by
Ernest Hogan
The
United States will soon be require all residents to have color-coded
biometric tattoos to keep track of their immigration status and
citizenship.
Sounds
like something out of recent news broadcasts, or a tweet from the
White House, doesn’t it? But it’s the core concept behind Sabrina Vourvoulais’ novel Ink.
When it was originally published in 2012 (we thought the
immigration/border issue was getting crazy back then . . .) it was
considered to far-out speculative satire, now I hesitate call it science
fiction, because it’s not very “futuristic” and is to
all too plausible.
Looks
like outrageous is the new normal.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLvDsQtArWrWwYuWUO1ITRCcktdBkcv1aHhcWNijXpde76qcM7bxonsKxVSBqwJ1flsTlF52YD4aYTzUDAqoAszxwrpN0lrFoiBsVcYJ3Fomfk_yrDUIZvPavV4bAf6esSpt2Oaw/s640/9780998705996_p0_v3_s550x406.jpg)
And
there is even a touch of magic realism. I shouldn’t be surprised,
it’s the Latinx way of seeing the world. And it blends perfectly with the
story full of gritty realities, which of course, is another Latinx
thing.
It’s
a good book to read as we slither toward another presidential
election campaign. We can use it to gauge how dystopian the immigrant
experience has become. And how hysterical the proposed “solutions”
have become.
I
wonder if kids like to read dystopias because they remind them of the
only reality they have known . . .
But then, as I have pointed out
before, what is dystopia to some is utopia to others. Those who want
a border wall would also think that biometric tattoos are a good
idea.
Maybe
there are people who think that Nineteen
Eighty-Four,
Fahrenheit
451,The
Handmaid’s Tale,
and Ink
are
models for a better world.
Argh.
I
hope I’m just letting my imagination get away from me here. But
then I think about current politics . . . Could
dystopia be the new normal?
I
hope books like Ink
can
help.
Ernest Hogan has been asked participate in an oral history project on
Latinofuturism and Space History for the Smithsonian’s National Air
and Space Museum.
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