You have to look close at this photo to realize what it really is—a gaping hole in the middle of a city. There are houses, if you can call them that, on the edge of the quarry, about to make the leap in to the abyss. Who knows how many children have slipped and fell? Who knows how many ‘accidents’ have occurred in this barrio?
Mexico City is
on its way to becoming one of the most urbanized areas in the world with over
19 million people in less than 760,000 square miles (“Mexico”). This population
is concentrated in barrios and slums where people live below the poverty line
as a norm, not the exception. There are so many people that despite the danger
and the crime that is rampant in these areas, no one is moving out—they can’t.
It is next to impossible for young children in Mexico to stay out of recruiting
gangs, and because these same gangs are a source of survival, they are kept
going for years. In order to leave you have to have money, you have to have connections,
and if you live in the barrios you have neither.
So it’s bad. It’s
bad enough that the barrios are growing, because there is nowhere else to go.
Its bad enough that these barrios appear anywhere, even on the edge of
abandoned quarries. It’s bad.
"Mexico
Facts." National Geographic. National Geographic, n.d. Web. 20
Mar. 2013.
Salgado,
Sebastião. Migrations. New York: Aperture. 316. Print.
A week or so ago I saw a comic that depicted an Australian's view of the geography of the United States. It was kind of funny to see the stereotypes and viewpoints expressed in it.
ReplyDeleteI feel the same way about how I see much of the world; I really know so little, and much of it is built on the perspectives that I have formed in my ignorance. While I knew Mexico City had slums, I had no idea of the extent of these slums, how much of the city they compose. It's amazing that in a place becoming the "most urbanized," so many people lack basic necessities. The way money is spent and invested within the city is a compelling consideration, how such occurs in an effort towards progress, while much of the inhabitants of the city do not have water or electricity, while they pass by empty, luxury skyscrapers in their search for work.
"In order to leave you have to have money, you have to have connections, and if you live in the barrios you have neither." Such a great sentence.