People With No Names - The Undocumented #41

This is Chandra. He is a busboy server in a Mexican restaurant. I assumed he was Mexican. But he said he was from Bhutan. (I was wracking my brain trying to think of where that place was in Mexico? Oh, he meant over by the Himalayas!!) Well, he explained that he had spent most of his childhood in Nepal after being driven out of Bhutan by a tribal people hostile to his particular tribe. Alas, in Nepal, his family was discriminated against during his whole childhood as well. They sought U.N. asylum and were offered their choice of Canada, the U.S., etc. They chose the U.S. and are very happy with simple jobs as they learn more English. (His wife is a custodian in a hospital.) Indigenous people are forceably shoved out of their own countries all the time. It is a world wide phenomena.

People With No Names - The Undocumented #36

This Mexican immigrant is working in a greenhouse in the Pacific Northwest. It wasn't until I really looked at the image that I realized that the struts from the greenhouse were casting the cross-shaped shadow across his chest. I think the figure looks as if he is "bound" or "shackled". I think he is, and I think I am too. We are both tied to a system that thrives on cheap labor producing lots of cheap goods...a system that literally disregards individual human well-being. As long as I consume with disregard for where and how my goods come to me, I am as culpable as anyone for the value and quality of this man's life.