{"id":667330,"date":"2019-01-11T09:06:40","date_gmt":"2019-01-11T16:06:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=667330"},"modified":"2019-01-11T09:06:58","modified_gmt":"2019-01-11T16:06:58","slug":"asylum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2019\/01\/asylum\/","title":{"rendered":"Asylum"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Undocumented

U.S. Customs and Border Protection<\/p>

Detained immigrant children in federal custody.<\/p><\/div>\n

The Maya of the Yucatan invented writing, calendars, and a number system
\nthat counted in the millions. Made tools and pottery, sang songs,
\nbuilt ball courts, pyramids and temples, created public plazas
\nwith monumental columns that told their history. 3rd century AD.<\/p>\n

The Aztec in the Valley of Mexico built warrior statues to guard their temples.
\nThey too made calendars: one, like ours, the other sacred, with symbols
\nmarking sounds or words. They left books with rich depictions of their daily lives,
\ntheir legends, their beliefs. 13th and 14th centuries.<\/p>\n

The Inca in Peru built an empire, 16 million people. In 1400s AD.
\nThey used knots and cords for numbers, intricate skill recording myths and history.
\nThese khipus, \u201clanguage of animals,\u201d strung textured cords
\ncommanding 95 \u201csyllables\u201d of color, touch, and direction. Let that sink in:<\/p>\n

Touch as well as sight. Makers, readers had to know the different feel of vicuna, alpaca, others that lent their coats to different cords of meaning.
\nSyllabic systems like our own, marks that set our speech, count symbols in a similar range. But the Inca used touch. Touch! 95 locks of color, touch, and direction.<\/p>\n

I wake up thinking about this.<\/p>\n

These are ancestors, Americans, people of Central and South America
\nwhose descendants seek asylum at our borders. Instead of refuge, we aim teargas,
\nseparate children from parents, call them \u201calien,\u201d \u201ccriminal,\u201d these noble people
\nwho had their histories stolen, seeking safety from their countries\u2019 wars our people started.<\/p>\n

Some seekers, blood mixed for centuries with their conquerors,
\nmay be people of the touch, who used intricate knots and textured cords
\nto share their daily lives and myths, people who understood
\nthe language of animals. I ache to welcome them.<\/p>\n

Three-dimensions, starting at our fingertips.
\nI touch your cheek, imagining a different world.<\/p>\n

\u2212 Mary Ellen Capek, November 2018<\/p>\n

\"Mary

Courtesy photo<\/p>

Mary Ellen Capek<\/p><\/div>\n

Corrales resident Mary Ellen Capek is a researcher, writer, publisher and philanthropy consultant who\u2019s recently resumed writing poetry as commentary on oppressive political activity. This poem was\u00a0inspired by Corrales Native American artist Jaune Quick-to-See Smith.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today we share a poem about what’s happening on the border and in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":593761,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,16],"tags":[140],"class_list":["post-667330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-guest-columns","tag-border-and-immigration"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=667330"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":667339,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667330\/revisions\/667339"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/593761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=667330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=667330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=667330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}