The first of our losses happened on September 11, 2001. Years later, during my freshman year at college, a popular topic of conversation in the dining hall was where you were on 9/11. I learned that no matter how far away you were from New York that day, no matter how distant your connection to that day was, no matter how much lower than zero the count of the people you lost on that day was, if you were white, 9/11 happened to you personally, with blunt and scalding force. Because the antithesis of an American is an immigrant and because we could not be victims in the public eye, we became suspects. And so September 11 changed the immigration landscape forever.

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"She warned him not to be deceived by appearances, for beauty is found within."

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"We should never judge someone based on their appearance."

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"Beauty and ugliness are merely subjective labels. What matters is who we are inside."

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"When we see beyond appearances, we discover the true essence of a person."

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"Worry is a misuse of imagination."

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