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111318-3a First-Generation

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Duration:
00:07:38
Project:
Youth Citizenship Narrative Project
Theme:
First-Generation
Age:
18-25
Race:
White
Ethnicity:
Latino
Gender:
Female
Recording Type:
Field Recording
AUTO_TRINT_111318-3a_YCNP_18-25_F_W_L_FR.WAV.MP3
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Speaker 1: Okay. So I'm going to start by asking you. Seeing as you're first generation, how do you define citizenship?
Speaker 2: I define citizenship as having papers, being able to travel outside of the country and not being in fear about immigration.
Speaker 1: Okay. Well, how do you how do you so how do you experience this issue?
Speaker 2: I travel mainly not having fear like that. Oh, I can't go to Mexico because I'm not going to come back. Typically.
Speaker 1: It's like, when did you first realize in your life that you didn't have that, that same fear of traveling? Like. When did you first realize that you were that you were a citizen and that was different or special?
Speaker 2: Oh, at a young age. And there was a moment when my mom had received a call from Mexico, and she was really sad because one of her nieces got run over and died. And then my aunt had gone to Mexico and my mom couldn't go to Mexico cause she didn't have papers. And then I realized that, oh, I could go to Mexico. But there was like no point in me going because I wasn't close to my cousin. So that's when I realized that I was special. And other people who aren't cannot go back to their country even as bad as they want to.
Speaker 1: Were there times that, like your parents had certain expectations for you because yours was?
Speaker 2: Oh, no, not really. My parents never really were like, Oh, because I'm a citizenship, Like, I have citizenship, like I should do this. But they knew that I was here legally and that meant I have to get an education. These people without papers couldn't get an education, like for college, and they wanted me to get an education so I could succeed and not have to suffer like they did.
Speaker 1: So where ever times when you had to like, help your parents because you said they're suffering, like, how so?
Speaker 2: Oh, well, I wouldn't really like economically, I wouldn't, but I would like, translate them a lot because they were not until recently, my dad didn't start like, let me speak English. So at a young age, I had to translate my work for my dad's work to him and explain to him or his bosses were telling him or like, if my mom had to call me for insurance or like she had to call, but they didn't speak Spanish, I would have to translate and be like the person talking to them.
Speaker 1: Was there ever like any difficulty in doing that?
Speaker 2: Um, yes, because like at a young age, you don't know, like all these big words. So like when I had to talk, like, translate them to my mom, I had to be like, Oh, it's, it's this and that, But it's like, not completely what he's saying. So I would have to, like, um, I don't know, like, use slang, I guess, because I was small, so I really didn't know how to do something. The big words into Spanish.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Like, did you ever have, like, was there an experience you had, like, translating for your parent? And like, like, were you ever, like, was always over the phone or was it like, did you do it in person too?
Speaker 2: Oh, no. It was like in person. Like I would be with my mom and usually talking to the person or my mom would get like a letter from, like medical insurance or something and I would have to translate out of the paper. So read it to my mom, although whatever time.
Speaker 1: So your parents thought you could do something, but because you were a citizen, you could do it like something they were or weren't expecting you couldn't do?
Speaker 2: No. My parents expected me to do everything because I was a citizenship, because I was in this country. I was going to school. So they expected me to know how to use a freaking computer. Like eight years old because I was born here and I was being taught at school here. And so they expected me to know all these words and they never thought I couldn't do anything. They just assumed that I should know how to do everything. I'm from here. I was born here.
Speaker 1: So you said earlier, like, citizenship is like gives you like the legal right to move anywhere, to go anywhere. Is there anything what other things do you think citizenship comes with?
Speaker 2: I think it also comes with like having an education and being successful because, like, you know, if you're you're successful, like when you have a good job, you have a good career, you're able to travel, you're able to do many things. You would talk about your parents and it's like many times people without papers sometimes aren't able to do that because they can get a job. Like means they could have got an education in this country because they needed papers.
Speaker 1: Um, is there, is there any other ways like so is there any other ways you participate in being a citizen voting?
Speaker 2: Recently I was able to vote.
Speaker 1: How was that?
Speaker 2: Um, it was very stressful because I didn't want to vote because I didn't know about, like, the propositions or the candidates. But I was going to let that stop me from being able to vote because that's my right as a citizen in this country. So I made sure I educated myself before I voted and didn't use us not being educated like not knowing as an excuse to not vote.
Speaker 1: Did you ever feel like your citizenship was challenged?
Speaker 2: No. Well, yes and no, because I know that the president wanted to take the what's it called? The right. That's the people who are born here, but their parents aren't like us citizens. Right? Yeah. The birthright. They wanted to take our birthright away. That kind of did get a little planning, but not really, because I knew he wasn't going to be able to do that. That mean he had to change our entire Constitution?
Speaker 1: So. So you felt you feel really connected to like your citizenship in this country?
Speaker 1: And there was never a time that you didn't feel that way.
Speaker 2: No, not really. I mean, I would just feel like I'd be out of place because I was like a white person. I was a Hispanic person. But other than that, no.
Speaker 1: Um, is there any challenges you've had with being the first forces in your family, or have there been other people before You have been citizens in your family?
Speaker 2: There have been other people, but, um, I guess they're like my older cousins. Like with my family, I was the first. So, like, I would have a lot of like, I would struggle a lot because even I look at early kindergarten, like first grade, second grade when they were teaching you, like, simple math, like, um, my parents weren't able to help me because they, they didn't know. They weren't able to, like, help me with my English homework or my math homework. Now I have to struggle to Caucasians that are already older, living like 2 hours away to take time out of their day to help me and somethings they weren't able to, so I would have to figure it out or I would have to do my homework. So that's like some challenges I had growing up.
Speaker 1: Okay. And so final question, what does citizenship mean to you?
Speaker 2: I mean, having an education and being successful and being able to live your life without being in fear that someone in the power of the government can like take whatever your lifestyle away.
Speaker 1: And that's. And that's how you feel.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well.
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01-20-2025 00:00 - 01-20-2025 23:59