Writers ‘can’t turn blind eye’ to migration issues in Trump’s America, says author Cristina Rivera Garza
- The award-winning author says writers in the US play a crucial role at a time of harsh migration policies and growing hate speech against foreigners
- Garza, the author of six fictional books, has covered Chinese migration to Mexico, and is now writing a novel set near the US-Mexico border
For award-winning Mexican writer Cristina Rivera Garza, “writing is always a political act”.
It does not matter what one writes about, says the professor at the University of Houston. “Some writers may decide to work closely with subjects or plot lines that are directly related to politics, but even if you don’t, you are exploring and opening fields, and that is a political act.”
Garza, who has lived in the US for about three decades, says writers have an increased responsibility to elevate minority voices at a time when President Donald Trump’s administration has cracked down on migration.
“Right now, I think it is a very critical one,” Garza says, referring to her role as a Mexican writer in the US.
“I am very aware of the tremendous power of hateful speech in the US, and I’ve tried to use … the tools of my trade to promote alternative views to the ones propagated by the White House,” says the writer, who spoke about borders and migration earlier this month at the Hong Kong Literary Festival .
“The aggressions are very clear … Transformations in policies, immigration laws, kids in cages … we can’t just turn a blind eye.”