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Macaulay Honors College
at Baruch, Spring 2013Professor Els de Graauw
ITF Benjamin Miller Log in
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American Life
Eliza, a 48-year-old immigrant from Belarus, talks of her experiences adjusting to life in America:
Basically, it was… in the beginning, it was very hard and difficult process to get used to all the new surrounding in terms of cultures, customs, and without knowing of language, it was hard to land any job, and we went to…we started to study language to the extent that we can communicate freely to…go to different places, to communicate with people, and finally we went to college to some…to get some kind of degree and majors that we can utilize in this country.
Surprisingly Politically Active
Neville, a 63-year-old immigrant from Jamaica, remembers that college jumpstarted his political activism in the United States:
In college, you know, I was very, very involved. Very involved. Did some fundraising for, you know, like drought areas in the Sahel Desert. Sahel is a region that goes across, uhm, Africa and the Sahara – Chad, Mauritania, uhm it’s like a dry belt and it’s had bad situations with drought. So you get involved with that at that level and on the college level, you had struggles with English department, uhm, dominating the African Studies department. Things like that… and it’s not just the, uhm you know, race or anyting like that. I did a lot of stuff: Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch…
If We Win the Families, We Win the World
Ralph, a 29-year-old Mexican immigrant, came to the United States nearly 12 years ago. Now, as an appointed and certified minister, Ralph seeks to help bring about social change in America through his ministries:
And as a church or as a minister, as a member of the church, one of the goals, one of the dreams that I had is helping the families to grow together. If we win the families, we win the world. If we rescue the families, we rescue the country, our world. As an immigrant, it was a challenge to learn all these things because my only goal when I came here was to work. Just to get money. But it all has changed. It all has changed. So I will say my contribution as an immigrant, even though it is a big challenge, I am learning and even though it is in English language, I want to become a teacher. Teaching the Bible and helping these families to stay together and keeping families together. At this time, it is very easy when families start and they just broke up. All the kids are without parents. Many kids. We don’t want that in our church. We want families to keep to continue together and grow together. I think it’s a big contribution to society
Becoming American
Not only when you speak the language because you can speak the language in any other place, in different countries. You can speak two, three, four different languages. That is not the case. Its when you are already so many years in, in the United States, that you forget that you were born in a different country. And everything here is, for me, is perfect… [Its about]the time that you already spent in some place that you don’t think anymore about your past, you think about your future.
What’s the Point of U.S. Citizenship?
Jane, a 24-year-old woman who moved to America from Canada 2 years ago, emphasizes her strong sense of being a Canadian:
I definitely consider myself a Canadian citizen. I’m very proud to be a Canadian. It’s a great country and its fun to be different. (smiles) Everyone around me is American, but I’m a Canadian. I just happen to live here. I don’t associate myself as an American.
Proud to be an American
Miriam, an immigrant from Russia with vast experiences traveling all over Europe, comments on her pride for America:
Oh, I’m an American. A 110 percent. Let me tell you something – we live in one of the greatest countries in the world. One of the greatest – not the greatest. There are a lot of countries that do things better than we do, but a lot of people refuse to acknowledge that, but it is one the greatest countries in the world. And I’m very proud to be an American. And that’s the only thing I ever felt. As soon as I came to this country, I felt this was home
Why I Don’t Vote
Sarah, an elderly immigrant from Tel Aviv, discusses her relationship to American politics:
Yes! Yes, I follow [political events in the U.S.]. The election, Obama and everything. And the news—its very interesting. I don’t go feel myself to vote though….I don’t have an influence; it’s not my country.
