We’re all familiar with the traditional American immigrant narrative – stories of fearless young men and women arriving at Ellis Island with nothing but the clothes on their backs, taking a leap of faith with the mere hope of a better life in the majestic U.S. of A. These are the immigrants we are taught to admire; our parents and grandparents who fled their poverty-ridden motherlands in pursuit of the ever-elusive American Dream.
But today, this once glorified “dream” is less than desirable for some, according to self-proclaimed “reverse immigrant” D.
D, 41, currently lives and works in California as a scientist researching in the field of linguistics. He spends much of his free time enjoying the outdoors, skiing and rock-climbing in the mountains.
The son of two professors, D grew up in Central America where his parents taught with the exception of a year his family lived in MENA. He did not find his way to the States until he was 18 years old to attend a university in the northeast.
So, what does this successful modern American immigrant think of the American Dream? To D, the American Dream is “modest,” and even a little dull.
“I’d rather try and have a life where I get more time to spend outside…That’s more meaningful to me, and if that means I never have the single-family house with the yard in the suburbs, and instead I just rent an apartment, that’s okay. That’s a trade-off I’ll make.”
People are now acutely aware that so much of what America was on paper, is not really for everyone…a lot of it comes down to money.
On paper, his story is reminiscent of the familiar immigrant tale – a young man arriving in the U.S. to get educated and start his career. But it’s not; D did not leave behind his poor family in a far-away country, speaking not a word of English, in hopes of making just enough money as a factory worker to move into a filthy tenement house in a downtrodden neighborhood.
D comes from a well-educated family, moved to the U.S. to attend one of the most prestigious universities in the country, and now lives comfortably in a condo in one of the wealthiest cities in the world.
Not to D’s discredit, but he does not fit the mold of the immigrant manufactured by American media. His story certainly raises the question of whether the American Dream in the traditional sense has been lost. In his words, “People are now acutely aware that so much of what America was on paper, is not really for everyone…a lot of it comes down to money.”
The idea of making it in America with nothing but some hard work and a good attitude may be outdated. Privilege, on the other hand, seems to be alive and well in the origin stories of successful Americans.
D is…
- 41 Years-Old
- Male, Cisgender
- White
- Central American
- Jewish
- Atheist
- Upper Middle Class
- Heterosexual
