Different backgrounds, different reasons: Immigrants share their stories DANNEISHA MCDOLE
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tepping into a new country and culture that are entirely unfamiliar and trying to make this new place home — that is what it is to be an immigrant. In 2015, an estimated 652,090 Michigan residents were immigrants, representing 7 percent of the state’s population, according to the American Immigration Council. Two immigrants that currently reside in Kalamazoo and a son of immigrants were interviewed, and although their stories are different, they also share themes of resiliency, cross-cultural understanding and pride. Brian Powers
Wanting her voice heard Chien-Juh Gu, 50, is a professor in the sociology department at Western Michigan University. She was born in Taiwan, where she 22 | ENCORE AUGUST 2020
grew up in a 10-person household. The men in her family were dominant, leaving her and her mother not having a say in their lifestyle and choices, she says. “I felt like I didn’t have a role or a voice in my own home,” Gu says. “Due to three generations and the society I lived in, men had a say and more power, and it was difficult to go along with that belief.” After years of living in her country, and after marrying a Chinese man, she and her husband decided to move to the United States for a better life. “I have more freedom and choices I can make that not only best suits me but for my family,” Gu says. Although she obtained her Ph.D. in sociology, started a family and settled in
Kalamazoo, Gu still faced more challenges while living in the U.S. “The most challenging thing in my professional life is how to get my message across and to be taken seriously,” Gu says. “Maybe I am too soft-spoken or I’m a woman. There are multiple factors that I try finding the answer to, which can be frustrating.” Gu wants herself as well as fellow immigrants and minorities to be treated fairly and, most importantly, to have a voice.
Second-generation American For second-generation American Jonathon Chitaya, his experience in the United States is very different from his parents’. Chitaya, 21, a student at WMU, was born and grew up in Michigan, raised by Malawian
