What did you find yourself agreeing or disagreeing with? Write a 300-word message to Ms. Silko responding to her essay, "Border Patrol State." Share personal experiences or factual evidence to support your points. 


While reading the essay written by Ms. Silko I began to have a lot of differing feelings.  I could almost understand where she was coming from, yet I still felt like we do need stronger boarder controls.  I did agree with the fact that the boarder control has too much power over some situations and that they do abuse the power they have been given but all they are ultimately trying to do is to protect this land and not allow people to come into it illegally.  I do agree with the fact that boarder patrol is too extreme with native americans because they are citizens and do belong here, as much as an American does if not more because we stole the land from them and claimed they did not know what they were doing and needed us to teach them, which is not true.  I also agreed with her on the fact that boarder patrol show blatant racism toward individuals who look something other then Caucasian, which is not okay at all. Being that I am a 5 foot all, brown hair, blue eyed, Caucasian and there is no denying that I have not suffered the accusations that some people who are of a different race or ethnicity have endured.  My only personal example of feeling some kind of rejection of this form was that I spent the great majority of my childhood moving from state to state.  I over 8 different schools my entire educational career before I graduated high school and every time I began a new school everyone new I was the "new kid" I almost felt like I was a zoo animal being judged for where I came from or for being a little different, like I was constantly being scrutinized under a microscope every single day until they got used to me and learned a little bit about who I was.  I can understand how Ms. Silko felt standing on the side of the road being judged and assumed that she did not belong in this country.  So, my feelings toward this essay go back and forth because I understand how she can feel dehumanized but I also realize we do need stronger boarder control to stop the people who come over and want to take what does not belong to them.