GRAP 2022 // Time for Being Against // Mem Fox detained at US border

Mem Fox and me (Daniel Purvis). Picture: Keryn Stevens for The Advertiser

Not strictly an article about design but this struck a chord. I've met Mem Fox and she's a wonderful, friendly and kind woman who is upbeat, strong, defiant and incredibly well spoken. She knows who she is and what she's out to accomplish. This article, in many ways, describes a set of established procedures enabled by the new US Immigration policy that need to be thrown into disarray. This is the perfect example of somebody developing an open, honest and heartfelt critique of an unfair and discriminatory system that needs overthrowing.

"They made me feel like such a crushed, mashed, hopeless old lady and I am a feisty, strong, articulated English speaker. I kept thinking that if this were happening to me, a person who is white, articulate, educated and fluent in English, what on earth is happening to people who don’t have my power?"

Fox is also analysing her own reactions using a critical attitude which has forced her to come to the conclusion she can no longer stand by, it is time to stand up. You could say, she's found something she is willing to "be against".

"I thought I was an activist before, but this has turned me into a revolutionary. I’m not letting it happen here. Instead of crying and being sad and sitting on a couch, I am going to write to politicians. I am going to call. I am going to write to newspapers. I am going to get on the radio. I will not be quiet. No more passive behaviour. Hear me roar."

Mem Fox on being detained by US immigration: 'In that moment I loathed America'