{"id":8125,"date":"2018-09-01T14:19:14","date_gmt":"2018-09-01T12:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.desertsun.co.uk\/blog\/?p=8125"},"modified":"2018-09-01T14:57:20","modified_gmt":"2018-09-01T12:57:20","slug":"inside-the-mind-of-a-wealthy-immigrant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.desertsun.co.uk\/blog\/8125\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mindset of a Middle Class Immigrant"},"content":{"rendered":"

A reader sends me this article<\/a>, written by a British journalist who became an American citizen. I was going to read it all but I felt myself slipping into a coma before I’d even got through a quarter of it, so I’ll just leave you with this:<\/p>\n

I have been thinking lately about a letter that I received from President Barack Obama in the fall of 2011.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

That year, I was one of roughly six hundred and ninety thousand people to get this letter, along with Certificates of Naturalization from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service confirming that, as the President put it, \u201cthis great Nation is now your Nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

It spoke of the sacrifices made by generations of immigrants who had come to the U.S. in the pursuit of a better future. Obama called it \u201cthe price and the promise of citizenship,\u201d and concluded, \u201cWe embrace you as a new citizen of our land, and we welcome you to the American family.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Okay, right. But:<\/p>\n

[Trump] tweets about undocumented immigrants ready to \u201cinfest\u201d or \u201cinvade\u201d the nation, and anyone who takes offense at the suggestion that his words echo Nazi propaganda hasn\u2019t looked at Nazi propaganda of late.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So this new, proud immigrant who America has welcomed with open arms and with the expectation of contributing something positive and upholding responsibilities sees fit to accuse the President of distributing Nazi propaganda. There’s gratitude for you, eh?<\/p>\n

I used to say that I was just as American as Sarah Palin. (Now I would say that I am just as American as Donald Trump\u2014or, certainly, as Melania Trump, who also arrived in America as a young woman.) Did I feel like an American? To paraphrase Gloria Steinem, this is what an American feels like. I\u00a0was<\/em>\u00a0one. I am one. Like it or not.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ah yes, the idea that handing someone a passport simply makes them American, French, or British. How’s that working out for national unity?<\/p>\n

Now, in the summer of 2018, thirty years after arriving in New York with two duffel bags and a scholarship from N.Y.U., I am exercising my choice: I\u2019m leaving.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Good news for America I’m sure. The bad news is she’s moving to London.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A reader sends me this article, written by a British journalist who became an American citizen. I was going to read it all but I felt myself slipping into a coma before I’d even got through a quarter of it, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[20,44],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.desertsun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8125"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.desertsun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.desertsun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertsun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertsun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8125"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertsun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8129,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertsun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8125\/revisions\/8129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.desertsun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertsun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertsun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}