Thread by @mikamckinnon

I’m a Canadian/American dual citizen currently living in Canada.

My first memory is of eucalyptus trees rattling in the wind the night we arrived to our new home in California.

My second memory is Loma Prieta earthquake, watching San Francisco burn from Marin Headlands.

I swore my first oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States when I was 13. I’ve lost track of how often I’ve renewed that vow.

I spent the next 5 years teaching youth rights & registering 18-year-olds to vote, teased I was an immigrant unable to vote myself.

My American naturalization ceremony was scheduled for 9/12.

It took a very long time to reschedule.

I’ve lived exactly half my life in each of my countries. I travel so much between them that I maintain spreadsheets to track residency.

I love both fiercely. They’re complicated & messy & it’s my civic duty to call them out, but I couldn’t surrender either. They’re home.

Current rhetoric has me stressed & on edge. I’m as invisible as immigrants come between colour, name, accent, & culture, and I’m not even in America right now.

Yet still.
Now amplify that unease for the tens of million immigrants living in America.

It’s another rough night.