I think that Gloria Anzaldua's theory of borders can apply to many different situations and groups of people, including the African American community. Anzaldua says that borders are set up to define places that safe and unsafe. She also said, do not enter, trespassers will be raped, maimed, strangled, gassed, shot. I am from Chicago and this really reminds me of how the black communities are there. If you are in the neighborhood where you grew up, then you are safe and you are made to believe that every other community is unsafe or worse than yours, whether it is true or not. So if you are from one neighborhood and enter another one, it may be unsafe because nobody knows you. So essentially there are borders throughout the black community in Chicago. It is not just like that in Chicago, it happens in black communities all around America.
Also borders can be crossed in an ethnical way. For example, Barack Obama and Mariah Carey are half black and white, but have not really claimed an ethnicity. They both are closer with the African American community. The media treats both of them like they are African American. They are both married to African American people. As a result they are seen as black. So there are borders that can be crossed in the African American community.
In conclusion, there are many borders that can be crossed. I doesn’t matter who you are or what ethnicity you are, there is always some type of border. These are just a few ways that borders affect African Americans.
Source:
Gloria Anzaldua, Borderlands/La Frontera
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