Editor's note: The author, Haimy Assefa, is a CNN news assistant in New York City covering breaking news in the Northeast region. (Photograph: Meb Keflezighi at the 2014 Boston Marathon/Getty Images)
By Haimy Assefa
April 22nd, 2014
I was born in Ethiopia, raised in Oklahoma and Colorado, and ended up in Brooklyn, New York.
Coming to America from Ethiopia, a place where black and white were only colors that had little to do with race, I had to learn English, and also the language of identity.
In America, I was black.
So when some online commenters questioned whether Boston Marathon winner and Eritrean-American Meb Keflezighi is truly “American,” it reminded me of my own experience as an immigrant who became a naturalized American citizen and embraced a new identity.
Read the full article at CNN.com.
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Related:
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