1. A lot of the replies to this post start with “hi, third-world migrant here” and then outline academic and financial and creative successes. I get the impulse to do this and almost did the same. But, I prefer we didn’t. https://twitter.com/laurenwitzkede/status/1313867438770057218

2. I prefer we didn’t because it feeds into this never-ending cycle of immigrants constantly having to prove themselves, even after decades or generations in a country, even after study after study on our levels of civic engagement, voting, earning, entrepreneurship, and so on.

3. So, I get the impulse to be like, “check my CV and stfu”, but this kind of approach does violence to those in the immigrant community who don’t rise to the level other immigrants in terms of “contribution” - whatever that means.

4. “Their” value is always contingent on “contributions”, even as the goal posts for what this may mean is constantly shifting. Non-immigrants have the privilege of not having to live under constant questioning.

5/5. Feeding into this narrative is partly what allows this woman - who has expressed support for flat-earth theories, QAnon, 9/11 truthers, xenophobic ideas - to claim she is MORE assimilated into the civil society of the US.