In celebration of America\u2019s 250th anniversary<\/a>, San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight asked local residents of various ethnicities what the U.S. means to them, how they feel about the current state of our country and what changes they\u2019d like to see as the nation moves forward.<\/p>\n Below are their responses.<\/p>\n Arlene Tatsuno Damrun<\/p>\n Arlene Tatsuno Damrun, 81, is the owner of Nichi Bei Bussan, a longstanding store in Japantown specializing in Japanese goods. The store recently celebrated its 78th anniversary in San Jose, but the storefront was spawned years before in San Francisco by her father Dave. It has weathered many storms, including the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fires, World War II and when the government seized Japanese people\u2019s properties and shipped them to internment camps.<\/p>\n Tatsuno Damrun has also witnessed the generations of change the country has rode through. Born in 1944 in the Topaz internment camp in Utah, she spent seven months there before her family was released. She is a third generation American who sees the echoes of the country\u2019s past repeating today. She wants Americans to gain a deeper appreciation for all the varying cultures that exist in this \u201csalad bowl\u201d \u2014 the diversity of stories that makes this country beautiful and what makes her proud to be an American.<\/p>\n What does it mean to you and your family to be an American?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n America is potentially a wonderful place. It\u2019s a nation where there\u2019s not just one race. People in the past have talked about the U.S. as a melting pot. I don\u2019t believe so. My thought is that we\u2019re a salad. All these separate veggies are wonderful in themselves. They have their own special qualities, whether it\u2019s slimy like okra, or tangy, or sharp, or sweet or crunchy. Now you toss them all together in a bowl, like our country. Each one is contributing. They\u2019re bringing something very unique and very special to that bowl. Now, you can still tell a tomato is a tomato. But it has all these added additional flavors from all these other ingredients that have contributed. We get a little rough around the edges. I\u2019m sure we\u2019ve seen a lot of that lately, but you look for the best.<\/p>\n They\u2019ve always called the U.S. the land of opportunity. How many people have come for that very same reason from different countries, whether (they\u2019re) coming from Europe, South America, Mexico, Canada over the ocean from the Pacific. Essentially, people came for a better life. That\u2019s universal.<\/p>\n I think what happened after internment, it became very important for Japanese Americans, who were very upstanding people, to show how wrong the government was.<\/p>\n For how many years has the world wondered, \u2018How (did) the German people allow Hitler to do what he did to the Jewish people?\u2019 Fast forward. It\u2019s Putin. What was he doing to Ukrainians? Pretty much the same kind of thing. Echoes of the past. Learn from history.<\/p>\n What are your thoughts on the current state of our country?<\/p>\n It is a sad state. I don\u2019t know how we got this way. It\u2019s easy to start labeling people and not giving people the benefit of doubt. I think what we\u2019re missing, especially (from) COVID, (when) everybody had to shelter in place \u2014 you couldn\u2019t have dialogue, you couldn\u2019t meet with people. People need connection.<\/p>\n What changes do you want to see moving forward in our country?<\/p>\n More understanding. The only way you do that is by talking to people with an open mind, and it shouldn\u2019t be us against them. What can we learn from all these different types of people?<\/p>\n We have a unique opportunity, because we have such diversity (in Santa\u00a0 Clara County). Other places you don\u2019t have it. On any given weekend during the summer, how many different kinds of ethnic community festivals could you go to?<\/p>\n I think we keep on being positive. It\u2019s hard to be positive sometimes. (More than a century ago) you didn\u2019t even know when the Civil War ended when you were in California. Now you know all the bad things happening all around the country, all around the world at every given moment. And you can\u2019t do anything about it, really. So what you need to do is actually talk to people, share, help people in whatever little spot you have.<\/p>\n Francisco Uvliz<\/p>\n Francisco Uvliz is managing director of SantaFe Mercado \u2014 Carniceria<\/a>, a Mexican grocery store serving Santa Clara County. When he was younger, he worked at a student-run news radio station in Mexico before later settling in California.<\/p>\n Drawing on his experiences in both countries, Uvliz said he views being American as a powerful idea rooted in opportunity and connection. He hopes the country continues creating more equal opportunities so people can work, support their families and build better lives.<\/p>\n What does it mean to you and your family to be an American?<\/p>\n The word American I feel is very strong, it\u2019s a big word and it encompasses a lot. First of all it can be inspiring, it\u2019s inspiring for us (Latinos) working in a Mexican market being American because we have daily interaction with others. The word American makes us think because it\u2019s such a big word it encompasses a lot of topics, specifically being American and working in a place like this creates a close relationship with people.<\/p>\n What are your thoughts on the current state of the country?<\/p>\n I don\u2019t have much of an opinion, but I think we should focus on what we are doing. I think if it\u2019s going well for one person, it will go well for the rest of us. For our workers here (at the market), we always try to give them the best work experience so they feel happy in a safe work environment for them and their family.<\/p>\n What changes do you want to see moving forward in our country?<\/p>\n I think it would be best to create more opportunities for people. There are always people coming to the United States to find work and unemployment is so high. I just feel there needs to be more equal opportunities and they should create more labor jobs for the people that are here.<\/p>\n We have to be a bit more open, level the playing field, that we can all have the same access. I think everyone wants to work and aspires to move up in the world. If we give other people the opportunity and space, then there will be great results.<\/p>\n Monika Badwal<\/p>\n Monika Badwal, 31, lives in San Jose and owes her strength and confidence to her parents, who immigrated from India to the U.S. after living through war, genocide and a caste system. It pushed her parents to want something different for themselves and their three children, even if it meant they had to start at the bottom.<\/p>\n They took whatever work they could find \u2014 sales, management, maintenance, construction and administrative work. They even owned a business. Badwal\u2019s sister is a doctor and her brother is an engineer. They support each other\u2019s career goals. She said her brother pushed her and her sister to pursue their master\u2019s degrees and they\u2019ve helped him financially. Today, Badwal works in human resources.<\/p>\n What does it mean to you and your family to be an American?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n I love the freedom that we have. Politics aside, being American is a good head start that our parents gave us, and I\u2019m glad to be American. I\u2019m super grateful.<\/p>\n (My parents) wanted us to have a chance to be able to have the freedom of choosing who we wanted to be without constraints. I\u2019m so thankful every day for my parents. Seeing what they had gone through, what my grandparents had gone through and had to live through. My grandfather, my dad, they\u2019re all army men, so they traveled a lot. But it\u2019s tough everywhere outside of America. We have our struggles here too, but it\u2019s different.<\/p>\n (My parents) were working like dogs and also getting an education. My mom put herself through school to get a better job that could provide for us. They worked really hard. They struggled and they got us to have a great start to our life.<\/p>\n What are your thoughts on the current state of the country?<\/p>\n It\u2019s scary, to be honest. We don\u2019t know if tomorrow we\u2019re going to war or something will (be) happening to us.<\/p>\n What changes do you want to see moving forward in our country?<\/p>\n I want everyone to remind themselves to be kind. Be empathetic toward each other. This hate stuff needs to stop. We have to support everyone. We\u2019re all human. Find your purpose and live it.<\/p>\n Philip Nguyen<\/p>\n Philip Nguyen, 32, is a second-generation Vietnamese American who has dedicated his working life to fostering the community ties that bind together members of the Vietnamese diaspora in the Bay Area.<\/p>\n As the head of the Vietnamese American Roundtable<\/a>, a San Jose based nonprofit, Nguyen oversees a small team working on community initiatives to boost civic engagement, voter awareness and cultural understanding. Nguyen, who previously taught Asian American Studies at San Jose State University, said the life he enjoys now has only been possible because of the opportunities his family has found in the U.S. since fleeing Vietnam in the 1970s.<\/p>\n What does it mean to you and your family to be an American?<\/p>\n My family came to the United States as refugees after the end of the Vietnam War \u2014 after living under the communist regime in Vietnam. My grandparents had been associated with the Republic of Vietnam or South Vietnam. They came through the orderly departure program and the humanitarian operation, and then ended up settling in California.<\/p>\n I think for me, America represents a land of opportunity. I think for (my parents), growing up, they really emphasized the importance of education for me. They oftentimes reminded me that they lost their opportunity to get educated, living under the communist regime, having lived through a time of war.<\/p>\n For me and my younger sister, a lot of our opportunity here in the United States was to make sure that by getting an education or going through the educational process, that\u2019s something that no one would be able to take away from me. And so they were able to find their way in Vietnam as refugees and then raise us in this sort of refugee immigrant household, where we\u2019re able to seize that opportunity America promised them when they originally came.<\/p>\n What are your thoughts on the current state of our country?<\/p>\n I think that political division, vitriol, is probably at its highest in terms of the tension that we feel and our connection to what it means to actually be American. I think it\u2019s particularly hard to be American right now, especially living in the United States, and especially coming from a refugee and immigrant family, because it seems like the America that was promised to my parents, this land of opportunity, this land of freedom, isn\u2019t something that\u2019s necessarily accessible to people like them, or even me by extension.<\/p>\n There are a lot of values I grew up learning about America that don\u2019t seem to be upheld right now by the people in leadership. We need more, better role models in leadership, particularly civic leadership. And so we are at maybe a dire time in American history right now, one that we haven\u2019t seen before. But if there\u2019s anything American history teaches us, it\u2019s that it\u2019s in these moments where the people are much more motivated to come together and fight against things like oppression or injustice or inequality.<\/p>\n What changes do you want to see moving forward in our country?<\/p>\n Maybe having a little bit more compassion for humanity in all of its forms, both inside of the United States and with respect to the global plight of refugees and people that are affected by war.<\/p>\n I think that at our best, we\u2019re able to see each other for who we are. To see a common humanity in each other. I think we\u2019re at our best when we work together to get things done, both within our community and as neighbors here in San Jose and Santa Clara County.<\/p>\n Kimberly Eng Lee<\/p>\n Kimberly Eng Le, 60, is the co-president of the Chinese Historical and Cultural Project (CHCP). She is originally from Chinatown in New York City, after her father and great-grandfather both immigrated separately from China. Lee said she was fascinated by CHCP\u2019s work after moving to Palo Alto.<\/p>\n Through her experiences learning about Chinese and American culture, Lee encourages people across the U.S. to be willing to listen to others and acknowledge that while the country still has its fair share of problems, it\u2019s also important to celebrate what we\u2019ve accomplished.<\/p>\n What does it mean to you and your family to be an American?<\/p>\n I tell my children we really want to learn from and borrow the best of both cultures. So I feel fully American, and I would say fully Chinese. And actually, in later generations, you\u2019re learning what that actually means and how you practice that. I think it\u2019s exciting to know that you want to honor the past and still be able to remind future generations of what was precious about it, as well as what was challenging about it.<\/p>\n What are your thoughts on the current state of our country?<\/p>\n I think that the Chinese community has always been one that is cognizant that there\u2019s been pressure on our existence, with the Exclusion Act<\/a>, which restricted immigration into the United States and has cast a shadow for a long time. I actually think of this as a very exciting time for Chinese Americans, and by virtue, I hope for other AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander) folks, because we\u2019re established. Now, I think you see the prevalence of Chinese Americans and other AAPIs in all facets of industries and areas.<\/p>\n It\u2019s important to remember that there\u2019s no longer this need to justify ourselves. Our country was built with two-plus parties, and so there\u2019s going to be a pendulum swing all the time, and so to try to not get political but really hold to values is what\u2019s really important. What we don\u2019t want is to end up at a point where we\u2019re always at extremes, because then it\u2019s a very volatile back and forth.<\/p>\n What changes do you want to see moving forward in our country?<\/p>\n I think one is to listen to each other, not just to talk at each other. I always say I don\u2019t know what I don\u2019t know. We\u2019re always going to be passionate about what we know and what we\u2019ve already heard of, but when you see somebody else who\u2019s passionate about something that you don\u2019t know about or something maybe you don\u2019t agree about, then I think it\u2019s really important to understand where it came from.<\/p>\n We\u2019re all human, bringing it back down to a place of commonality helps us better understand why there was some divergence, and to what extent can people hold their different views. We have freedom of speech, that means it\u2019s understood that we would have different opinions and views on things.<\/p>\n Annia Maria Lopez<\/p>\n Annia Maria Lopez has spent the past five years building a life in San Jose while co-managing Delizias Panaderia. She said moving to the U.S. from Mexico has offered opportunities she values, but recent economic uncertainty and immigration policies have changed how secure she feels about the country\u2019s future.<\/p>\n Watching customers buy fewer items than they once did has reinforced her belief that leaders should prioritize strengthening the economy and creating more possibilities for working families. She said the economic slowdown has become visible from behind the bakery counter. Customers who once bought 10 pieces of bread now buy only three. She said this pullback is evidence of growing financial uncertainty for many families.<\/p>\n What does it mean to you and your family to be an American?<\/p>\n I feel good living in a country where there are more opportunities. The people who want to take advantage will take the advantage, and they\u2019ve had a simple life until the immigration policies\u00a0started happening. Everything was fine until that moment. Now it feels a bit uncertain.<\/p>\n What are your thoughts on the current state of the country?<\/p>\n I feel like things are not as good as they used to be. It feels like there is no sense of economic security<\/a>. I feel more security in social settings. It feels that the economy has worsened as opposed to the previous years. People are not buying and spending money like they used to, and sales are dwindling. There are always customers, but they are consuming less.<\/p>\n What changes do you want to see moving forward in our country?<\/p>\n I feel that our government needs to focus more on the economy<\/a> than to be focused on immigration policy<\/a>. They need to implement or help small businesses or entrepreneurs. They need to educate people so they can have more jobs, so people can feel comfortable investing and buying. I feel like people just need more opportunities.<\/p>\n Tan Nguyen<\/p>\n Tan Nguyen, 50, likes to joke that he was given seven lives, and he spent six of them trying to make it to the U.S.<\/p>\n Nguyen was born in Saigon in the 1970s. Amid the chaos and economic deprivation of postwar-Vietnam, his family spent years searching for a way to leave the country. However, it wasn\u2019t until 1987 that Tan finally made his way to a refugee camp, where he lived for a year before settling in the Bay Area.<\/p>\n The family\u2019s earlier, unsuccessful attempts to emigrate had cost them nearly all their savings, leaving just enough money to pay for one person\u2019s journey out of Vietnam. As a result, when Nguyen left in his youth, he made the trip alone, leaving his family behind to begin a new life in a country half a world away.<\/p>\n If this is Tan\u2019s seventh life, he said that he is pleased with it. The longtime Willow Glen resident became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1996. He went on to work in IT in the tech sector, and has also become a martial arts teacher, offering free lessons to the public through his school, Than Phong Taekwondo.<\/p>\n What does it mean to you and your family to be an American?<\/p>\n Let put this way \u2014 it\u2019s just like a new life to me, completely different. When I came here, besides from \u2018hello, bye,\u2019 I knew nothing else. Pretty much. So I went to school. I learned the language completely \u2014 just like a 3-year-old kid.<\/p>\n What are your thoughts on the current state of our country?<\/p>\n The one thing I would say now is education. The education back when I went to college, I only paid $4 per unit. But these days, if you go to four-year college, it will normally cost you about $200,000. So, the students now will have a tough time if they have to borrow the loans the way we used to.<\/p>\n The second aspect, I see also that people now are less social compared to in the 90s. Back then, in the 90s, neighbors go out talking and playing around and let the children play together. But now I hardly to see that. Sometimes I drive around the different neighborhoods to see if they have any neighborhood gathering or event regularly like before. I don\u2019t see that often, anymore.<\/p>\n What changes do you want to see moving forward in our country?<\/p>\n I think safety. I think that is very important for the community. Every single day when I look at government news, somewhere there is a shooting, or some news that police did not respond quick enough or because we don\u2019t have enough resources. So safety, that is one thing I found when I first came here, and I think this day is still very very important.<\/p>\n Tom Izu<\/p>\n Tom Izu, 68, is the board president of the Japanese American Museum of San Jose and a member of the Northern California chapter of American Civil Liberties Union.<\/p>\n Izu has dedicated his life to fighting for the expansion of civil rights. When he was 22, he organized support for the national reparations movement in Japantown, urging elders to testify in Congress about their experiences in internment camps. Japanese Americans won that victory when Congress passed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, providing all survivors $20,000, along with a formal apology from the U.S. government and the creation of an education trust fund.<\/p>\n Izu\u2019s soft voice and introverted demeanor don\u2019t fit the fiery image people may associate with an activist. Instead, Izu disarms with a steely conviction to carry on the wishes of the generation of Japanese Americans before him \u2014 to never let what his parents and grandparents experienced in internment camps happen again.<\/p>\n What does it mean to you and your family to be an American?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n It makes me realize my commitment to social justice and equality. I get a lot of strength to keep going because of who I am, because of my Japanese American ancestry. I owe it to this community to fight for these things because I think our story as Japanese Americans won\u2019t have a future unless we keep doing this.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not even sure how long (our story as Japanese Americans) would have survived if we didn\u2019t go through this redress movement because it helped open things up and get people to reflect on who they were as Japanese Americans, and what role we have in the broader community.<\/p>\n So one of the things about learning about the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans in more detail and going through this movement, I realize not only do I owe it to the past generations to keep talking about this, but it\u2019s also really important to have Japanese Americans help other communities that are facing similar things that we went through.<\/p>\n I feel like I owe it to the older generations to keep fighting for what they were hoping would happen, that (internment and racism) wouldn\u2019t happen to anybody else. That\u2019s another reason why I\u2019m involved in the museum.<\/p>\n What are your thoughts on the current state of our country?<\/p>\n I am very alarmed it\u2019s going down this path, and that things that used to be considered so basic to the principles of this country, like basic civil rights, civil liberties, are just being ignored completely.<\/p>\n There\u2019s this incredible movement to try to get rid of a lot of the progress that has been made in this country for all groups. That is very depressing at times. It does make me feel fearful and uncomfortable.<\/p>\n I try first to think of the whole history of this country, which actually isn\u2019t that long either as the United States, but it\u2019s gone through lots of ups and downs. Sometimes people say this is the worst ever. But when you think about it, this country started under slavery and after the destruction of the Indigenous communities.<\/p>\n Right now is one of the real down periods. But we\u2019re going to keep fighting for equality. I do it very proudly as a Japanese American, because I think the history of Japanese Americans speaks to that.<\/p>\n I think communities of color and immigrant communities have really fought to make the Constitution actually mean something. And a lot of them have not really been given the credit due to them for being in the front line of pushing these really basic things.<\/p>\n What changes do you want to see moving forward in our country?<\/p>\n A real basic one is for people to demand the rule of law to be followed. On a basic level, things like individual due process rights should be followed. We would like the courts to stand by that, and elected officials to stand by that and all the people here (to) stand for that too, so they won\u2019t let these (violations) happen.<\/p>\n The rule of law is really important \u2014 and individual\u2019s due process, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights \u2014 as imperfect as they are. Not only to defend civil liberties, but to expand them and to create civil rights, more civil rights, because that\u2019s the whole reason for the civil rights movement, was that we need to form protective classes because they\u2019re being mistreated.<\/p>\n Vettri Arumugam<\/p>\n Vettri Arumugam, 34, came to America from India to pursue his master\u2019s degree at the University of Texas in Dallas. Upon graduating, he got a job as a software engineer specializing in Wi-Fi and wireless technology in San Jose. He has been in the U.S. for 10 years.<\/p>\n Arumugam would like to see immigration guidelines change. He said his family can\u2019t move to America due to current immigration policies. Even their visits are limited to four months a year, he said.<\/p>\n What does it mean to you and your family to be an American?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Being an American gives you a lot of opportunities to grow a career and it provides you and your family with education. I like all those things, living here.<\/p>\n What are your thoughts on the current state of the country?\u00a0<\/p>\n The way the current government operates, I have my concerns. If we could stop financing all the global wars and start focusing on domestic growth, that would be great. Start focusing on public transport.<\/p>\n What changes do you want to see moving forward in our country?<\/p>\n Less hatred toward immigrants; people showing love and affection toward people who are trying to work hard and build a life for themselves.<\/p>\n Michelle Zhang\u00a0<\/p>\n Michelle Zhang is the CEO and founder of the Society of Heart\u2019s Delight, a Bay Area nonprofit that helps Chinese-speaking immigrants become more involved in their communities through various outreach programs.<\/p>\n Zhang, a Chinese native and former lawyer in her country, moved to San Jose from Chengdu, China in 2017. She moved to the area with her former partner because China is not considered an LGBTQ-friendly nation. Even though homosexuality is legal in China, there are no anti-discrimination protections and same-sex marriage is banned. At the time her former partner, who was from San Jose, wanted to return home.<\/p>\n Zhang said she moved to San Jose from China to continue her lifelong commitment to justice, freedom, equality and to build stronger connections between Chinese-speaking immigrants and local civic life. She said she moved to the area because China doesn\u2019t allow same-sex marriage, and she wanted to be with her former partner at the time.<\/p>\n What does it mean to you and your family to be an American?<\/p>\n I love this country. Before I moved to San Jose, I was a lawyer in corporate law, foreign investment. But I\u2019ve always been really passionate about politics and social justice. So when I was in China, I was involved in lots of grassroots LGBTQ rights, women\u2019s rights and that kind of stuff.<\/p>\n I moved to the Bay Area because the environment even empowers me more. So we started this organization, Society of Heart\u2019s Delight, right before the pandemic hit, and now it\u2019s been over six years. Our mission is to empower the Chinese community to engage fully in our local civic and cultural life and foster a greater sense of belonging.<\/p>\n What are your thoughts on the current state of our country?<\/p>\n So, definitely, our current administration on a federal level is not friendly to immigrants. As an immigrant community member and building an immigrant community, we can feel like the attacks and the hostility (from) the administration are anti-immigrant to those from all different backgrounds. So this has definitely changed. We can feel it. It\u2019s normalized. Trump changed corporate culture. He\u2019s right now trying to basically make America turn into an authoritarian regime.\u00a0 I think civic engagement and cross-cultural collaborations are key to change. We can change here. We encourage more people, immigrants, to participate in our civic life. Democracy takes people, all people. It needs more people to take part, right? To contribute their wisdom and ideas, and to have open and free conversations. Every person is their own. They have their own fire and they have their own network. They can influence the circle network around them.<\/p>\n I wouldn\u2019t say I can create change on the national level, and we do work with congressmembers, senators and state assemblymembers, but it\u2019s important to focus on daily life. As long as we can encourage more people, Chinese, Vietnamese, Mexicans, all people to be more engaged, make friends and come together to discuss topics. It will lift everyone up.<\/p>\n \u00a0The following reporters contributed to this project: Keith Menconi at [email\u00a0protected]<\/a> or @KeithMenconi on X. Joyce Chu at\u00a0[email\u00a0protected]<\/a>\u00a0or @joyce_speaks on X. Maryanne Casas-Perez at [email\u00a0protected]<\/a> or @CasasPerezRed on X. Lorraine Gabbert at [email\u00a0protected]<\/a> and Gabriel Symkowick at\u00a0[email\u00a0protected]<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Immigrants from around the world are drawn to America for the opportunity to create a better life, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":404425,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[712,14,88,90,89],"class_list":["post-404424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-centerpiece","tag-immigration","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=404424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_7584-1024x768.jpeg\")
Arlene Tatsuno Damrun owns Nichi Bei Bussan, a longstanding store in Japantown specializing in Japanese goods. Photo by Joyce Chu.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_1323-1024x768.jpeg\")
Francisco Uvliz, new managing director of SantaFe Mercado \u2014 Carniceria, said being American means building relationships with people from different backgrounds and creating opportunities for workers and their families. Photo by Maryanne Casas-Perez.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/PXL_20260711_184115036-1024x771.jpg\")
Monika Badwal is grateful her parents came to the U.S. and appreciates the freedom Americans have. Photo by Lorraine Gabbert.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_6434-1024x768.jpg\")
While Philip Nguyen said his family has enjoyed opportunities since immigrating to the U.S. from Vietnam in the 1970s, he worries that for too many, the American dream is beginning to fade. Photo by Keith Menconi.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Chinese-Kimberly-Eng-Lee-1024x683.jpg\")
Kimberly Eng Lee is co-president of the Chinese Historical and Cultural Project at the Chinese Museum in History Park. Photo by Gabriel Symkowick.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_1324-1024x768.jpeg\")
Annia Maria Lopez, a bakery worker in Santa Clara County, said she has noticed customers buying less as economic uncertainty has grown. Photo by Maryanne Casas-Perez.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_6443-1024x768.jpg\")
After fleeing post-war Vietnam in the 1980s, Tan Nguyen has embraced his new life in the U.S., where he works in the tech industry and gives back by offering free taekwondo lessons to the public. Photo by Keith Menconi.<\/p>\n![\"Japanese](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_7609-1024x768.jpeg\")
Tom Izu, 68, is board president of the Japanese American Museum of San Jose and a member of the Northern California chapter of American Civil Liberties Union. Photo by Joyce Chu.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/PXL_20260711_1901444052-1024x762.jpg\")
Software engineer Vettri Arumugam said being an American offers opportunities to further your education and career. Photo by Lorraine Gabbert.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_6150-1024x768.jpeg\")
Michelle Zhang, CEO and founder of the Society of Heart\u2019s Delight. Photo by Gabriel Symkowick.<\/p>\n![\"In-line](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/interactive-321838904008.png\")
<\/a>What changes do you want to see moving forward in our country?<\/p>\n