People like jokes that are funny. But once the joke becomes personal, it isn’t funny anymore.

Immigrants are being targeted on a daily basis everywhere in America, even at Perry. I have been the butt of these immigrant jokes numerous times. If the joke is funny then it is funny. But if the people who are at the topic of the joke, do not laugh then it is disrespectful and rude.

I am from Russia. I have been called a Communist, a Russian spy, and have endured many other comments about the country I was born in and adopted from. Is it right to be called these names ever? No.

In 2001, I was adopted from Nizhniy Tagil, Russia. Nizhniy Tagil consists of: pollution, a still active tank factory, an infamous prison, and extreme poverty. Also, the children in the orphanages are kicked out at the age of 15 and sent into the streets to live on their own where death is highly probable.

During his presidency, Bill Clinton upheld the Fourteenth Amendment, saying that people adopted internationally by American citizens are citizens, therefore making me a citizen.

Yet throughout my life, I have been bullied for being born in Russia. In seventh grade, I stood up in my class and proudly said that I was Russian; later I was harassed for being Russian. Even now in school, I am being made fun of for who I am and where I am from. Every joke that jabs at Russia, jabs at me.

I try my hardest to defy the norm, such as be a proud supporter of our troops and of the red, white, and blue.

I have not been back to my home country since I left as a baby, but I still feel the strong urge to stand up for the people who are like me because it is not right for anyone to be made fun of. The instinct that many American feel to protect their country applies to me as well, only with two countries.

Due to current politics and Americans blaming everything on Russia, the jokes and harassment have only escalated. From hacking jokes to government scheme comments, I cannot go a day without hearing a joke that makes fun of me or the culture I was born from. Some of them are funny, but most are hurtful and insulting.

This is only a small portion of a big problem. That problem is how immigrants are being treated across the nation and how it is completely unacceptable. This includes the Middle Eastern immigrants, Europeans, Hispanics and Asians: anyone not from America is a target.

I know that other immigrants are proud to be where they are from but they are also proud to live in such a beautiful country such as America. Immigrants should be accepted, not made fun of. America is a country of immigrants. Without us, America would not of been America.