Opinion | No longer welcome: how, under Trump, the American dream is now out of reach for Chinese immigrants
Chi Wang says the undercurrent of hostility against the Chinese that has been growing in Trump’s America is now affecting American citizens of Chinese origin. Diversity, once a cherished value, is today seen in a different light
The US is a land of immigrants, and of diversity. It is a melting pot of different cultures and identities. Or, at least, that is what we are led to believe. That is the image of America that brings so many people from all over the world to its shores. This hope, this longing for acceptance and a piece of the American dream.
When I first came to the US, I was not one of those dreamers. I arrived in 1949 as a high school student, never intending to stay. But as the civil war in China ended and a new China formed, it began to look less and less like home. I began to embrace life in America and, ultimately, my new country was transformed into my home.
After living in the US for nearly 70 years, I cannot even consider thinking of anywhere else as home. And yet the US I’m living in today is not the US I remember. It is not the same country that welcomed me as a young man, the country I fell in love with and chose to make my home. The images of acceptance and hope that have compelled so many to come to the US are being replaced by “get out” signs.
To those in China still envisioning the open hands of the Statue of Liberty, I give you this warning – Chinese are no longer welcome here.
Of course, the US has never been as idyllic as the time-worn American slogans of inclusion might have you believe. As a Chinese-American, I have never felt like I fit in 100 per cent. I often find myself facing questions about where I’m from, what country I truly call home. I have lived in the US almost five times as many years as I ever did in China, and yet my American identity is not immediately recognised. The same is true for other Chinese-Americans whose families have lived in the US for generations.
