Ariosto Manrique: The United States and Mexico
are separated by a border that is nearly 3,000 kilometers long,
stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean,
and each week, over two and a half million people cross this border,
legally.
Mark Lovett: But such borders were created by modern humans.
For over 50,000 years,
the only borders that our species encountered were natural ones:
oceans, rivers, lakes, mountains, forests, and deserts.
But over time our species evolved,
and humans started creating villages, towns, cities, and ultimately, countries,
and in the process, political borders began to replace natural borders.
A.M: Lines were drawn, walls were built, and fences were erected
in an attempt to protect our culture and our national sovereignty.
Today, the world is filled with regulations and laws
controlling the flow of capital, products, and people across international frontiers.
M.L: The western end of the Mexican-American border
forms a political line of demarcation between San Diego and Tijuana.
It so happens that two TEDx organizations share this border,
and as TEDx organizers often do,
they started asking questions, such as:
“If we are so close, why don’t we collaborate?
Why don’t we create an event
that can explore the difficulties, the challenges, and the successes
of our bi-national region?”
A.M: So in 2013, the organizing teams of TEDxSanDiego and TEDxTijuana
got together at Monument 258.
Monumento 258 is a milestone in the Mexican northern corner,
exactly where our country begins.
So both groups started to explore how we could organize an event
that could foster both cities, both countries, and both cultures;
but staged on a single stage on both sides of an international border,
despite the fact that a metal fence was in the middle.
M.L: For over 165 years
this border was created by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo,
but despite cultural differences and even political turmoil,
these two regions worked together, incorporated their values,
and built a better future,
with individuals, families, and businesses
crossing the border on a daily basis.
A.M: This desire to create an event to highlight two cultures
is what brought TEDxMonumento258 into existence.
It became the world’s first cross-border TEDx event in the TEDx community,
under the theme “ideas beyond borders.”
M.L: But the road to success wasn’t an easy one;
it required a coalition of 24 civic, government, and corporate partners
to support the vision of a truly bi-national endeavor.
Sometimes they got it and immediately exclaimed, “This is a fantastic idea.”
Other times we had a different response such as:
“You guys are crazy.”
But in the end, everyone said yes.
A.M: Stages were built at once on both sides of the border.
In Mexico the stage surrounded the Monumento 258 milestone.
M.L: In the United States, the stage was built directly opposite,
as close to the border fence as we could get it.
A.M: Video cameras were set in place, ready to capture the day’s activities.
M.L: Yet there were technical challenges to deal with,
as the only power available on the U.S. side
were outlets in the bathrooms of Border Field State Park.
We had to run two extension cords to support our audio/video equipment,
each of them twice as long as the height of the Pyramid of the Sun.
This became the first TEDx event powered by a bathroom.
(Laughter)
(Applause)
A.M: And just 10 minutes till show time, remember we were at the beach,
ten minutes before the start, the event was nearly derailed
because a tourist on a hang glider decided to get close to the event,
and the wind carried him into U.S. territory.
U.S. guys freaked out, the border patrol stepped in to say:
“Get everyone out of here, we’re closing down your event.”
Fortunately, the pilot managed to go back into Mexican territory.
M.L: The program began on time
and featured speakers alternating their talks;
one on the U.S. side, followed by one on the Mexico side.
As the fence between the stages was not solid,
audience members on both sides could see and hear every talk,
with each speaker’s ideas floating freely from one country to the other.
A.M: And there was Pepe Larroque,
talking about how dialogues between both cities and communities started.
He explained that around the 80s,
business leaders, scholars, and politicians
agreed on starting dialogues.
The result was interesting: they realized that Tijuana and San Diego
were more than good friends or brothers, more than neighbors.
We realized we were roommates!
Roommates that share the same air, health issues,
education challenges, trade, infrastructure,
arms trafficking, drug consumption.
M.L: Larry Herzog spoke on the U.S. stage.
As an urban scholar and a professor teaching at San Diego State University,
Larry is committed to understanding the complex, yet vibrant relationship
between San Diego and Tijuana.
He told our audience:
“We’re standing on the epicenter of one the greatest global experiments.”
With six million inhabitants
and over one million people crossing the San Diego-Tijuana border each week,
this is a place that is both cross-cultural
as well as dynamic in how it operates.
This is a very successful region but its potential is even greater,
despite the difficulties of separation.
A.M: Back to our side; the story of 15-year-old Misael was very emotional.
When his mother was deported,
they both had to go back to Tijuana and start all over.
In music Misael found a reason to keep motivated and happy about life.
Redes 2025 is a citizen effort that operates in high-risk communities,
in the cities of Tijuana, Ensenada and Mexicali.
It aims to promote and professionalize
the musical and artistic talent of these communities at risk.
M.L: TEDxMonumento258 succeeded in its goal
of sharing ideas and perspectives across an international border
while demonstrating the power of collaboration between the two cities.
It took years to achieve, and challenges were at every turn,
but our focus was clear:
to create a cultural bridge across a physical border.
A.M: But borders are not just physical –
metal fences separating cities and countries.
We also have mental and virtual borders.
Science calls this “cognitive bias.”
This scientific term simply explains
how humans try to justify another person
when they do not match our preconceived notions of life,
whenever we face the unfamiliar.
M.L: This stems from the fact
that our brain operates in a special fashion:
we look at very complex patterns, and then rapidly and subconsciously
try to simplify those to a level we can all understand.
This is why, when we see someone or even meet someone for the very first time,
our brain tries to quickly understand whether they are friend or foe,
which is usually a case of familiar vs. unfamiliar.
A.M: Skin color is the most prevalent basis for bias.
In just a few seconds,
our brain tries to guess a person’s race, ethnicity or nationality,
just by the skin color.
M.L: How someone dresses closely follows skin color,
and we may have very different reactions when meeting a woman who looks like this,
compared to a woman who looks like this.
These biases become unconscious borders
and can prevent us from exploring and understanding
the fact that we are better together,
when we abandon stereotypes, when we engage in conversations,
and when we allow different cultures to openly embrace.
A.M: By removing these borders, we all win.
We will finally get to understand people as they are.
At TEDxMonumento258 we could not remove borders,
we could not even do anything about the metal fence.
But what we did achieve was placing at both sides of the border,
people who had much to say, but also a lot of people who had a lot to listen.
M.L: Can you identify the borders and fences that exist in your own life?
The prejudices and biases that are formed from ethnicity, from language,
from culture, from gender, from religion, and politics.
Doing so is the first step
in overcoming the all too common paradigm of “us” vs. “them,”
which exists in every society.
A.M: And once we’ve identified these mental borders,
will you make the conscious effort
to build a bridge and communicate with that other culture?
Actually the challenge is more complex:
to what extent would you promote and share your own culture?
M.L: Doing so is an act of courage as well as an act of compassion,
and such acts, when practiced daily by brave individuals,
have the power to shift beliefs and behaviors.
And in doing so, create a future that we all deserve.
M.L and A.M: Thank you so much.
(Applause)
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