I Am Not From Norway

I remember a cool afternoon arriving at JFK Airport. It was 60 degrees in the month of May, but for a girl from the Caribbean, it was cold! My mother was waiting for me at the terminal. Mami brought a heavy sweater and a hat so I could wear. She was thrilled to see me here in New York. She wanted for me to go to college and succeed!

In our way to the house, Mami kept telling me about New York; showing me the buildings; happy and nervous because she had to take the day off to welcome me at the airport. Her six-days a week job entailed folding towels, sheets, hospital scrubs, and general laundry at a commercial cleaner. She worked on her feet for eight hours a day. Her half-hour lunch time was not paid. To make ends meet, she also worked on Saturdays. This Saturday was special because her older child was coming to live with her. She took the day off without pay.

Mami was a school teacher for 30 years in our native country in Latin America. She retired and came to the United States for a change. She was respected and loved back home. Her new reality was far from the one she just left. Here she did hard, low paid work. However, there always was delicious cooked-food on the table. Our home was immaculate. My brothers and I joined her and all we have done, since arriving in the USA, has been to go to school, earn diplomas, work, and pay taxes. Mami always told us that all she wanted was for us to succeed. We made her proud. I know that because she would tell everybody about her children earning college degrees and never getting in trouble.

Like us, there are millions of immigrants doing the same thing.

To hear the president of the United States calls us criminals, rapists, murderers, AIDS infected individuals, lazy, s***hole creatures from s***hole countries is as painful as to realize that you are not part of a country you have loved and have lived in for over 36 years. Thanks to God my remarkable mother passed away and is not around to hear this person disrespect and vilify us. We are all Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Haitians, Africans, Dreamers, and women. My tears are a testimony to the anger, frustration and disappointment I feel right now.

We immigrants look up to the United States' democratic system as a beacon of justice, respect and opportunities. We pay dearly every piece of food that goes into our mouths. Every pair of shoes and pants are cherished because we earn it sweating just like my mother, and the rest of us who had done it, and will continue to do it. I blame those who put him in office, those who keep him in there, and those who are doing nothing to save the longest running republic in modern times.

To honor my mother's memory, I do all that is in my power to vent against this unconscious, vile, evil, and dangerous power which is destroying the very fabric of the United States. From where I was in Latin America, I believed this was the greatest country in the world. After living a life of sacrifices, hard work and pride after becoming an United States citizen, I no longer feel neither secure in here nor hopeful. I fear for me, my brothers, and for all of us that don't come from Norway.