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Max
“I have a lot of conflicting identities and I don’t know which one is the most prevalent in my life... Just because they all seem equally important to me. To have to simplify it is a little bit strange. It’s like me asking what your favorite part of the car is...it doesn’t work unless you have the whole thing."
"I feel like a strong cultural hindrance is that a lot of AAPI feel ashamed of their undocumented status. Because they feel ashamed, they don’t openly talk about it with other people in the community. We’re still a fairly new and quiet voice in that respect."
“We haven’t normalized the idea that we need help from other people in the community, because a lot of the first-gen people that I know have a hard time mingling with different races and generations."
“A lot of my friends starting leaning more liberal after they found out about my situation, because they knew me as person before they thought of me as a problem. So they became a lot more open to my situation and trying to understand why our system isn’t helping me particularly and other people as well."
“My sister was a really good student and she wasn’t able to do much. She wasn’t be able to go to college. So she had to work, almost all her life. Now she has kids and settled down. I felt that no matter how hard I tried, I would end up the same way. When I found out I was undocumented and I couldn’t work, and I couldn’t drive, I felt helpless.
"It definitely affects me because I want to belong here, because this is where I grew up and I’m just as American as everyone else that grew up there. I also want to belong in Korea because that’s where my roots are, that’s where my family is.”
"We don’t really focus on the fact that we’re undocumented. We’re just kind of normal friends in a similar situation. It does give me a little more reassurance because it lets me know other people know what I’m going through. “
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