I part of this great nation because my grandfather was born here in Cincinnati Ohio. He took a horse back in 1895 and ride it all the way down to Guanajuato looking for his American dream. No penny in his pocket only dreams in his head. And he was an immigrant coming from the States into Mexico. And he found his American dream in Mexico.
My dad came from Cuba when he was a teenager not speaking English. And I grew up here speaking Spanglish. That's the world in which I grew up and that's a world in which a lot of second generation immigrants find themselves.
The culture is going into a psychological depression. We are concerned about our place in the world about being competitive: Will my children have as much as I have? Will I ever own my own home? How can I pay for a new car? Are immigrants taking away my white world?
The U.S. tries to provide immigrants who grow up here with a world-class education and imbue them with the can-do attitude that has long defined American innovation.
All art comes from other art and all immigrants come from other places.
The anger that Uncle Junior has comes from my background. My father was the son of an Italian immigrant and I've seen the fire of the Italian temperament. It can be explosive sometimes in ways that are both funny and tragic.