Celebrating 25 years in the USA

It has been 25 years since I landed in the United States of America on October 21, 1987. At the time it was my beautiful and unselfish parents and my six siblings. We came empty handed, but with the support of the Red Cross. The reason we traveled to San Diego was because my oldest sister was already living there with an uncle. It was a cultural and financial shock to say the least. Furthermore, besides my dad’s limited English, none of us spoke the language. We spent almost two years in Italy, so we could speak Italian. People were mesmerized to see black kids that could speak Italian but not English.

Little by little we learned English and adapted to our new environment. My parents were all about education. In fact, they made the older kids wake up at 4:30 am to learn the language. My dad was awake with us during these lessons. My parents’ main goal in moving to the United States was for better opportunity. If it was for safety and freedom, we had already found it in Italy. But my parents, much like many other recent immigrants or past immigrants, wanted a better life for themselves and more importantly a better future for their kids.