Amalia Ortiz spoken word

In class we saw a spoken word/video by Amalia Ortiz on the borderlands.In this this spoken word she talks about the conflicted topic of the borderlands, and how she feels as a mexican in America. Some lines that me about her spoken word is when Ortiz says "I fit the profile of a predators prey you cant help but take the crimes personally. Basically she tries to say that because all of the women being killed at the maquiladoras are a resemblance of her, and she could have been or could have been one of them. Which is why she continues to repeat "they all look like me". She feels as if she is a target and wont stand by slient as the Americans watch a slow genocide happen. A line that really made me think is when Ortiz says "she is a symbol of those who survived". This made me realize she means there are innocent women being killed everyday, and she is alive to speak for them. By telling people whats going on instead of trying to cover it up and dismiss the dead women as run-aways.

This spoken word can be related to Gloria Anzualda's concept of the borderlands because Anzualda describes the borderland as an "open wound where the third grates against the first". In a way this describes America and Mexico and although they are so close there is a border that divides them from each other. Americs is looked at as being a first world where there is more opportunities,safety and more development. While in Mexico its less employement opportunies, and minimum security along with resources. Furthermore this is why women work in the maquiladora factories where they are exploited and under foreign watch at the same time.