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Piece Description
This is an edited bit of a much longer interview we conducted with a man who came to the US as a refugee from Sudan in the early 1990s. He talks about what it was like for him as a new immigrant, while he was going through the asylum process, and right after: finding a job, learning to to speak "American" English. He also talks of what it's like to be from Sudan in a post 9/11 America. Because of his name and where he's from, he's interrogated every time he leaves the US and comes back, even though he has an American passport. In this piece, he tells a surprising story of crossing the Canadian border. This piece is more a profile than anything else--a first-person account of being a refugee in the US. It brings up issues of immigration and the war on terror.
Transcript
You see the states on TV. Nice cars, beautiful buildings. Life like it's easy, it's heaven. But when you come here, you don't see heaven. At all.
I'm a graduate, I have a degree in business education. I have experience, so when I come to the states I'm going to get a job right away and my life is going to be a lot easier in this country. But that wasn't the case. So I just applied in a grocery store- supermarket, meat department. I was so disappointed. And when you come here and you speak with an accent, that is like a no-no. It's like you think with an accent/ You have to learn how to speak American English. if you say a 'bohx' [box] they don't understand you have to say a 'bahx' So in order to get a job, you have to say 'a bahx'.
My name is Muslim. I'm from a country, Sudan, listed as one of the countries that sponsor international terrorism. So any time I travel and come...
Read the full transcript
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John Voci
Posted on July 20, 2007 at 04:21 AM | Permalink
Review of Land of Opportunity
This first-person account, with a Sudanese refugee, is an interesting story of immigration in a post 9/11 America. Although his story is interesting and moving, there is no context or narration within the piece, which limits its possible use.