Fandango Fronterizo has become a pilgrimage for activists who believe that both countries should work toward a diplomatic rapprochement. This cross-border fandango recasts and even subverts the purpose of the wall, by turning it into a common space of peace, perhaps even presenting a vision of what US-Mexico relations may one day become.

The Fandango Doctrine calls for Americans to participate in fandangos that take place in their own communities. You can learn about some of these events by following the Facebook pages of SonJarocho.MX and the band Radio Jarocho. Type “Son Jarocho” and your city name into Facebook and Google, and you may discover a network of communities who host fandangos, from the Son Jarocho Collective in Arizona to the San Francisco Son Jarocho Festival. I recently attended one in the Bronx, which was organized by Son Pecadores, a band that includes Mexican-Americans who throw a fandango almost every month in the New York City area. When you join a fandango someone may hand you a jarana, an instrument similar to a guitar, and urge you to start strumming. Or you may become engulfed in a conversation about logistics: “What song should we play next?” and “Who brought the food?” These person-to-person exchanges are what tears down the walls of hostility and builds the bridges of friendship.

[This article was also published in The Nation]