The Unifying Immigrant Experience of America
By Shirin Bakre
As the children of immigrants, we recognize that our parents came into this country to create a better life and provide better opportunities for us. Coming into this country for our parents was a huge step leading them to “give up” the life they once had. Many of our parents silently bore the weight of having to start at square one. Based on this struggle, many parents urged their children not to throw away the opportunity to make something of themselves, and that is the surface level idea of what America can be: the land of opportunities.
Growing up in America as an Indian, in a way, alienated me from everyone else. At the age of 8, I recognized that the food I brought from home stirred up immense ridicule from the predominately white children in my classroom. These peers in my class were not familiar with my daal and rice or my chapati and bhaji. They could not see that my mother would wake up at the crack of dawn to provide me with food for my busy day at school. I noticed how the few Indian children in my class had given in to the mockery and racial slurs and began to buy a school lunch to fit in. Being as desperate to fit in, I gave up my mom’s warm home-cooked meals for the school’s semi-edible slop. Like me, many children at a young age felt compelled to give up their Indian identities, whether it was our delicious food, the way we looked, the way we spoke, the way we dressed, and even the way we acted. We felt we were not allowed to be proud of our heritage, that we were not allowed to embrace individuality. It seemed almost hypocritical for a country that prides itself on the plethora of diverse groups to condemn those who deviated from its constructed norms; the young immigrants who did deviate from the norm were punished the hardest with crude racism and bullying.
The younger you are when you arrive in this country, the quicker you realize that you must try to assimilate and put aside the pride of your heritage. It’s as if the “American” culture is the only one worth its time. This sort of cultural reform climbs up the ladder to adults as well. Having an accent, being a different skin color or practicing a different religion makes it seem like you are lesser than. This ostracization of immigrants by American society buried immigrants’ prides down where no one would see. It segregated society to the point where you’d only find relief in having a friend within the safety of your own background and culture. So on the surface, for a long time, America was segregated even with its seemingly high rates of diversity.
Through the rise of the social media revolution, I realized that my experience wasn’t unique. On the Internet, when children of immigrants shared their stories, it became clear that we all shared the same one. We were all told to stop being who we are and to adapt to a culture that would never accept us regardless of the sacrifices we made. However, in connecting with one another, we realized the power of our voices and how past constructs must be dismantled if we wanted to truly become a great country that celebrated diversity. We realized the “identities” that we were ridiculed for, for many years, were worth celebrating. We, the children of immigrants, know how unfair it is to expect us to grow up with one culture. We can never emulate the culture our parents grew up in, since our environments are vastly different, and we could never fit into the mold of a stereotypically conventional white America either. So, instead, we came together and changed it. To us, it is a beautiful blend of both American and our respective homeland’s culture. Here, we respect the values our parents taught us and molded it into our westernized environment.
As the child of an immigrant, I know that I will need to keep working towards vocalizing the problems within our community to fight against them and promote reform. In today’s political climate, President Trump ignores or belittles those who speak out against racial inequality, misogyny, and cultural insensitivity. Instead of blurring the lines between different cultural identities and uniting us, President Trump has found a way to create more fear, mistrust, and hatred towards one another. His words are filled with logical fallacies and his plans promote false hope, and indirectly divide us all. As President, Trump has managed to silence the outcries of the oppressed minorities and replaced it with screams of bigoted racist radicals. He has divided our nation by elevating the extreme right and demonizing countless others. As a result of his failed leadership, many people of color, children of immigrants, and minorities now face a more uphill battle in their efforts to create an impactful and positive change.
As a citizen of the United States of America, I am saddened that I no longer recognize my own country. It is true that this nation was built on the backs of slaves and off the bloodshed of millions of Native Americans. It is a nation of immigrants now run by leaders that seek to punish diversity. It is a place of distrust and fear against the unknown. But it does not have to stay this way. By choosing Trump, we choose to maintain the radicalized sides of America. We choose to allow misinformation to be spread and distrust to grow. By choosing Donald J. Trump, we choose a dystopian future where positive change will only be harder to attain.
America needs reform. Vice President Joe Biden recognizes this. He has committed to advancing racial equity across the American economy, giving opportunities to people regardless of skin color. He has recognized that the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted people of color disproportionately, and he is determined to address the racial disparities in health and health care. Biden is a step in the right direction.
For immigrants like me, who want to create a better future for their own children and family, choosing Biden over Trump is choosing the ability to keep fighting for what is right. It is progressively putting a stop to racist and sexist banter by educating the masses. It is moving forward to creating that image of a “Greater America.”
Shirin Bakre is a student at Boston University pursuing a major in Biomedical Engineering. Growing up in America has given Shirin the ability to be more introspective and extrospective about her community and society as a whole, and inspired her to join South Asians for Biden. She wants to be able to vocalize the issues South Asian immigrants face as Americans today, and to be able to keep fighting for a positive change and advocate for social equity.
