I remember walking through a neighbourhood in Quito, Ecuador years ago, and noticed each yard was surrounded by cement walls, and each wall had sparkling lines of broken glass shards carefully cemented across the top. They seemed like effective home-made security systems, and were clearly designed to protect against others.
Trump recently suggested he will protect "suburban housewives" from outsiders, low income housing -- "other" people. It's an ideology rooted in the build-a-wall approach to surviving our neighbours. Gate the community. And I wonder where the wall stops? Are corridors built to protect suburban housewives when they leave their neighbourhoods? Do we have armed guards in Costco? Who's being protected and from whom?
Is that the kind of community and neighbourhoods we want to create? Is it really sustainable? To bubble ourselves from the people around us? And yet, maybe there is a place for a wall. I am appreciating our closed border during these times. Maybe there is a place for broken glass shards after all. Trump could flip the focus to the North, blame Canada and build a wall here to protect Canadians from the chaotic, partisan, contradictory and dangerous American federal response to the global pandemic.
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