Dump's Racist, Xenophobic and Inane Border Wall Wrecks Sacred Native American Site That Has Existed for a Millennium
Contractors for the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection ravaged close to 70 feet of Tohono O’odham Nation's 272-foot Las Playas Intaglio.
Political strategist and Never Trumper Rick Wilson is a snake. I will never trust or like him. Years ago my odious feelings toward him arose because his attack ads on behalf of Republican Saxby Chambliss for Georgia’s U.S. Senate seat. Those ads obscenely defiled the now former and late U.S. Senator Max Clelland (D-GA)—a Vietnam Veteran and triple amputee.
I cannot deny though that a broken clock is correct at least once a day.
Despite his duplicitous foulness, Wilson was among the first to highlight that everything Dump touches dies. He even wrote a book expounding on his argument. Dump keeps providing evidence to prove and defend Wilson’s claim.
Here is the latest evidence. Back in late April according to Isa Farfan of Hyperallergic, Dump’s racism wrecked “[a]pproximately 60 to 70 feet of the 272-foot-long Las Playas Intaglio . . . .” Why?
So his racist, xenophobic and insipid border wall—this time with lights and cameras—could be built along the southwest Arizona-Mexico border of course. Farfan acknowledges the Washington Post revealed this desecration of a Native American site earlier this month.
Las Playas Intaglio is a 1,000-year-old belongs to the Tohono O’odham Nation. Abraded into a compressed exterior, desert intaglios are geometric designs viewed by tribal descendants as a “sacred” component to their tribal heritage. Las Playas Intaglio resembles a fish. Interestingly, the Sea of Cortez draws the focus of the fish’s head.
Arizona Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva who represents Arizona’s 7th district issued the following statement:
Bulldozing a 1,000-year-old sacred site is not an accident – it’s the predictable result of rushing forward with a (second) wasteful border wall. It is a blatant act of disrespect and an unacceptable violation of tribal sovereignty, traditions, and the ancestry of the O’odham people. This is not just temporary damage to land – it is irreparable destruction of a sacred place tied to the O’odham people’s history, identity, and spiritual practices, passed down across generations. Unfortunately, this is not the first time a sacred site has been desecrated by border wall construction – and it will not be the last until the federal government takes its legal obligation to tribal consultation and following environmental laws seriously.”
“The Tohono O’odham Nation has been clear: these walls divide their communities, desecrate sacred land, and do nothing to make us safer. DHS must immediately halt construction, fully investigate this incident, and be held accountable for the damage already done. Instead of wasting $46 billion on a harmful and useless second border wall, this Administration should be investing in real solutions that strengthen our communities.
Preservation anthropologist Aaron Wright mentions in his commentary and analysis for Archaeology Southwest that migrations across the U.S.-Mexico border dramatically decreased because of Dump & Fiends’ inhumane immigration policies. Facts still never matter.
Dump increased funding and work on the wall during the first year of his second term. This time, however, Dump & Fiends agenda now centers on building what it calls a “smart wall.” Wright states this “smart wall” includes “lighting, cameras, and other detection technologies, and in some places a secondary wall—effectively creating an enforcement zone with walls on either side.”
With a heavy heart and out of respect, he went to view the now damaged Las Playas Intaglio to acknowledge its end and express gratitude for its existence:
What to do when you know something special and powerful will soon meet an untimely end? In that moment I felt awe and sorrow simultaneously. It was my first time seeing and experiencing this remarkable place—a spiritual expression in the Sonoran Desert that has peered into the sky for the last millennium, if not longer—yet the wonder was countered by the knowledge that it was also the last time I would see it.
Wright remarks that former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary and puppy-killer Kristi Noem’s fingerprints are all over this sacrilege as well; she granted DHS and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) contractors with an environmental waiver. We cannot forget that a majority of South Dakota’s tribes banned Noem from entering their land in 2024.
Two months ago, an Arizona U.S. District Court judge ruled in Noem’s favor after the Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit arguing Noem’s environmental waiver was unconstitutional.
The Arizona Republic’s Arlyssa D. Becenti acknowledged that the Tohono O'odham tribal leaders continue to decry the wall’s construction. After meeting with new DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullen, the leaders said he remained transparent about Dump & Fiends continuing their construction of Dump’s wall.
In a statement issued after the meeting, Verlon M. Jose, chairman of the Tohono O’odham Nation remarked, “As we told the secretary, we will be meeting with relevant committees and the entire Council as quickly as possible to further discuss this challenging issue."
Bacenti also spoke with conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity Russ McSpadden. McSpadden told Bacenti that during Dump’s first administration, DHS and CBP met regularly with the Tohono O’odham Nation. This was to ensure the Las Playas Intaglio would not be harmed. Now McSpadden says, “. . . [A]ll the details I've been given is it's just been basically bulldozed for the second one to go through."
We also have to recall that decades ago Dump destroyed the Bonwit Teller Building’s historic art deco friezes. The destruction happened after Dump promised to donate the friezes to The Met. He demolished Bonwit Teller to make way for his garish Dump Tower built by undocumented Polish immigrants.
The only American art Dump loves is banal, garish and ugly. Capitalism and racism are the only parts of the United States Dump loves.