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“Anyone, from any corner of the Earth, can come to live in America and become an American.” – Ronald Reagan
As the comms manager at Convergence, I focus primarily on elevating the incredible and fascinating voices of our community — but today I share mine.
My family immigrated from Russia in the 90’s amidst an economic and social crisis when I was just a toddler. I grew up in the rural Midwest — and peppered through it were large immigrant communities. At one point, the majority of my neighbors were from the Middle East and the majority of my classmates were from Latin America.
Identity has always been challenging but the core acceptance and appreciation for immigration was always there, even if flawed and not from everyone. Our path to citizenship was not easy, getting a green card took an entire decade. But, we had so much support from all sorts of communities on all sides of the aisle, many of whom even wrote to legislators to vouch for us. I look back in awe at what a passionate and caring community can really do. After all the efforts, I was fortunate to become an American citizen just two months shy of my 18th birthday, narrowly missing the grueling interview and testing process. I was grateful then, but I didn’t quite grasp how fortunate I was.
My parents at the naturalization ceremony.
A few years ago, I started grappling with polarization on a personal level while studying for my master’s degree in Linguistics, Language and Communication at Georgetown University and researching division happening on social media. Seeing how the approach to COVID-19 divided folks in those rural communities I grew up in was devastating. But, since then, working at Convergence and seeing what is possible has healed me on so many levels. Most importantly, I learned we can stay true to our values and still solve tough issues together and when we do so, we come out so much stronger for it.
I came to perhaps a hopeful understanding that even though there are real threats to our system, the United States is not Russia — the culture of civic participation is encouraged and even sacred. If it wasn’t, we wouldn’t be so divided!
And so, on this 4th of July, I urge you to celebrate US. Celebrate our complexity. Celebrate the freedom to disagree, to debate openly, to protest peacefully, to write and speak our minds, and to engage meaningfully with one another. Celebrate our diversity in all its forms — because it is truly something rare and remarkable, no matter where in your family’s story you became connected to this land. And especially to immigrants who have witnessed the contrast firsthand, and who know deeply just how much we have — and how precious it truly is.
