WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

00:00:00.099 --> 00:00:02.006
- A bunch of kids were like
making fun of me, like,

00:00:02.006 --> 00:00:04.859
why does your mom say say your name weird?

00:00:04.859 --> 00:00:07.526
And I was offended a little bit.

00:00:15.890 --> 00:00:19.971
I was acting and singing
in my first musical play.

00:00:19.971 --> 00:00:23.071
I noticed that my mom was sitting right

00:00:23.071 --> 00:00:26.483
in the restricted front row area.

00:00:26.483 --> 00:00:28.685
She wasn't allowed to do that, ha.

00:00:28.685 --> 00:00:30.400
But, I mean, I love it.

00:00:30.400 --> 00:00:32.970
- I remember my teacher
said that I was doing

00:00:32.970 --> 00:00:34.685
really bad in history.

00:00:34.685 --> 00:00:36.480
And it was just very embarrassing, too,

00:00:36.480 --> 00:00:39.475
because I had to translate that to my mom.

00:00:39.475 --> 00:00:42.207
- There was this time
that the dryer broke.

00:00:42.207 --> 00:00:44.126
And then my dad likes to fix everything.

00:00:44.126 --> 00:00:47.201
But he goes to the store,
comes home and he tells me,

00:00:47.201 --> 00:00:48.749
I need a thum-o-stat.

00:00:48.749 --> 00:00:51.481
I'm like, dad, I don't know,
there's no thum-o-stat.

00:00:51.481 --> 00:00:54.386
And he talks to the guy
again and then I'm like,

00:00:54.386 --> 00:00:56.465
you wanted a thermostat this whole time.

00:00:56.465 --> 00:00:58.424
He was like, sometimes
you just have to try

00:00:58.424 --> 00:01:00.106
to understand what I'm saying.

00:01:00.106 --> 00:01:01.819
- The telemarketer, they'd
come, and she'd say,

00:01:01.819 --> 00:01:04.477
hey, come talk to them, and
I would stand on the phone.

00:01:04.477 --> 00:01:06.273
I'd find out that they
were trying to convince me,

00:01:06.273 --> 00:01:07.781
like a, you know, seven to eight year old,

00:01:07.781 --> 00:01:09.944
trying to sell me insurance
and I don't know how

00:01:09.944 --> 00:01:11.311
to respond to that.

00:01:11.311 --> 00:01:15.111
- Every afternoon my mom
would walk my brother and I

00:01:15.111 --> 00:01:17.766
down to the park in our community.

00:01:17.766 --> 00:01:21.316
This little girl started
kicking sand in my direction.

00:01:21.316 --> 00:01:23.032
My mom, without touching her,

00:01:23.032 --> 00:01:27.434
she puts her hand over her
legs, and she just said, stop.

00:01:27.434 --> 00:01:28.900
She ran off.

00:01:28.900 --> 00:01:33.708
There were four or five big
women pushing each other

00:01:33.708 --> 00:01:35.625
out of the way, grabbing each
other by the shoulders saying,

00:01:35.625 --> 00:01:37.507
let me get a piece of her,
let me get a piece of her.

00:01:37.507 --> 00:01:39.711
My mom just sort of stood
there like why are you talking

00:01:39.711 --> 00:01:41.389
to me, I don't know what's going on.

00:01:41.389 --> 00:01:43.510
I stood in front of
her, eight year old me,

00:01:43.510 --> 00:01:46.400
and I just did this with
my hands to protect my mom.

00:01:46.400 --> 00:01:49.409
There were all these horrific
things that were being said

00:01:49.409 --> 00:01:52.022
to my mom and I had to
translate all of that.

00:01:52.022 --> 00:01:53.370
I lost it.

00:01:53.370 --> 00:01:56.596
Now I was crying and, you
know, standing behind her

00:01:56.596 --> 00:01:58.085
holding onto her shirt.

00:01:58.085 --> 00:02:00.249
Soon enough, boom.

00:02:00.249 --> 00:02:02.499
Punch straight to the face.

00:02:05.392 --> 00:02:08.496
- Because her priorities
were always work, work, work

00:02:08.496 --> 00:02:12.660
in order to survive she
had no time and energy

00:02:12.660 --> 00:02:15.327
to dedicate to learning English.

00:02:19.148 --> 00:02:23.348
- When it comes to shame, I
feel like not only do they

00:02:23.348 --> 00:02:26.814
feel it but I get the
first wave of that shame.

00:02:26.814 --> 00:02:30.403
Having to hear things like
why don't your parents

00:02:30.403 --> 00:02:31.609
speak English?

00:02:31.609 --> 00:02:33.910
You know, while your dad
or your mom are here in

00:02:33.910 --> 00:02:35.884
the background saying things like,

00:02:35.884 --> 00:02:38.175
oh, that lady, she didn't
treat us very well.

00:02:38.175 --> 00:02:40.420
You know, she spoke
like she was very mean.

00:02:40.420 --> 00:02:42.545
- Since I was a young child
trying to help translate

00:02:42.545 --> 00:02:45.646
for my parents people always
had this idea that I didn't

00:02:45.646 --> 00:02:47.366
have the capabilities of
understanding what the

00:02:47.366 --> 00:02:49.283
conversation was about.

00:02:53.102 --> 00:02:55.996
- And I know that when I
was younger, I'd, oh God,

00:02:55.996 --> 00:02:58.934
I'd get so frustrated asking my parents,

00:02:58.934 --> 00:03:01.717
mom, can you help me write a sentence?

00:03:01.717 --> 00:03:05.021
I'm sorry, mija, I don't
know how to do that.

00:03:05.021 --> 00:03:05.880
Go ask your dad.

00:03:05.880 --> 00:03:06.713
Okay.

00:03:06.713 --> 00:03:08.459
Dad, can you help me write a sentence?

00:03:08.459 --> 00:03:10.562
I'm sorry, mija, I don't
know how to do that.

00:03:10.562 --> 00:03:14.194
- She came home from
work and she was, like,

00:03:14.194 --> 00:03:19.181
acting very frustrated and
I was like, mom, what's up?

00:03:19.181 --> 00:03:22.814
And she was like, you know
Sara, you don't understand!

00:03:22.814 --> 00:03:24.527
And I was like, what do you mean, mom?

00:03:24.527 --> 00:03:26.944
And she was like, I'm stupid.

00:03:29.921 --> 00:03:31.838
And she said, I'm slow.

00:03:32.905 --> 00:03:34.155
I'm uneducated.

00:03:35.474 --> 00:03:38.121
And that's how, like, I knew, like,

00:03:38.121 --> 00:03:41.704
my biggest regret in
my entire life is that

00:03:42.604 --> 00:03:46.771
I didn't teach my mom more
English when I was a kid.

00:03:50.808 --> 00:03:53.461
- My dad was a veteran of Vietnam War.

00:03:53.461 --> 00:03:56.480
My parents had to flee
the country so every time

00:03:56.480 --> 00:03:58.927
I have to translate for them I think about

00:03:58.927 --> 00:04:01.332
why do I even have to
do that and it's because

00:04:01.332 --> 00:04:04.832
they sacrificed so much to be here for me.

00:04:07.707 --> 00:04:09.635
- Now that I'm older I
feel like they don't even

00:04:09.635 --> 00:04:11.008
need to learn English.

00:04:11.008 --> 00:04:14.073
Knowing more than I should
know about my parents,

00:04:14.073 --> 00:04:16.816
as a younger kid, makes
me feel much more capable

00:04:16.816 --> 00:04:18.982
to take care of them when they're older.

00:04:18.982 --> 00:04:21.760
- I just want to tell my
parents how much I'm grateful

00:04:21.760 --> 00:04:24.286
for them regardless of
sometimes this forced

00:04:24.286 --> 00:04:26.943
responsibility of having
to be there and translating

00:04:26.943 --> 00:04:27.837
for them.

00:04:27.837 --> 00:04:30.407
It's the least I can do
to repay them for all

00:04:30.407 --> 00:04:31.593
their sacrifices.

00:04:31.593 --> 00:04:32.426
- Mommy!

00:04:34.961 --> 00:04:37.302
(speaking in foreign language)

00:04:37.302 --> 00:04:39.663
It means I love you, mom.

00:04:39.663 --> 00:04:40.496
Very much.

00:04:41.973 --> 00:04:45.223
(light ethereal music)