In 1988, when I stood in front of the Berlin Wall for the first time in my life, I had a feeling of deja vu. It was as if I was standing at the Nogales / Tucson border trying to get back into the States when I had misplaced my ID in one of my bags, in 1978. Then I realized that what we had done at the Mexican border was similar to what the German government had done to families on both sides of the borders in Germany. Because it was German it was socially acceptable to call it the Wall of Shame. Because we are Americans, we say it is there to "protect us".