Dear America

Stop me if you’ve heard this one.

After living in Japan for a year, I flew home to Texas. While I was waiting in the “U.S. citizens” line to get through customs, I “saw” for the first time what a motley crew we were. It served in stark contrast to the faces I saw waiting in the citizens line at the Japanese airport.

What does it mean to be American?

That’s the question Jose Antonio Vargas poses in his book Dear America, Notes of an Undocumented Citizen. Born in the Philippines, Vargas was sent to live with his grandparents in California when he was 12. It wasn’t until he tried to get a driver’s license that he realized his papers permitting him to live in the country were fake.

With the help of friends and family, he manages to go to college and work as a journalist despite not having proof of citizenship. In 2001, he published his story in the New York Times.  

This memoir chronicles what his life has been since he “came out” and especially the uncertainty he’s faced after the most recent presidential election. Part of his mission, promulgated through the organization he founded called Define America, is to use “the power of story to transcend politics and shift the conversation about immigrants, identity, and citizenship in a changing America.”

That conversation starts with a few simple questions:

Why do people come to this country?

What does it mean to be undocumented?

What does it mean to be a good citizen?

What does it mean to be American?