Everyone here has a past and ancestors, just as I do, who escaped barbarity, misery, oppression, or a bad time, just as mine did, and came here in search of a dignity that wasn’t exactly waiting with open arms—ditto. The American immigrant experience has been a mash-up of The Godfather and Toy Story set in a factory full of crisscrossing conveyor belts, where the only possible endpoints are a gilded throne or an incinerator.
