portraitseries — Blog

It’s been one full year since I got to share this listening space with the city of Knoxville (literally right before the world shut down). In the days since, the need to listen and learn and love our neighbors hasn’t gone away (surprise).

“How Did We Get Here?” was a collective storytelling endeavor to bring attention to the varied experiences of immigrants, refugees, and international people living in the U.S. If you haven’t had a chance to hear some of the stories, they are all on my website here. (Each story is about three minutes long. Please go and have a listen!)

I share this, not to rest on old laurels, but to invite you (yep, you!) to come and learn with me. Over the past year, I have continued searching for and subscribing to additional resources that elevate immigrant, refugee, and international voices in American society and around the world—all with the driving hope to become a better ally and friend to those who experience the joys and triumphs and struggles and losses of making a life in a new country. Getting out of my own head and seeing from someone else’s perspective allows me to love and understand others more deeply and motivates me to join with them in pursuit of liberation.

Me & my sweet cuz, who drove down to see the show

Me and my friend, Marcia, who shared her story

Of course, relationships are by far the most enriching settings in which to learn a new perspective (hello, you gain a friend and get to be a friend!), but only if we are willing to listen.

In relationships, there are danger zones… if you’re not clear on what (true) friendship looks like, you might run the risk of treating a person like a textbook on the [insert culture] experience; only taking interest in them when you have a race question (Lord, help); or viewing them as a spokesperson for their entire race. In order to gain a more comprehensive view of the varied experiences within a community without exhausting the community, I highly suggest evaluating your sources of news, literature, music, etc. and diversifying them.

In this process of learning, I have found writers and organizations that are doing amazing work to embolden and equip people to share their stories. I have learned that I don’t necessarily have to align with 100% of a platform to learn something about the issues that immigrants face in the U.S. (Truly, if we have to agree on every single thing that someone else says, we will miss out on a lot).

So on this one year anniversary of “How Did We Get Here?”, I want to share a few resources that uplift immigrant, refugee, and international voices with you. Some of these resources focus on the effects of colonization in African or Central American countries, others shine a light on the immigrant experience in the United States. This is not a comprehensive list by any stretch of the imagination… just a few of my favorites. Also, I am still learning and constantly discovering, so if you have additional resources to share, please do!

Online Resources

The New York Times - “What Does Independence Look Like? Images From the Year of Africa”

United We Dream - Undocumented Under COVID

The Frontline

UndocuBlack

Books

Americanah - by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Hermanas - by Natalia Kohn Rivera, Noemi Vega Quiñones, and Kristy Garza Robinson

The Book of Unknown Americans - by Cristina Henríquez

Local

AKIN - Allies of Knoxville’s Immigrant Neighbors

Bridge Refugee Services

UTK Students for Migrant Justice

Bridges International

Until Black and Brown people are no longer criminalized for their skin color 🖤

I love seeing people in their most pure and honest form—apart from the filters of media characterizations and stereotypes. When I look, I see fearlessness in one's gaze, serenity in another's smile, years of stories bundled in a laugh... all this richness in an individual's experience is hard to discover if we don't first choose to really see them with unfiltered eyes.

We live in a world where expectations for your race are pinned onto your diaper as an infant and drilled into your head as you grow. In these expectations are rules for what you can and can't do, how you can talk, how loud you should be, what music you should listen to... as a _____ (fill in the blank with your race) man or woman. But people's stories go beyond these parameters.

I've been thinking about the experience of being a minority in America and all the different stories that exist within that experience. We stand out in a crowd, which ironically can be an incredibly invisible feeling. Are the people I am encountering really seeing me? Or, do they see the black girl I'm "supposed" to be?

“As my sufferings mounted I soon realized that there were two ways in which I could respond to my situation -- either to react with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering into a creative force. I decided to follow the latter course.” MLK Jr.

Now, thanks to Martin Luther King, Jr. and men and women like him who fought and prayed hard for their dreams, my sufferings are minuscule compared to the experiences of the 1950s and 60s. But we all know there’s still work to be done.

I asked some friends, with whom I share the minority experience, Tell me what shaped you. What has your experience been like? No expectations, just questions.

This is my friend, McKenzie, and this is a little snippet of who she is:

Defining parts of my childhood include "becoming a Christian for sure. . . just being around people who loved God really helped me understood who I was as a Christian.

A really close friend I had who God allowed to grow up with me through my teenage years [really impacted me]. We shared everything together, and that was really a blessing because I really got to know myself because of her. I learned that thinking deeply and having really analytical thoughts wasn't weird. I had a friend to share my thoughts with!