The Undocumented Americans (One World Essentials)

by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio

I think every immigrant in this country knows that you can eat English and digest it so well that you shit it out, and to some people, you will still not speak English.

The twisted inversion that many children of immigrants know is that, at some point, your parents become your children, and your own personal American dream becomes making sure they age and die with dignity in a country that has never wanted them.

To my mother, who should have had a different life, I will do everything in my power to give you a different future. I am the woman I am today because of you. And I am proud of the strong, ferocious woman you keep becoming every day.

Finally, to my father—you’ll never know what it is like to carry your father’s heart in yours when it has been so torn to shreds for your sake. I will circle the world many times over telling everyone about its weight, its beauty, and what an honor it was to have known it.