TY - BOOK AU - Ali,Wajahat TI - Go back to where you came from: and other helpful recommendations on how to become American SN - 9780393867978 PY - 2022///] CY - New York, NY PB - W. W. Norton & Company KW - Ali, Wajahat. KW - Children of immigrants KW - United States KW - Biography KW - Pakistani Americans KW - Political activists KW - Journalists KW - Ethnic relations KW - Social conditions KW - 1980-2020 KW - Autobiographies KW - lcgft N1 - Includes bibliographical references (pages [241]-258) N2 - "A rollercoaster ride of a memoir, by turns hilarious and heartbreaking, by the journalist, playwright, and political activist Wajahat Ali. "Go back to where you came from, you terrorist!" This is just one of the many warm, lovely, and helpful tips that Wajahat Ali and other children of immigrants receive on a daily basis. Go back where exactly? His hometown in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he can't afford rent? Awkward, left-handed, suffering from OCD, and wearing Husky pants, Ali grew up on the margins of the American mainstream, devoid of Brown superheroes, where people like him were portrayed as goofy sidekicks, shop owners with funny accents, sweaty terrorists, or aspiring sweaty terrorists. Driven by his desire to expand the American narrative to include protagonists who look like him, he became a writer, and in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks, an accidental activist and ambassador of all things Muslim-y. He uses his pen with turmeric-stained fingernails to fill in missing narratives, challenge the powerful, and booby trap racist stereotypes. In his bold, hopeful and hilarious memoir, Ali offers indispensable lessons and strategies to help cultivate a more compassionate America"-- ER -