Growing up, ‘K’ saw her father’s life as an embodiment of the American Dream.
Her father immigrated to the United States from South Asia in the 1980s and “pulled himself by the bootstraps,” working long hours in multiple menial jobs before going on to start a business, K said.
“That was the American Dream for him, and that was the American Dream for us that we saw happening in our lives,” K said.
But K later saw the limitations of the American Dream through her own experiences.
As a child, K said she viewed the American Dream as the concept that “if you work hard enough, then you can achieve whatever you put your mind to.”
At times, though, K has become disillusioned with the concept of the American Dream. She was around 5 years old when 9/11 happened. The xenophobia that resulted led her to notice a change in the way she saw herself and how others saw her, as she felt othered and ashamed of where she came from.
“That kind of made me understand that although my parents’ experience was that of achieving and becoming successful, it wasn’t like just we were in this fantasy world where everything was amazing.”
K is the director of marketing in the fuel industry, in her family’s company, and she works with her father and other family members. She said she has a “tight-knit family” and a particularly close relationship with her sister and father.
I want to leave my country a better place than when I entered it.
Having grown up and attended school in the U.S., K believes she and her sister have a different view of the American Dream than her parents. She remembers her middle school classmates’ reactions to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, for example.
“It seemed like they were animated by something more than just, ‘Oh, I don’t agree with him,’ It was more of like, this guy was an existential threat to their way of life,” she said.
K has faith in the promise and potential of this country but also recognizes its flaws.
“Currently, I would say my American Dream is, I want to leave my country a better place than when I entered it,” she said. “And I still believe that America is the land of opportunity, but I think I’ve become less idealistic about it being a melting pot and it being this amazing place where there’s no problems.”
K is…
- 24 Years-Old
- Female, Cisgender
- South Asian
- Wealthy
- Fluid
