Name: What's missing from the American immigrant narrative
Uploaded: 2020-04-21T14:55:25Z
Duration: 10 min 43 s
Description: Recounting her story of finding opportunity and stability in the US, Elizabeth Camarillo Gutierrez examines the flaws in narratives that simplify and idealize the immigrant experience -- and shares hard-earned wisdom on the best way to help those around us. "Our world is one that flourishes when different voices come together," she says.

Elizabeth Camarillo Gutierrez: What's missing from the American immigrant narrative

What's missing from the American immigrant narrative

Recounting her story of finding opportunity and stability in the US, Elizabeth Camarillo Gutierrez examines the flaws in narratives that simplify and idealize the immigrant experience -- and shares hard-earned wisdom on the best way to help those around us. "Our world is one that flourishes when different voices come together," she says.

The immigrant experience is often forced into narrow roles, like the struggling laborer or the flawless superachiever, but real lives exist between these extremes. One young woman describes how, after her parents were forced back to Mexico, she survived alone as a teenager in the US, focusing on basic survival before thriving. The lesson she learned—putting on her own 'oxygen mask' first—shows that caring for oneself is sometimes a necessary step to supporting others. True understanding and progress come when society recognizes the full complexity of immigrant journeys.