Seesaws on the Border Wall

 Over the past couple of national elections and even within our own state of texas the creation of a border wall in order to close off the southern border has been a controversial and divisive issue. Not only because of questions of a walls competence to hold off immigrants but because of the divide it could generate between the two countries. Despite the idea to build a border wall is typically associated with the republican party and specifically the Trump administration the Obama administration's incredibly high deportation numbers in addition to the fact that the majority of the border wall was there pre-Trump do not alleviate the concerns of many. As a result of the building tension between the two countries, some California architects sought to help connect the two communities through a set of seesaws built on the southern border. Pink to represent the homicide of women in the nearby city of Juarez these seesaws have become a popular attraction for people on both sides of the border and have served as a bridge between these two increasingly divided groups of people. This piece of architecture went viral in 2019 and won the design of the Year of 2020 and has become a potent symbol of unity between the two communities promoting dialogue and negotiation. Overall, in my opinion, it is very clever and holds a lot of meaning, and I hope along with I believe the majority of Americans that this unity can be translated into all aspects of life and we can come together not only as a country but as a planet to help deal with whatever challenges we will face for the remainder of the century.

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