By: Keith Kappes
Columnist
Carter County Times
If you want to understand what life is really like on the U. S. – Mexico border, I suggest you get a copy of Willie Nelson’s new country song entitled “The Border”. Better yet, listen to it on YouTube.
Sung from the perspective of a weary agent of the U. S. Border Patrol, the song describes the tense atmosphere at the border crossings where drug and migrant smugglers fight daily battles with the Border Patrol against the backdrop of desperately poor but illegal immigrants trying to get into the U. S. in search of a better life.
Nelson, a 90-year-old songwriter and singer, has been the icon of “outlaw country” music for about 50 years. That name comes from the fact that performers like Nelson broke away from the “Nashville Sound” because of the unbending policies of the recording companies.
In 1975, Willie became the first major recording music artist to get creative control of his own music.
Without taking sides in the ongoing political debate over U. S. immigration policies at the southern border, Nelson’s song describes the unending stress of border patrol agents who wear bullet-proof vests and go to work each day knowing the drug cartels have a price on the head of each officer.
In chilling detail, he sings about how each agent’s primary goal is to survive each shift and go home alive to their families. At the same time, his distinctive Texas voice expresses sympathy for the often-destitute migrants who risk their lives for a chance at freedom for their families.
To me, this verse in his song speaks volumes about the plight of the refugees from South and Central America:
“From the shacks and the shanties,
Come the hungry and poor.
Some to drown at the crossings,
Some to suffer no more.”
Thanks, Willie, for reminding us that America was founded by earlier immigrants seeking to be free. (Contact Keith at keithkappes@gmail.com.)