Damaging narratives regarding the United States/Mexico border birthed SEEDS Border Youth Dialogue, a center for youth engagement, leadership, and local arts incubation in Nogales, Arizona. The center offers documentary arts mentoring with youth, artist- and scholar-in-residence programs, and co-working lab space for young leaders and entrepreneurs. It represents an innovative partnership between the Southwest Folklife Alliance, the University of Arizona, and individuals and organizations in Nogales.
The special ingredient towards both successful storytelling and advocacy is uniqueness. Unfortunately, the most important stakeholders, youth and families, are never listened to. Therefore, to Jose (Youth) and Caesar (Adult) their work revolves around diálogo (dialogue). Here, it is about learning from ourselves, ourselves - where listening is crucial towards effectiveness. It is not about intentions to change people’s mindsets but telling stories and creating change in their communities.
The diálogo has raised a great concern about the border, in particular militarization. Militarization is not just about the cops but also the trauma induced. Jose among countless youth have battled against supreme scrutiny and fear based not only on their racial identity but where they reside. This is a social justice issue, especially when the past administration has enforced obscene attitudes towards the community. Thinking deeply about the strategy, it makes sense having officers distanced from the targeted community because it removes emotional ties to space. The local white people who are from Nogales, they are “with it” but not the officers up north. Therefore, Encuentro (Convergence) is required in order to build empathy on the issues.