American Like Me: Book 2 Post 2

Born in Los Angeles to Honduran parents, America Ferrera knows what it’s like to grow up in America living between cultures. However, when learning about the ‘American experience,’ she seldom found stories similar to her own. As a result she decided to seek out and publish a collection of these experiences. With contributions from Ferrera and 31 other prominent figures, American Like Me provides a firsthand look into living between cultures and forging an identity in modern day America.

I was kind of blown away by this book. I suppose a part of me expected the different sections to be discordant with varying levels of entertainment, but I honestly learned something new and saw from a different perspective with every essay. Perhaps my favorite entry, is the first: Reshma Saujani was born and raised in a city called Schaumburg, right outside of Chicago, Illinois. As her name indicates, she is of Indian descent, but her parents were actually born and raised in Africa, and only came to the U.S. after the Ugandan dictator expelled individuals of Indian descent from Uganda in 1972. Reshma’s main motif is the importance of names. As a young girl, Reshma hated her name and would have done anything to fit in with the Melissa’s and Jessica’s of her primarily white public school. After years of enduring ignorance and ruthless bullying, Reshma decided to embrace every aspect of herself. She carried this practice with her through her career and even ran as ‘Reshma Saujani’ in two congressional elections (being the first Indian-American woman to do so). Reshma’s story is incredible on its own, but my favorite part of her essay is the end when she reflects on the sacrifices her own parents made (their community, their careers, their language, and their birthnames) so that their children wouldn’t have to.

I was also very impressed by Randall Park (aka Asian Jim from The Office / Danny Chung from HBO’s Veep) and Kumail Nanjiani (Dinesh from HBO’s Silicon Valley). While I expected their contributions to be lighthearted and comical, I was presently surprised by both of these funny-men. Randall Park didn’t exactly ‘answer the prompt’ of writing about living between cultures. Instead, he started by admitting how little he knew about his parents’ lives- they had never discussed the complexities of life as Korean immigrants with Randall. When Ferrera approached Randall about contributing to her book, he decided to use the opportunity to coax information out of his parents. Although he refrains from actually sharing said information, he departs another piece of wisdom to readers: “all parents are in fact human beings. With feeling and emotions. And, unfortunately, an expiration date… collect your own stories from your parents, your grandparents, your guardians, and your mentors. Then pass those stories down to your kids, your grandkids, and anyone who can really benefit from them” (50, 57). Although I won’t go into too much detail, Kumail Nanjiani’s essay was beautifully written. He did not focus on family or personal obstacles like many of the other contributors. Instead, he wrote a simple, poetic entry about his experience with the American dream and the promise of choice.

I would recommend this book to anyone. Although my mom gets weepy whenever she talks about our European ancestors who “sacrificed everything” to come to America (in like, 1890), I do not personally identify with the immigrant experience. I initially chose this book because I thought it would help broaden my worldview. Not only did I get a glimpse into the experiences of immigrants and first-generation individuals in modern day America, but I also found this book to be entertaining and extremely fulfilling. It’s a collection of human stories told by successful individuals who have, by any measure, achieved the American Dream. The tone is casual yet captivating, and the stories are clever enough to make you laugh, and wholesome enough to make you cry.