An Ugly Wall Becomes a Beautiful Park in Laredo

Laredo, Texas, is 150 miles southwest of San Antonio. It is on one side or Rio Grande River, Mexico on the other.

For five years, Trump repeated what has become his second biggest lie: “I will build a big, beautiful wall between America and Mexico, and Mexico will pay for it.” Throughout his administration, only a few hundred miles of his “wall” were constructed, most of it poorly, and the American people paid for it with their tax dollars.

Trump is over. For many true Americans, he is insignificant, simply a bad memory of some of the worst times in our nation’s history. So is his “wall.”

The local government and the people of Laredo are taking down what remains of the ugly steel and concrete monstrosity where Trump’s wall was intended to stand and are turning it into a beautiful binational park.

Instead of a grotesque wall separating the people of Laredo from the Rio Grande, a park celebrating the people of Laredo, and its Mexican sister city, Nuevo, Laredo, is under construction.

“The 1,000-acre project will encompass a mile-long stretch along the river’s urban cores, framed by bridges and an amphitheater, plus a three-mile recreation area.”

Beginning during his first rally in June of 2015, Trump revealed his support of extreme racism, falsely claiming that the people of Mexico, seeking a better life in America, were to blame for all of our country’s immigration problems. He completely ignored the facts. Most of the illegal immigrants living in our country arrive not by crossing our southern border but through our ports of entry.

They arrive from every country in the world carrying ‘visitor’s visas,’ and simply never leave. This fact was ignored by television news and intentionally allowed Trump to lie. The reason? Sensationalism increases viewership, and an increased audience increases advertising revenue. Fact: the mainstream media gave Trump five times more coverage than all other candidates combined during the 2016 campaign.

Beto O’Rourke is running against Greg Abbott for governor in the Lone Star State. Early in the contest, he was trailing Abbott by several points. However, after Abbott’s recent racist, homophobic, and sexist actions, Mr. O’Rourke is gaining on Abbott.

O’Rourke will visit Laredo this summer. He adopted Laredo as his second home when he ran against Ted Cruz in 2018, narrowly losing to the man who has earned the reputation as the ‘worst senator in Washington’ and was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020.

O’Rourke has visited Laredo many times and said he is looking forward to seeing the friends he made there in previous visits.

“Beto’s 49-day Drive for Texas will focus on uniting people around the popular things that Democrats, Republicans and independents want to accomplish together: creating great jobs, investing in world-class schools, expanding health care so more people can see a doctor and lowering costs so families can afford to live in this state,” O’Rourke’s campaign website said.

I admit that I love this story, even if it is my own. I see and report so many negative things about politics and the backward changes in America; being able to write about the resolve and determination of the people of Laredo is an absolute joy. They are a shining example of what real Americans can do when positive actions replace negative and baseless attacks on America in the 21st century. They are a part of the effort to make America a great country.

Written by James Turnage, Novelist

Sources:

Positive.News: Site earmarked for Trump border wall will become a river park; by Robin Eveleigh
BELatina: Binational Park To Replace the Texas-Mexico Border; by Yamily Habib
Laredo Morning Times: Beto O’Rourke to return to Laredo, South Texas on campaign tour; by Chandler France

Featured and Top Image Courtesy of Diann Bayes’ Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Inset Image Courtesy of Gage Skidmore’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License