This border fence divides the Tohono O'odham community into two sides.

Like, imagine your town cut in half with a fence.

And some of your family live on one side, and some on the other.

Your doctor lives on the other side, and you really need dialysis.

It takes a long time to cross. Lots of checks.

It used to take twenty minutes to visit your father on the other side. Now it takes five hours.

You get arrested for trying to cross.

Your spiritual leaders are arrested too.

Your ancestors' remains are confiscated.

A soldier holds a gun to your head and demands that you declare your allegiance to one side.

This border should be erased. Your life is on both sides.

In May 2012, activists, artists and youth erased this border.

It was a symbolic action using our bodies to press against the fence.

Now we need your help - we want to really erase the border.

Will you add your voice?

ERASE THE BORDER

A voice for change

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vojo29154 Story

Hello

Public Story

Public Story

Public Story

Susan Quasha, Barrytown, NY

celsom3 Story

Uriel Castaneda, Seattle, WA

Public Story

Public Story

Voice from the Tohono O'odham Reservation

Voice from the Tohono O'odham Reservation

Voice from the Tohono O'odham Reservation

Voice from the Tohono O'odham Reservation

Voice from the Tohono O'odham Reservation

Voice from the Tohono O'odham Reservation

Voice from the Tohono O'odham Reservation

Voice from the Tohono O'odham Reservation

Voice from the Tohono O'odham Reservation

Voice from the Tohono O'odham Reservation

Lorrie LeJeune, Cambridge, MA

Laura Forlano, Cambridge, MA

Huan Sun, Cambridge, MA

Alexandre Goncalves, Cambridge, MA

Nathan Matias, MIT Center for Civic Media, Cambridge, MA

Denise Cheng, Cambridge, MA

Rahul Bhargava, Cambridge, MA

Ofelia Rivas, O'odham activist and elder

Ofelia Rivas, O'odham activist and elder

Catherine D'Ignazio, MIT Center for Civic Media

Nick Grossman, MIT Media Lab

Rodrigo Davies, student, MIT

me

Anonymous

Jan Smith, Mattapoisett, MA

Stephen Suen, MIT Student, Cambridge, MA

Sasha Costanza-Chock, Co-Principal Investigator, MIT Center for Civic Media, Cambridge, MA

Rogelio Alejandro Lopez, Research Assistant, Comparative Media Studies, MIT, Cambridge, MA

Molly Sauter, Research Assistant, Comparative Media Studies, MIT, Cambridge, MA

M.C. McGrath, MIT Student, Cambridge, MA

Luis Capelo, Masters Candidate in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School

Anonymous, MIT Student

Kyle Yuan, MIT Student, Cambridge, MA

Joanna Kao, Computer Science Student, MIT, Cambridge, MA

Guillermo, Cambridge, MA

Becky Hurwitz, Codesign Facilitator and Community Organizer, MIT Center for Civic Media

Andrew Lowenthal, Co-founder and Executive Director, EngageMedia

Andre Muggiati, Master in Public Administration Candidate, Harvard Kennedy School

Alex Ho, Ed.M. student, Harvard Graduate School of Education

Aditi Mehta, Ph.D. Student, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT

Anne Callahan, Artist & MIT Graduate Student, Cambridge, MA

Fred D'Ignazio, Author & Community Garden Leader, Apex, NC

David Raymond, Waltham, MA

Janet D'Ignazio, Vice President, ICF International, Apex, NC

Jan Michaels, Wayland, MA

Catherine D'Ignazio, Research Assistant, MIT Center for Civic Media, Cambridge, MA

Beckyh Story


A petition of 114 voices to make Tohono O'odham citizenship part of comprehensive immigration reform

The 2008 border fence divides the community, prevents tribe members from receiving critical health services and subjects O'odham to racism and discrimination. All O'odham tribe members should have US citizenship. Learn more...

By signing the petition, you support putting Tohono O'odham citizenship back on the table (it was shelved in 2001) as part of comprehensive immigration reform.

Your voices will be recorded together, remixed as songs, and sent to legislators. Read more about where your voice will go and how you can use this archive.

 Our Voices

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 Where does my voice go?

 More information

  • Map of O'odham lands

    Map

    Map of traditional O'odham lands by Forest Purnell based on information collected by George Barnett

  • New York Times article

    New York Times article

    In Drug War, Tribe Feels Invaded by Both Sides. By Erik Eckholm for the series War Without Borders. Above photo by Chris Hinkle for the New York Times.

  • Erasing the Border

    We erased the border with our bodies and hands

    Artists Ofelia Rivas and Catherine D'Ignazio worked with Tohono O'odham youth on a symbolic action to erase the border fence by pressing and painting. This is a Zeega presentation - a multimedia presentation with sound and video that tells our story.

Credits