🌎 No One Is Illegal on Stolen Ground — So Why Do Borders Still Decide Our Worth?
Lately I’ve been feeling angry.
Not just annoyed.
Not just frustrated.
Angry.
After watching Bad Bunny’s performance and the symbolism people were explaining — the history, the resistance, the pride — something clicked for me.
A wake-up call.
Because the truth is simple:
No one is illegal on stolen ground.
And yet… governments keep acting like we are.
✈️ The “Land of the Free”… with a data checklist
Recently I saw a list of personal information travelers may soon need to give the U.S.:
Social media history.
Emails from ten years back.
Family members’ names.
Biometrics.
Fingerprints.
Faces.
Iris scans.
Like entering a country is applying for parole.
Even though I have zero desire to go to the U.S., it still made me mad.
Because it’s not just about travel.
It’s about something deeper.
It’s about who gets treated like they belong — and who gets treated like a suspect.
🌿 My family didn’t cross borders. Borders crossed them.
Here’s the thing.
My own family history makes these rules feel ridiculous.
My relatives moved:
East Coast
Quebec
down to the Willamette Valley in Oregon
then later up to what we now call BC
This was the early 1800s.
There were no passports.
No visas.
No interviews.
People just… moved.
Because humans have always moved.
Later, in the 1950s, my mom’s sister left Vancouver at 16 and went to live in California.
No drama.
No surveillance.
No digital trail.
Just life.
And in the 1970s?
Europeans could come to Canada, have a short interview, and voilà — work, stay, become Canadian.
Easy.
So what changed?
🧭 The hypocrisy
Let’s be honest.
When Europeans arrived: “Welcome! Take land! Start a life!”
Now? “Prove you deserve to exist here.”
The same countries that:
- colonized continents
- crossed oceans freely
- redrew maps
… now criminalize movement.
It’s backwards.
It’s historically absurd.
And it’s cruel.
Especially on land that was never theirs to control in the first place.
😔 But it’s complicated too
Here’s where it gets messy — and real.
Because I also see the other side.
When tens of thousands of students or newcomers arrive without planning or housing?
Rent explodes.
Locals struggle.
Communities get stressed.
And people start blaming each other.
But let’s be clear:
That’s not immigration’s fault.
That’s:
- governments not building housing
- corporate landlords
- speculation
- greed
Newcomers become scapegoats while the system cashes in.
Divide people.
Keep profits.
Same old story.
🎨 Why art matters
Maybe that’s why art feels so important right now.
Art questions borders.
Art questions ownership.
Art tells the truth governments don’t want to say out loud.
Watching artists like Bad Bunny speak about identity and land reminded me:
Culture survives.
People survive.
Borders are temporary.
Humans aren’t.
🌎 What I believe
I don’t have all the answers.
But I know this:
No one should be treated like a criminal for moving across land their ancestors once walked freely.
No one should need to hand over their entire digital life just to visit somewhere.
And no one should be told they don’t belong when the ground itself carries stories older than any flag.
Borders are political.
Belonging is human.
And those two things don’t always match.
We’re living in strange times.
But I’ll keep painting.
Keep writing.
Keep speaking.
Because art is how I fight back.
🎨✊
#FightBackWithArt
#WarriorUpWithArt
#Borders
#Belonging
#NoOneIsIllegal
#LandBack
#ArtHeals
#MigrationStories
#CulturalResistance
#Zipolite
