Elizabeth Camarillo Gutierrez

A Memoir

My Side of the River

Lindsay

Poverty teaches you a resourcefulness you never need to learn if you are nurtured and privileged.

On one end of the spectrum, there was the narrative of the super-immigrant - the newly arrived person who strives to be the best, who assimilates and somehow overcomes everything that comes between them and success. Society loves these immigrants, praising them and benefiting from their contributions. These are the immigrants that we idolize as the ideal symbols of American success, as achievers of the elusive American dream.

On the other end of the spectrum are the immigrants people use as scapegoats. They're laborers and dishwashers. They're the janitors in my high school, my uncle and aunt, my mom and dad. They're people who come across good opportunities. They're the immigrants people hate and talk shit about straight to my face. They're the immigrants that white people love to tell me that I am not like.

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