This blue cat is a stuffed animal that my mom received as a child in Italy before she immigrated to America. To this day, this is the only thing my mom owns from her childhood and when she immigrated to this country. This artifact is valuable and has sentimental meaning to both my family and I because it reminds us to be proud of our culture and heritage on a daily basis. This message is vital to me because every day since I started middle school, I have been teased and harassed about being Italian. I used to take pride in my culture and within a few months of my 6th grade year, I told my family to not call or consider me as Italian. I was ashamed of who I was. It took a year before I spoke up about the situation and began to truly accept myself and my culture. This blue cat gives me and my family courage to be who we are and to be thankful for what we have. If my mother never came to America and worked hard to get to where she is today, then I would've never been able to have the life that I do today and people would never hear of this story about my mother's blue cat. 

– DK

Relationship:  Child of im/migrant Child of im/migrant