Rock, Paper, Bullets

By Cindy Gomez
Editor

Sergio Adrian Hernandez Huereca, age 14, is dead from a shot to the head by a U.S Border Patrol Agent. His family was going to pick him up at the US-Mexico bridge, a place where he frequently played, to take him to entrance exams for a new school. Sergio never made it to his exams.

Witnesses to the shooting stated that the Border agent used unnecessary force and shot although he was not in any danger. Sergio was unarmed, and a witness cellphone video shows he was shot by the Border Patrol agent on Mexican soil, without provocation. The Border agent claims he was surrounded and shot in self defense because rocks were being thrown at him. However, the video tells a different story.

This atrocity followed on the heels of the death of 32-year-old Anastasio Hernandez at the hands of U.S. Border Patrol agents. Anastasio had been deported following a routine traffic stop where he was determined to be in the U.S. without proper documentation. Hernandez, who came to the U.S. at age 14, had been living in San Diego with his wife of 21 years and his five U.S.-born children. He re-entered the U.S. illegally to be reunited with his family. He was beaten with a baton and tased to death after he allegedly became combative with agents. The San Diego Coroner’s office has ruled the death a homicide.

The Mexican ministry reports the number of Mexicans wounded or killed by U.S. Border patrol has increased dramatically, from just five in 2008 to 12 in 2009. This year, the number is up to 17, and it’s only June.

Right wing ideologues like Bill O’Reilly were quick to defend the actions of the border agent without really knowing all the facts. O’Reilly argued that the alleged rock-throwing was reason enough for the border agent to kill a boy. The premise that a disproportionate use of deadly force against a child is condoned by our government or our media is disconcerting, to say the least.

No one knows for sure, but if Sergio was throwing rocks was that cause for him to be executed? How can the use of a rocks by children be cause for death? One could understand that a kid throwing rocks at authorities could lead to jail time, but a shot to the head? We have to ask ourselves. Is this how we want authorities to act if this were our child?

What if your child were among a group of other children doing something wrong? Would it be right for authorities to begin shooting indiscriminately into the crowd? We seemed already to have answered this question as a nation following the 1970 Kent University massacre. In that instance, unarmed students were shot and killed by Ohio National Guardsmen during a protest against the War in Cambodia. One of the students shot in that incident was just observing the protest from afar. The incident caused outrage across the nation, with hundreds of colleges, universities and high schools closing due to a massive student strike, four million strong. There were also significant changes in crowd control techniques aimed at reducing casualties. 

Yet when it comes to immigrants from Mexico, U.S. response and opinion has been quite different. Armed minute men encourage people to take matters into their own hands to detain anyone suspected of crossing into the country illegally. Ten states are considering passing laws like the one in Arizona, which has essentially legalized racial profiling. There have been an estimated 5,600 deaths of immigrants attempting to cross into the U.S. since 1994, when Operation Gatekeeper went into effect. The fence built in populated areas forced desperate immigrants to cross the border in much more dangerous and deadly locations. All of humanity detested the Berlin Wall. Yet we as Americans show little reaction to the building of a U.S./Mexico border wall that has taken 10 times more lives than the Berlin Wall did in its 28-year existence.

Despite the rising death toll, the U.S. continues to employ policies that do little or nothing to enforce laws aimed at employers who entice immigrants to the U.S. with promises of work. Instead, the majority of Immigration and Naturalization resources are focused on punishing immigrant workers. President Obama, who made many campaign promises to reform the broken immigration system, has just increased the number of agents on the border, but has yet to address the human rights abuses against Mexicans (and others who appear brown) happening at the U.S./Mexico border and throughout the country. How can everyone continue to turn a blind eye to the rising tensions in this country, the open aggression toward people of color, the death of children?

We may not all agree on a solution to the immigration conundrum, but there has to be a better solution than shoot a boy first and ask questions later. There has to be a better way of ensuring U.S. security without causing the deaths of thousands of our neighbors. Sooner or later, we all have to answer for our actions. The people who built the Berlin wall and those who enforced the border there know that lesson all too well. 

Incidentally, Sergio’s father forgave the border agent who killed his teen-aged son. He said his faith in a just and fair God gave him the strength to do so. When asked what he would say to the border agent he answered, “Ask God to forgive you. He sees everything and knows everything. You can say whatever you want about my son, but God knows what happened. You will have to answer to God for what you have done.”

Best Bets Announcement:

It’s all over folks! The last bell has rung and officials are ready to announce the winners of this year’s Best Bet’s knock-down, drag-out fight. None if could have happened without the reader’s votes. Approximately 1,600 ballots were cast and we’ve all watched the contenders duke it out for the top spot. Check out the next issue of the HPR to see final announcements.

For now, we’ll tell you we have many surprises and upsets to announce that will leave you slack-jawed and amazed. We are also inviting everyone to celebrate with the winners and the nominees at the Empire Tavern Parking Lot, 424 Broadway in downtown Fargo on Thursday, June 24. The event is 21+ and free to the public. From 6-10 pm we’ll have live music with an astonishing line-up of talent: DJ Joyride as Master of Ceremonies along with Michael Pink, Eden Parker, Johnson Family Band and Blind Joe. Best Bets 2010 Award Certificates will be presented at 10 pm. You won’t want to miss this year’s celebration. The weather is going to cooperate. We guarantee it.

Questions and comments: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)