Edwidge Danticat on immigration
Edwidge Danticat: I hope my book becomes one of many that presents a face of immigration that people should find familiar because, ultimately, we are like everybody else. Our parents were dreamers. They were pioneers. They were these people who decided, "Hey, I want a better life. I'm going to travel to a different country. I'm going to work really hard. I'm going to try to do the best for my children," and so I hope the book gives a face to that, to at least one immigrant family, an immigrant family that functions the way a lot of immigrant families function these days in that we are very committed to the country where we are—in this case the United States—but also have very strong ties back home. I hope it offers also a glimpse into a problematic immigration system. One that, as we have seen over the past year or so with all these children who are coming, any of these kids could have been me or my brother. People who are afraid for their families, who feel desperate, do desperate things, so I hope the book will allow people to have a context to those stories and also chime in into this immigration debate that we're constantly having because the best way, I think, for people to understand one another is by sharing their stories. And I hope that by sharing my story, I can make it easier for people to understand the story of their own neighbors, who might have slightly different stories than we do, but still have certain things with us in common.
Edwidge Danticat discusses how she hopes Brother, I'm Dying gives a face to immigrant families.