Go Back to Where You Came From And Other Helpful Recommendations on How to Become an American

Wajahat Ali

eAudio - 2022

Go back to where you came from, you terrorist! This is just one of the many warm, lovely, and helpful tips that Wajahat Ali and other children of immigrants receive on a daily basis. Go back where, exactly? Fremont, California, where he grew up, but now an unaffordable place to live? Or Pakistan, the country his parents left behind a half-century ago? While living the American Dream, young Wajahat devoured comic books (devoid of brown superheroes) and fielded well-intentioned advice from uncles and aunties ("Become a doctor!"). He had turmeric stains under his fingernails, was accident-prone, suffered from OCD, and wore Husky pants. That is, he was as American as his neighbors, with roots all over the world. Then, while Ali was st...udying at University of California, Berkeley, 9/11 happened. Muslims replaced Communists as America's enemy #1, and he became an accidental spokesman and ambassador of all ordinary, unthreatening things Muslim-y. Now a middle-aged dad, Ali has become one... more