San Antonio, Texas mayor Julian Castro’s Tuesday night speech was pretty powerful. He brought a freshness and immediacy to the American dream through the immigrant experience.
Translation: this little girl’s daddy just spit hot fire and she knows it.
People will talk about this speech for years to come and the comparison with Barack Obama’s 2004 DNC address is obvious. The part of the speech that struck me the most was a detail about his grandmother:
The Castro family lore rings true for so many Americans but I often wonder about immigrants like me. We are the first in our families to come the United States seeking a path to citizenship. We came in the post-civil rights era and we don’t necessarily identify with the activists of that time. But a polite, calm, half-black guy that’s lived overseas? He might just hold the key to our future. -Amina“My grandmother didn’t live to see us begin our lives in public service. But she probably would have thought it extraordinary that just two generations after she arrived in San Antonio, one grandson would be the mayor and the other would be on his way—the good people of San Antonio willing—to the United States Congress.
My family’s story isn’t special. What’s special is the America that makes our story possible. Ours is a nation like no other, a place where great journeys can be made in a single generation. No matter who you are or where you come from, the path is always forward.
