Informing You of Immigrant Impacts
Ron
My father was born in Spain to parents who were poor farmers. Since his family grew up with nothing, he decided he wanted a better life for himself. He decided to go to medical school in Havana, Cuba, which is where I was born. My mother, who has a PhD in mathematics, was teaching at the University of Havana while my dad was attending school. Once my dad graduated, we moved back to Madrid, Spain to escape communist Cuba. After moving to Spain, my father then decided to move us to the Bronx, NY (using a work visa) in search of the "American Dream". When he arrived, he
My Mother, Father, and Brother
was told that his training as a doctor would not be recognized in America, so he had to learn English well enough to take a medical examination. In the meantime, he was forced to work at Ford Motor Company where his job was to install air conditioning units. He did this so he could provide for his family until he could learn the language well enough to pass the examination, obtain a residency, and eventually a fellowship.
While in New York, my brother and I were put in boarding school in upstate New York, which was difficult because we were separate from our family while in a new country. After living in New York for a couple of years, my father moved our family to Virginia where he worked as a surgeon at a local hospital, and then he moved us to Georgia to start his own practice. Since we didn’t have any family in the U.S., we had very little external support, meaning our father was the sole provider for our family. Georgia was hard for us because it was a very racist place. The town we lived in was slightly welcoming due to my father being the only doctor in town (they needed him), but there was no shortage of discrimination and racist slurs. For example, one time, when I was picking up a girl for a date, her dad asked where I was from. I responded that I was born in Cuba, but I am of Spanish descent, and he said “Spanish descent? That just means half n*****”. After high school I attended Georgia College, which is where I started dating the woman who would be my wife. I was able to meet her because our fathers were both doctors and had become friends. She is Cuban and came to the U.S. to escape communism. Now we have twin daughters, and still live in the Atlanta, Georgia area.