Joel Tauber is walking seven miles, every day for 40 days, along the U.S.-Mexico border playing catch with anyone who wants to play and have a conversation.
“For me, baseball is a dream of America,” said the Wake Forest professor.
Clad in an early 1900s blue and red baseball uniform, Tauber stops to talk to anyone who makes the least bit of eye contact.
“We’re divided in many ways, but this might be a way to bring us together,” he said while tossing a ball.
Tauber talks baseball with women, men, and children from both sides of the border. He uses the sport as a metaphor for all things good between cultures and how it can bring people from different backgrounds together.
“So many of us gather around and watch sports,” he explained. “Whatever boundaries there are, whatever borders there are, we’re all in this together. We’re all on the same team.”
Tauber is 10 days into a 40-day pilgrimage where he will walk every day at noon from the Otay Mesa Port of Entry to a nearby detention facility, and back. He’s documenting his conversations and games of catch for a documentary he’s calling, “Border Ball.”
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The 47-year-old said anyone is welcome to walk with him or simply join him for a game of catch.
