We didn't cross the border, the border crossed us
$33.00
Melanie Cervantes
13″ x 19″ 3-color/layer including metallic purple ink and a gloss orange pattern, hand printed screenprint, Neenah Desert Storm 100lb paper, Printed in Oakland, CA, February 2025, Open Edition
A simplified version of this print was originally designed eleven years ago to be given away at 2014 Bay Area May Day Marches. It stars Rafael Moreno a leader in my community whom I have an immense amount of respect for. I decided to revisit this design and give it a little more depth prior to the Presidential inauguration. As I produced the print I watch the State apparatus carry out ICE raids in locales across the country. This form of State terror must be resisted by the masses under any administration carried out by any party.
“We didn’t cross the border, the border crossed us” has been attributed to everyone from Jose Antonio Burciaga to the band Aztlan Underground. The phrase is widely popular because it communicates that the geopolitical border which has been imposed on peoples (by colonial force) that have lived on this continent from time immemorial is unnatural and ultimately something many of us ardently reject.
