The Ungrateful Refugee: What Immigrants Never Tell You

While Nayeri travels with Daniel at an airport in 2009, he jokes with a security guard who doesn’t select them for a random screening. Daniel is the type of immigrant the West likes—an affable, hardworking man who was a star athlete in high school. At one point, Daniel calls her an untrustworthy “chameleon” who regularly changes personas (330). Nayeri accepts the accusation: Since she has lighter skin and a nose job, she can indulge in White privilege while still claiming Iranian ancestry when it suits her. This advantage is unavailable to the darker-skinned Daniel.

Immigrants often discuss the possibility of returning to their homelands. Maman sees the speculation as pointless, while Nayeri feels that such speculations are easier for pre-revolutionary Iranians who didn’t experience the caliphate. However, Nayeri does not feel that immigrants must contribute to their home countries and believes it is a colonialist argument that immigrants benefit the host country. She highlights Chinua Achebe’s 1998 essay “Spelling Our Proper Name”, wherein he criticizes James Baldwin’s claims that there is cultural underachievement in Africa. Meanwhile, TV host Trever Noah received condemnation from the French government for using France’s World Cup victory to take credit for the success of its players of African heritage.