What do migrants bring with them? On a one-way trip to an unknown new life, perhaps they might pack money, documents, clothes, some small keepsakes. Invisibly and intangibly, they also carry cultural memories: the lullabies their parents sang, the dances they tried at a wedding, the best way to cook a chicken. On new territory, those memories become a link to home and also, with any luck, something to share with the neighbors.
Rocky Dawuni, the international music star/global ambassador and humanitarian activist, releases his highly anticipated 7th studio album Beats of Zion today with Six Degrees Distribution.
The American dream holds a different connotation for everyone who hears it. But, for immigrants, the American dream signifies a new beginning and the possibility to rid themselves of the hardships from their home country. Keeping this in mind, whenever I open a news article or log onto a news site, I happen across articles upon articles on the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and their disregard for citizens of the United States. In fact, just two weeks ago the American Civil Liberties Union released a new article on a case between two residents of Havre, Montana and their interaction with a Customs and Border Protection agent.
With more than 20 temporary (or nonimmigrant) worker and five permanent worker visa classifications, obtaining an employment-related visa is difficult and confusing. Each visa has a specific use and necessary criteria that must be met. One of the most popular options available is the “extraordinary ability” visa.
When a 21-year-old punk from Mexico City known as Brujo made his way to West Philadelphia in 1998, he found a thriving creative community amid the DIY music venues and improvised artist studios, and a place to live in a once-abandoned house known as Squirrel Squat.
“I found a paradise in West Philly,” he said recently. “It was like 2 a.m., and people said, ‘Brujo, do you want pizza?’ I said, ‘Really? It’s 2 a.m.’ They said, ‘Yeah! Let’s go to the dumpster!’ ”
As we approach the second calendar quarter, we’re entering that precarious time when many begin to flail and outright fail with their New Year’s resolutions—no matter how impassioned or well-intentioned they were at the time of inception. This phenomenon is so pervasive that a litany of studies are “peeling back the onion” to reveal exactly why so many are unsuccessful in fulfilling career, life and self-enhancing promises we’ve made to ourselves.
More recently, a working paper from researchers at George Mason University released this month said that immigrant-owned firms in the tech industry had “uniformly higher rates of innovation” than firms run by U.S. citizens in 15 of the 16 measures they surveyed.
Mental illness is one of the leading causes of suicide in our immigrant communities in the USA and yet we fail to recognize the symptoms and to seek help for those who suffer. At the time of this interview I know of at least one African immigrant who has taken his life and many others in other immigrant communities who suffer as well.
The news of 21 Savage’s detainment by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Feb. 3 elicited a range of reactions.
Most expressed outrage and heartbreak, some made jokes, and others responded with misguided apathy. Citing the thousands of voiceless immigrants who are detained by the U.S. government every single day, the latter portion suggested that paying special attention to 21 Savage’s case took away from those without flourishing rap careers and wealth, whose stories go untold.