How Has Changing Your Perspective on Assimilation Changed Your Relationship With Your Family?

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I constantly get into this little argument with my family in Mexico about how they need to stop being so racist. I think there's still a lot of people in Mexico that think that there's no racism in Mexico, like you can't be racist if you're in Mexican. So it's definitely changed a lot of things for me. But then there are some other friends that don't recognize it. They still think that this is a country of white people and for white people and that we should just be grateful that we're here.

When do you feel like you've reached "success"? Julissa Arce is an acclaimed social justice advocate, the author of four books, a former vice president at Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch, and was named a 2019 Woman of the Year by the City of Los Angeles. But if you ask her, she’s still redefining what success looks like, and if it matters. Julissa immigrated to the United States at 11, and was undocumented for almost 15 years. In her latest book, and in today’s episode, she rejects the idea that assimilation can create belonging and brings success – and asks what we can do instead to reconnect and celebrate all that makes us unique. For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts