00:00When you know that your parents really made sure they birthed you in this country
00:05so that you can have your citizenship, so that you didn't have to struggle,
00:08I know that kind of is what made me so driven on getting an education and getting my master's
00:14and made me sure that, like, I get to work at a place like this where I can speak these
00:17kind of stories.
00:18I'm Nikki. My parents are from St. Mary, Port Maria, Jamaica, and I was born in Brooklyn, New York.
00:24My name is Nana, and my parents are from Ghana, and I was born in New Jersey.
00:28Hi, my name is Kia Brianne, and my parents are from St. Vincent in the Grenadines.
00:33I was born in Carnarcy, Brooklyn.
00:35So my parents speak multiple different languages.
00:37My parents' accent is so deep, like,
00:40Nana, when are you going to come home, man?
00:42You need to learn how to cook jaloff. You need to have a husband.
00:45Ah, ah, ah. You don't know how to speak the language. You don't know anything.
00:48Ah, ah, what's wrong with you?
00:49I'm like, Mom, Dad, you came here 20 years ago, like.
00:52My parents speak patois, and I speak it as well.
00:54They get into their patois, obviously, when we're at family function.
00:57Growing up, Caribbean is like waking up every morning to Berris Hammond, or Bob Marley, or Sanchez.
01:04A lot of the music I listen to as well is, like, from Ghana or Nigeria, just anywhere within, like,
01:09the West African region.
01:11Everything I eat today is, like, very traditional food.
01:14I don't feel like our culture was left in St. Vincent.
01:17They definitely brought it here. We definitely know a lot.
01:20It was kind of us, like, we're Caribbean, but we're American.
01:22We're trying to, like, navigate the waters of love in our Caribbean culture, because that's how we were raised,
01:28but also, like, not trying to talk down on American culture.
01:31My parents really have this, like, traditional mindset.
01:34So education was very, very important.
01:36They wanted us to be doctors and lawyers.
01:38That's what they see as a level of success.
01:42To this day, he still wants me to go to law school. He will not leave it alone.
01:45Yeah, so they grew up in a really strict household, so they just passed that all down to me.
01:50When you're here in the Caribbean, ain't no sleepovers.
01:52Our parents wouldn't just let us go out to parties.
01:55We couldn't borrow clothes from friends.
01:57I was allowed to have a boyfriend to, like...
02:01Just, like, African parents are so religious.
02:04Well, my mom's a pastor as well.
02:06I think they're very much centered in their Christianity.
02:10You out all night Saturday, guess what?
02:12You better come straight in, wash your face, get dressed, because you're going to church.
02:15We have prayer line every night at 10 p.m.
02:17Chores is real. The walls got to be clean.
02:19I would have to, you know, sweep the house, sweep outside the house.
02:23I remember I got a bean for not washing the plates, like, out of my sleep.
02:27Gardening was a very big thing to plant the vegetables and fruits in the backyard.
02:33When you are a product of immigrant parents, you're always proud of them because you know how hard...
02:39Especially in this political climate.
02:42Trump, my parents got their citizenship, so don't try it.
02:45I think one of the biggest struggles for people who aren't from America who come here to try to have
02:52a better life is basically being told to leave.
02:57So, a moment that I was most proud of my parents was, one, when my mom graduated from college, she
03:03got her sociology degree, and I was also very proud of my dad when he got his citizenship.
03:09When you know that it's a struggle, you don't take for granted the access that you have to, like, simple
03:14things that's FAFSA or, like, the refund check.
03:17But, you know, my parents worked hard for me to be in this building, so I don't take that for
03:21granted at all.
