By Cheko Ghenet France
2020

Immigration has always been an important topic but it has increasingly gained more attention, mostly negative attention, due to the Trump administration. Being an immigrant myself, the topic has always been a sore spot for me. Especially when I hear about all of the bad treatment that immigrants face and the utter lack of human compassion that some people have towards them. I have read many news clippings, articles, and even books on immigrant life. However, Villawood was like nothing I had ever seen before for reasons that I will address later on. I will be discussing what Villawood is and the significance of its format, identity, and what has to change for the better treatments of immigrants.

 Villawood is, for lack of a better word, what one might call a cartoon about an immigration detention center, located in Australia. I say for lack of a better word because the word “cartoon” seems too light for such a serious work of art. Cartoon is often associated with works of fiction that is meant for entertainment. But that itself is significant because most people take the importance of immigrants much too lightly. They might be ignorant to how serious of an issue the bad treatment of immigrants is or they write it off as “not my problem” and ignore it all together. For this reason, it feels like choosing to make it into a cartoon is a statement in itself. Aside from that, by making it into a cartoon, the author, Safdar Ahmed, is honoring the immigrants in Villawood who often shared “without always putting it into words, some refugees drew about their past experiences” (Ahmed). Not only that but as a classmate pointed out, the cartooning brings a human element to the immigrants’ stories. The facial expressions in the cartoon are so expressive and so relatable that it works to humanize a group of people that are often dehumanized in ways that writing alone could not achieve.

When examining immigrants and their treatment, one has to wonder what identity really is. Immigrants are people who the nation does not identify as one of their own. In this case, immigrants are those who are not Australian. In a video monologue by Anna Deavere Smith called “Fires in the Mirror,” there was a disturbing part titled “Isaac” where one Jewish guy had to prove his German identity to the Nazis.

The Germans suspected his forged Aryan papers and decided he would have to prove by his actions that he was not a Jew. They put him on a transport train with the Jews of his town and then gave him the task of herding into the gas chambers everyone in his trainload. After he had fulfilled that assignment with patriotic Germanic efficiency the Nazis accepted the authenticity of his identity papers and let him go. (Demarcations, 7:04-7:47)

One can infer from Fire in the Mirror and Villawood that identity is not so much based on what one thinks of themselves but rather how one is viewed by the others that really matter. It is a way of separating the “us”” from “them.” In Fire in the Mirror, it was not until Isaac murdered his own people that the ruling power accepted him as one of their own and allowed him to live. In that scenario, what it took to be a German was not anything embedded but rather blue eyes, blond hair and an utter disregard to the Jews. Even in Villawood, identity is something that could be obtained through actions. Although you may not have to massacre your own people, if you go through proper legal channels you can obtain Australian citizenship, letting you be accepted and viewed as an Australian, regardless if you identify as one or not.

In order for the treatments of immigrants to be better, one must humanize immigrants in the same way that the governments have dehumanized them for so long. They need to be viewed in the same way that one view their neighbors, family and friends instead of being viewed as outsiders removed from the collective “us” who are the citizens. It is because so many people fail to see them as humans that cruel things can be done to them. In a cartoon Maus about the Holocaust, there was a quote by Adolf Hitler where he said, “The Jews are undoubtedly race, but they are not human” (Spiegelman, iii). This way of thinking desensitized the “Aryan race” to the mass murder of the Jews they once called their friends. They no longer saw them as humans but instead thought of them as subhuman called Jews. The way they wrote them off as Jews is the same way that immigrants are now being labeled as simply “immigrants.”  It is in the same manner that one might address a group of birds as a flock. “The immigrants were shot while crossing the border,” gets as much of a shock or a reaction as hearing, “a flock of birds where shot by hunters.” As crazy as this might sound, it is not far from the truth.

It’s obvious the humanization of immigrants is important but the question becomes how does one humanize them. Works of art like Villawood share the struggles that immigrants go through and give readers a fresh view on a topic that has been worn out. This revitalizes those who have grown numb to hearing tragedies regarding immigrants and moves them to see things differently. Using different media and platforms is also important so that it spreads to more people. “Fire in the Mirror” does a great job of taking people’s life stories and transforming it into a work of art through monologues. It is a fresh way of interviewing people and displaying their stories that differ from the traditional articles, essays and books on the people’s lives. There are also some great works done by immigrants that help to spread positive messages about their people. One artist is named Felipe Baeza. While doing some research on him, I came across an interesting article called “13 Artists On: Immigration.” In it he says, “When it comes to migration, the discourse rarely focuses on the stories of real people trying to succeed; instead, the conversation is dominated by criminality and punishment” (Lescaze). It is artworks that focuses on the real people that will help to show immigrants’ humanities.

The issue of immigration is not one that can be solved in a day and neither is the treatment of immigrants. As long as there are humans there will always be those who are ostracized and mistreated for being different. Throughout history this has shown to be true. First there were Native Americans, then Africans, then Jews, now immigrants and Muslims, in the US. Just thinking about it is enough to discourage the most optimistic and strongest of heart. But just as how there are those who look to put down those who are different from themselves, there are those who fight for justice and advocate for an understanding between people. What matters now is how individuals get involved and what they choose to do about it.

Works Cited

Ahmed, Safdar. Villawood. Medium. https://medium.com/shipping-news/villawood-9698183e114c.

Smith, Anna Deavere. Fires in the Mirror, part two. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=milFnPD0t0I.

Lescaze, Zoë. “13 Artists On: Immigration.” New York Times, 19 June 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/19/t-magazine/immigration-art.html.

Spiegelman, Art. Maus. Rowohlt-Taschenbuch-Verlag, 2004.