The first time I seen an iguana swim I almost jumped outta my skin. See, I like to watch ’em lay out in the grass when the sun is out, but they’re real perceptive types, can sometimes sense me comin’ from six or seven feet away, and usually run off before I can get a good look. But this particular fellow, the first one I seen swim, he stood his ground for a long while. He clung to the cement wall like a spy, holdin’ on to the side with one front leg and one back.

I called out to him, “Hey there, ya know I can see ya, right?”

But he just kept hangin’ on and I wondered to myself how he had the strength to hold up all that weight with only two legs.

And then I don’t know what happened, but I guess he realized I wasn’t goin’ nowhere, or maybe he tired himself out, but just like that he fell into the water. There was a big splash and that’s when I seen him swimmin’ off in the river. And boy did I howl! Legs all tucked under his body; the man moved with the swiftness of a moccasin. That damn iguana made my whole day. 

After that, I stood on the bank for a little while. I love seein’ things for the first time. When you’re this age, it feel like you seen everything at least once so this was real special to me. I remember some schools of fish swam by and a small ray, too. There was a few men out on their boats who gave me a wave, and I waved back. It was a real nice day.

See, I live in a real sleepy part of town with water on just about every side. If it isn’t the ocean, it’s a river, the Intracoastal, an inlet. And them iguanas is everywhere along the water and in the trees. I know they love sea grape ’cause I always see them hidin’ out in the branches. They blend in real good in the grasses, too. Specially them small bright green ones, which I sometimes see runnin’ across the road like chickens with their heads cut off!

So, anyways, on my way back up to the house from the bank, I kept lookin’ for more iguanas. I notice they sometimes hide under the cars in the parkin’ lot when they move from place to place. The big types, the brown and orange ones, are hard to miss set against the blacktop. I swear, this constant checkin’ became like a new hobby for me. Forget bird watchin’! I even look while sittin’ here at the kitchen table in the morning. It’s not always so easy to spot ’em though. I got pretty sharp eyes, but like I said, they can be real rascals.

And hold grudges like you couldn’t believe! You go out there early and everyone’s out. They love to sunbathe all together like. It’s some distance between ’em but you can tell they like the company. But let a person come by! Honey, them reptiles quick as lightnin’! And they don’t come back neither. Hours go by and the spot they was in stays empty.  

I don’t take no offense to ’em though. Even though they can be a nuisance, I let ’em be. That’s the way my momma raised me. To mind mine. But some folks in the neighborhood, they mommas must’ve taught somethin’ different. It’s people ’round here that see them iguanas as a serious problem. ’Cause the state said it was okay for people to kill ’em. Trap and kill ’em just ’cause they’re invasive! I’m not against huntin’, for need. But huntin’ just for eradication’s sake . . . that don’t sit right with me. Naw, it don’t sit right at all. 

I watch these creatures and they not hurtin’ no one. I mean, listen, I’m educated on environmental issues, I know enough to know these critters do stir up some trouble. But there’s gotta be another solution than just killing every single one of ’em. ’Cause you can’t promote environmental protection on the basis of death. That just ain’t right!

Listen, you ever heard of this Chinese American woman, Grace Lee Boggs? What a brain she was! And a hoot too. Dedicated her whole life to black folks and fightin’ for our rights. I found out about her from my studies. I like to read a lot. It’s funny though, I didn’t care much for her at first. I thought she was strictly the academic type. Boggs, she was influenced by the big white brains, as I call ’em. That felt too far away from me. I’ve a hard time seeing myself in the old philosophers. I really loved her contribution to The Black Woman, though. And as I read more about her life, I learned about her husband, James Boggs, or Jimmy, too. Lot of folks who know of her don’t know too much of her husband. They don’t know ’bout Jimmy ’cause he mainly stayed in the background. He was an activist and writer like her. You oughta read up on him. Jimmy was a Southern-born black and an autoworker in Detroit. Together, the two of ’em seen it all.

So anyways, I’m reading one day and I come across this document called “Another World Is Possible.” And what do y’know, Boggs was one of the names signed at the bottom. She went and sat down with some folks at this workshop in Cologne at the start of the millennium. It was there in Germany where they drew up this vision, they called it, for a new world. There’s a whole list of principles and I wanna talk about some with you. There’s one that stuck in my head and it said: Restore the joy of living in community with all creatures. And I feel that’s what I’m talkin’ bout with these here iguanas. ’Cause they creatures of the earth just like we is. I know lots of people don’t believe in all that, but it’s the truth and there ain’t no way around it. 

At the beginning of this, you asked me how I felt about the iguana invasion. I wanna go back and talk about your phrasing ’cause I think it’s all wrong. From what I seen, the iguanas love our state just as much as we do. They spend all their days ’round the water, in the trees, bathin’ in the sun. Sounds like they enjoyin’ themselves, don’t it? So, I see their presence as a change in the environment, not an invasion, and I wanna find ways to live joyfully with them, likes Boggs talks about.

And the other thing, I just don’t like this language we use with the iguanas. It sound a lot like how we talk about immigrants in this country. Both the animals and the people are called “alien,” like they don’t belong here. They’re set apart and “othered.” This ain’t nothin’ new, think about it. White folks got a history of pretendin’ like this country wasn’t built on genocide, dispossession, and enslavement. We gotta remember it was these white folks’ forefathers who invaded Native American land! So, it’s important we reclaim the histories of immigrants, forced laborers, enslaved peoples. That’s part of liberation. We can’t let white folks dictate whose home this is, who “belongs,” when they’re the ones who forced themselves onto this land in the first place.

I know it sound like I’m goin’ off in the weeds, but I’m not. All these issues are interconnected. Not a single one is a single issue. Meanin’, you can’t treat animal rights, immigrants’ rights, environmentalism, and civil rights as separate causes. On paper and at them conventions, everyone’s on the same side these days. But when it come to popular opinion, the common person don’t see the connections. They don’t get what a big green lizard’s got to do with immigrants, with black folks. And it ain’t ’cause they’re dumb! It’s ’cause they’re left out.

I wonder all the time, why are we so focused on the big white brains when we got the brains of queer folk, trans folks, third world women, disabled people, peasants! The white crusaders been doin’ their thing, y’know? It’s time for folks on the street to get their chance. And I hope those crusaders join ’em and fight. That’s why I’m sayin’ it’s time for the unheard citizen to rise up. We need everyday folk or we’re gonna stay stuck. 

So, the way I see it, this place is the iguanas’ home as much as it’s mine. I don’t believe in those controlled killing policies. From what I seen, it’s mainly white folks in support of ’em. In this state, at least. I can’t tell ya how many photographs I seen of white men holdin’ up giant pelagic fish or alligator carcasses. And on top of the dead bodies, some of ’em got the Confederate flag on they hats and shirts! Sometimes you can see the flag in the back of their giant gas-guzzlin’ trucks too. It’s a regular sight down here.

I wanna go back to what I said earlier though, ’bout that Boggs document. ’Cause what all I just said they wrote out pretty plainly. Diversity instead of monocultures. And that goes for plants, people, animals, any species on Earth. We not just talkin’ ’bout crops for sale. And we certainly not talkin’ ’bout that mumbo jumbo crap on diversity that’s been all around. What’re the corporations callin’ it again? Statements of solidarity, isn’t it? They really do the devil’s work, don’t they! Them multinationals, reducin’ diversity to a commodity. It’s shameful!

So, you see how we all suffer under this system. You see what’s missin’ from this equation? Respect! That’s what’s missin’. We don’t respect the planet and we don’t respect what is now the majority of people livin’ on this planet. I can’t name all the groups ’cause it’s so many bein’ disrespected. So many bein’ killed, abused, tortured. 

I can’t talk about them iguanas in isolation. See, the reason we got an “iguana problem” in the first place is ’cause of human beings. People love the exotic. Foreign cars, clothes, animals, other people. And on top of that, they got no sense of responsibility outside themselves. So, the iguana gets too big for its habitat or it needs too much care and love and attention, and like that it becomes a nuisance. A cherished pet turned trash. It’s disgusting! And that’s why I empathize with ’em, the iguanas, I mean. ’Cause we got histories of rejection. In alotta ways we understand each other. We’re out seekin’ joy in life and someone’s gotta come ruin it for us. We’re both facin’ death. 

But look, I’m sorry, there’s no straight answers to your questions, alright? There just ain’t. You got folks who just don’t give a damn ’bout squanderin’ life. How do you go about fixin’ that? I’m not sayin’ lock up the folks who let go of they pet iguanas but this is a serious problem. We got the same thing goin’ on in the Everglades with them pythons. People just let animals go with no afterthought, treat live creatures like they’re disposable! 

Man, I’m really caught up in all this, aren’t I? I felt real funny ’bout this whole thing, talkin’ with a journalist. I wasn’t even sure if I should respond to your email, but after I asked a few of my friends about you, and they said you was good peoples, I decided to say okay. I got so many different people on my back, pressurin’ me for answers, and it can be hard to see clearly in all that chaos sometimes. It’s just like I said before, I was raised to be a private person and keep to myself.

But on that day, when I seen them iguanas locked up in them cages, I didn’t think twice ’bout my upbringing. There was about a hundred cages all around the park and I opened every single one of ’em. I let all the iguanas free. A feelin’ came over me and I acted on it. And it wasn’t a new feelin’ neither. It was the type that grows in you for a long while before bustin’ out when you least expect it. It surprised me just like everyone else. But even though I was caught off guard, I don’t regret what I did. I’m happy I did it. I couldn’t stand by and watch ’em suffer. I knew they’d be killed and I couldn’t let that happen. Them iguanas are my friends, my kin, and I had to protect ’em.