; the people shared cosmologies, and oral narratives about the Maize Mother,...