The New Americans' Dream
Doubtlessly, picket fences and shiny sedans have flickered before the eyes of millions in darkened cinemas world around, representing some standard of the American Dream. For those many miles away, this imagery might be the main thing that informs their thoughts about the United States.
What would drive someone to leave their ancestral land and resettle here?
I set out to look into the meaning of the American Dream among immigrants now remaking their lives in Bowling Green. I spoke with with people from Uzbekistan, Kenya, Congo, Nigeria, South Korea, Cambodia, Bosnia, Colombia and India – just a small sampling of the 4,420 foreign-born residents the U.S. Census estimated that were living Bowling Green in 2007.
"There's no one American Dream. There are millions of them, one for each person living here," Juan Gutierrez, an immigrant from Colombia, tells me. As I shuffle my notes before our interview, Juan hands me a folded sheet of paper, a printed e-mail in Spanish warning of impending bloodshed in Bogotá, his hometown. Meeting my eyes, he nods tiredly. It’s commonplace.
It was this turmoil that motivated Gutierrez to leave. In his early 40s, Gutierrez was a doctor in Colombia, but his medical credentials are not applicable here. Though in casual conversation he references National Public Radio mainstay Garrison Keillor with the same fluidity as he does American constitutional ideals, he supplemented his income by playing music for patrons of Los Mariachi’s, a Mexican restaurant in Glasgow, Ky. on the weekends. He plans to enter a residency program and become a neurologist in the U.S.
I gleaned that many immigrants share Gutierrez's motivation. For those hailing from tattered homelands and war-weary societies, the American Dream means living a life free of intimidation.
But this reason does not hold true for all. Some look to America to realize their potential, to live their lives in the way they see fit.
Uma Doraiswamy is seemingly the embodiment of her own standards. Confident, experienced and jovial in her apprehension about revealing her age (which I've sworn not to divulge), the Western Kentucky University library sciences professor says the United States brings liberty and freedom to mind. She came from India in 1999 to study.
"You get to do whatever you want, no restrictions,” she says. “Especially women have a lot more freedom. They are very strong, brave, and I think many of the women are outgoing and they do what they want to do, so I really like that."
Freedom – political, economic or social – is a common thread. More than one immigrant stressed that one can do most anything in America.
Igor Kuvac, a Bosian refugee, turned the $200 with which he arrived into The Bistro, a thriving restaurant in downtown Bowling Green. He attributed his savvy to the less-privileged life many immigrants lead.
"I think anyone can do it. I really do. You just have to have an idea,you have to see that, you have to look for it.”
It seems the American Dream is less about obtaining physical goods than it is about opportunity.
"The American Dream, for me, is that it's never my last chance, it's never just a second chance," says James Robinson, director of the International Center, a non-profit whose employees help international refugees relocate in Bowling Green. He says the American Dream is "different for every one of us because of the experiences we bring to the table."
In my mind, the American Dream promises only that one's goals are attainable, not that they are guaranteed. And in my experience, this has been true.
We, the world's people, have the same desires, though we are not all granted the same opportunities. The American Dream is less a set of tangible expectations than it is the expectation of opportunity.