Excerpt from "The Secret to Life in America" - by Ed Bok Lee
“My brother sits me down and tells me the secret to life in America. I’m twelve years old when this happens. He grabs my shoulders and says: No one likes an immigrant. It reminds them of when they fell down and no one was around to help them. When they couldn’t talk. As children when they got lost in public. Cold and wet, everyone hates an immigrant. So don’t trust nobody. The Whites, they’ll teach you to hate yourself for being silent. They’ll punish you for fighting back. They’ll love the taste of your food and culture, and sister... and yet spit you out. The Blacks, at first you’d think they understand loss. But to them you’re just another cracker with a bad case of jaundice. Don’t expect shit from them, they can’t afford to be generous. Latins laugh behind your back. Do you know this? I’m trying to tell you how it is in the city, he says.”
http://www.mnartists.org/article.do?rid=103326