UWM Common Read 2019I’m An American

Teran Powell, WUWM Radio, 2019

If you ask a group of people what it means to be an American, you might get a different answer from each person. For instance, responses based on someone's political beliefs, family history, military record, or other life experience.

But what does it mean to be an American for people from underrepresented groups in an era when civility and tolerance are sometimes in short supply?

WUWM's Race & Ethnicity Reporter Teran Powell is exploring the topic in our new series, called I'm An American.

‘I Wear It Very Proudly That I’m An American’: Janan NajeebBy TERAN POWELL: January 11, 2019

Janan Najeeb is a Muslim woman who has lived in Milwaukee most of her life. She was born in Jerusalem, of Palestinian heritage, but came to the United States with her family when she was 4 years old.

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‘We All Have Different Experiences, But We’re Also Human Beings: Ahmee VangBy TERAN POWELL: February 5, 2019

Ahmee Vang was born in a refugee camp in Thailand.Her family moved to the United States when she was an infant, following the Vietnam War. A journey many Hmong families — who had sided with the U.S. in the war — made at the time.

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‘We All Have Rights, And We Should Fight For Them’: Ramario CastilloBy TERAN POWELL: March 26, 2019

The youngest of six children, Castillo grew up in a small village in Central Mexico, son of two hardworking parents. He left his village to find work in the U.S. when he was 17, and says many young people did the same, after seeing others create opportunities for themselves.

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‘Recognizing Process & Change Would Do Every One A Bit Of Good’: Michael ZimmermanBy TERAN POWELL: April 25, 2019

Michael Zimmerman is a Native American man, federally enrolled with the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi in Michigan. He grew up in Niles, Michigan, the oldest of three siblings, but has lived in Milwaukee for the last 6 years. Zimmerman teaches Native American language classes in Milwaukee and Franklin, and is very vocal about everyone -- native and non-native -- understanding that native communities in Wisconsin are very much still present.

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‘I Wear It Very Proudly That I’m An American’: Janan NajeebBy TERAN POWELL: January 11, 2019

Janan Najeeb has lived in Milwaukee most of her life. She was born in Jerusalem, of Palestinian heritage, but came to the United States with her family when she was 4 years old.

Najeeb says her family's relationship with Milwaukee goes back even further, starting with her grandfather in 1911.

“My paternal grandfather used to come to the United States as a merchant. He used to bring the oriental carpets and different types of materials and art artifacts to sell in the United States and so he would go to a few different cities, but one of his main bases, interestingly, was Milwaukee. So, there was this very small group of other individuals that lived in Milwaukee and so this was one of the places that he would come to.”

Najeeb's grandfather; his original alien card (top) and passport.

Najeeb is the president of the Milwaukee Muslim Women's Coalition and director of the Islamic Resource Center in Greenfield.

The center's library, open to the public, features thousands of books about Muslims and Islam.Najeeb says much of her work involves building bridges with the broader community.

She describes how being an American fits into her identity: “Well, I see myself as an American Muslim woman, activist of Palestinian heritage. And so, all of those are identities are what makes me, me.”

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Najeeb says there are more than 1 billion Muslims worldwide, and you can't always look at someone and tell if he or she is Muslim.

“There are Chinese Muslims. There are Muslims from Bosnia, and Macedonia; in Europe. There are Muslims from Nigeria and from the Arab world. There’s Pakistan, Bangladesh, Muslims in India. So, Muslims really are very, very diverse," she explains.

But even though there's a large and diverse population of Muslims, Najeeb says many people unfamiliar with Islam have distorted views. She says they believe negative stereotypes about Muslims being violent, or Islam oppressing women — things she says have no merit.

And Najeeb says sometimes people outside the faith believe Muslims are out of place in the U.S., including Muslim women who choose to wear the traditional hijab head covering. Years ago, Najeeb and her husband were at a Packers game when she encountered that for herself.

"I was wearing a green and gold scarf, and I had gone to go to the restroom. I was coming out of the restroom and a very large woman started just shouting things at me saying, 'This is America! We don’t dress this way!' and making comments like this, and I was pregnant at the time," she says.

Najeeb says what bothered her more than the woman’s comments, was the fact that no one around spoke up.

“Silence … it means you’re part of the problem,” she says.

Yet Najeeb says because of the company she keeps, she rarely experiences prejudice. But she adds it's a frequent theme in her work.

“As an activist, I feel it’s a responsibility for me to be out there representing in order to lessen the harm that comes to the Muslim community, the immigrant community, the refugee community, to communities of color because any time any one of those groups is targeted, we all become a target.”

Najeeb says prejudice may not go away in the U.S. But she says it's up to open-minded and welcoming people to make sure that those who have the prejudicial attitudes aren’t the ones defining what it means to be an American.

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‘We All Have Different Experiences, But We’re Also Human Beings: Ahmee VangBy TERAN POWELL: February 5, 2019

Ahmee Vang was born in a refugee camp in Thailand.

Her family moved to the United States when she was an infant, following the Vietnam War. A journey many Hmong families — who had sided with the U.S. in the war — made at the time.

“That piece of history is very relevant for a lot of people in my generation. It’s very common for people to share that piece, but they know that we came to the United States to thrive and survive. But a lot of that I had to learn much later as an adult because my parents never really talked about that. That sorrow and that trauma that they carried in wanting to survive and what that looked like for their kids,” she says.

Vang is the director of education and outreach for Hmong American Women’s Association in Milwaukee. The organization works with those in the Southeast Asian community who are survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence – primarily who identify as women, youth, and LGTBQ.

Although she grew up in the U.S., she talks about always feeling like she was different.

“It was hard for me as a young person to identify who I was because I didn’t know what American meant and I also didn’t know what Hmong meant other than I knew I looked different, I spoke a different language, we ate different food. And there was a time where I really wanted to be blended in and not be noticed and here having my folks struggle in putting food on the table and making sure we had everything that we had to be successful," she says.

Vang says where she grew up added to a feeling of being “other” as well.

“Growing up in a very rural white community, people not knowing Hmong people and categorizing us into the whole Asian umbrella, and then also there’s always the stigma or prejudices that we’re here really to take free services, and I think that is true of people of color communities and also people who identify as refugees or immigrants,” she says.

But Vang says her parents are some of the hardest working people she knows.

“To this day, my mom being in her early '60s, she works two jobs and all she knows is very blue-collar factory related jobs and she knows that these are jobs that she has to work hard so that she can continue to pay the bills and save a bit of money,” she says.

Something else that Vang says has impacted how she views her identity is being a woman in the Hmong culture, which can be patriarchal. She says some Hmong people view women as too opinionated or lacking knowledge about certain issues.

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But today, Vang says she has found confidence in her identity. She says it's far from how she felt as a child struggling to identify if one thing made her American or Hmong.

“I feel as an adult today, I feel pretty good in who I am, and I think I’m less stuck on identifying a label and it’s more about what is it that I do as a person. And a lot of that is tied to the passion of social justice, advocacy and just taking care of my people.”

Vang says it is people’s individual stories that can unite Americans.

“We all have the same wants and needs and desires and everybody just has a different experience. I think that that’s what makes America so beautiful,” she says.

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‘We All Have Rights, And We Should Fight For Them’: Ramario CastilloBy TERAN POWELL: March 26, 2019

Husband. Father. Owner of his own construction company. Community activist. These are just a few of the words that I came to realize describe Ramiro Castillo.

The youngest of six children, Castillo says he grew up in a small village in Central Mexico, son of two hardworking parents. Life was simple and fun growing up. He vividly remembers the day the village had running water from a well, saying it was his "happiest day ever."

Castillo says he left his village to find work in the U.S. when he was 17. He says many young people did the same, after seeing others create opportunities for themselves.

"What I was seeing, like every other kid or every other man, they came with the new shoes, working shoes, dressing different. So, they call the attention [of] the others to follow them because you could see the change. You could see with going out of the country, you would bring money and you would be living a better life," he says.

Castillo came to the U.S. in 1984, becoming a citizen soon after.

Castillo addresses the narrative that immigrants are taking American citizen’s jobs. He says that’s not the truth.

"If I talk to a farmer, 60 percent of their employees are Hispanic because they don't want to do it anymore, they don't want to milk cows anymore," he says. "We as Hispanic, or any other entity, that we come with no education, all we know is work."

And Castillo adds that, historically, the U.S. brought immigrants into the country for work without concern about their legal status. But sent them back to their home country when work was done.

"It's very sad when people say we're taking somebody else's job because I know this. They bring us, they used to bring us when they need us. They bring us when they were short labor. They kick us when they don't need us," he says. "If these people who's telling me that I'm stealing the job, if they would start reading history, it's not true."

Castillo says he's experienced racism and is aware of the hateful thoughts some people have about the Hispanic community, but he doesn't hate anyone for it.

"If I take offense to everything I observe from other people, I wouldn't have a life and I'd be sacrificing sometimes even my family just by getting offended by everybody. I don't think it's a good way to live life," he explains.

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Castillo says he identifies as 100 percent Hispanic. But he's not sure how the label "American" fits into that identity as well.

"Being a Mexican American, or however they call it, I still feel pain. I don't know if I feel American 100 percent," he says.

Castillo says that's because of the history between the U.S. and Mexico, and the poor treatment some Hispanic people have received over the years. He says while he finds the question tough to answer for himself, he considers his children to be American.

He says he wants people who hear his story to take away a few things: we're all human beings, we all have rights, and we should fight for them.

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‘Recognizing Process & Change Would Do Every One A Bit Of Good’: Michael ZimmermanBy TERAN POWELL: April 25, 2019

Since the beginning of the year, our I’m An American series has featured the stories of Muslim, Hispanic and Hmong people, who’ve talked about how the label “American” fits into their identity. Now, we hear from a Native American man who offers another unique perspective.

I first met Michael Zimmerman at the Indian Community School in Franklin, where he was teaching a biweekly Ojibwe Language course.

I had never been to a Native American language class before, but the students said the course helped them get more in touch with their culture.

So, I asked Zimmerman to talk about his culture, and the label he uses to describe himself.

"I identify predominantly as Native. And the Native side isn’t just one thing. So, my fifth great-grandfather was Ojibwe and Odawa ... His mother was Odawa and his father was Ojibwe. But his children were with Potawatomi women, so all of the descendants are Ojibwe, Odawa and Potawatomi," he says.

Zimmerman was born in El Paso, Texas, the oldest of three siblings. His family moved around a lot due to his father’s work, but he grew up primarily in Niles, Michigan. He’s lived in Milwaukee now for 6 years.

Zimmerman says his father’s side of the family is Native American and German, and his mother’s side is Mexican. But, he says he’s always embraced his Native American identity.

"My father made a point to say at a very young age that we were Potawatomi, and that we were Native. Even though we weren’t necessarily living in areas that we would’ve been able to connect with that heritage — because geographically it just wasn’t in the Great Lakes region — we were very keen to know that we came from a place and that we were very specifically Native and a specific kind of Native," he says.

Zimmerman is federally enrolled with the Pokagon band of Potawatomi in Michigan. He says he can trace part of his father’s Native American ancestry back 10 generations — one of his great-grandfathers even fought during the French & Indian War, also known as the Seven Years’ War.

It was the North American conflict between Great Britain and France that latest from 1754 to 1763.

But what I found most interesting as we talked, was what Zimmerman said about the role labels for groups of people play, and the connotations those labels carry.

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Zimmerman brought up the subject when I asked him to discuss misconceptions people have about the Native American community, he says: "I think that right there in and of itself is an example of that; it's not a Native community, it's really Native communities."

Zimmerman says he thinks both Native and non-Native people tend to homogenize too much, putting everyone under one umbrella.

And, he says the word "American" has different connotations, based on the languages Native American tribes speak.

Zimmerman says the words that some tribes use stem from their interactions with European settlers: "When you look at Potawatomi or Ojibwe or any of those, they call them Chimookmon or gichi-mookomaan, and what that means is a really large cutting tool or large cutting knife ... There’s two thoughts of where that came from, one is referring to the bayonets at the end of the guns when they used to have them on their muskets. But another one is the Bowie knife from the 19th century, late 18th

century. But again, it’s always associated with weaponry and it’s always associated with warfare."

While those languages reflect the warfare that took place, he says, tribes also have had non-Mative allies since the beginning.

Zimmerman says if people take anything away from hearing him talk about Native American culture and language, he wants it to be this: "There are still speakers of the language that walk this earth, and you should seek those people out in the time that you still have with them."

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