Generation Zero

Sabreet Kang Rajeev

Two pants. Two T-shirts. The socks and shoes he wore. His life savings of one thousand dollars. That is what Sukhvir brought to America at the age of twenty-three. Together, he and his wife started from nothing. They struggled in blue-collar jobs and poured their souls into two American-born children. They were Generation Zero.

For most of her life, Sabreet searched to find meaning in her family’s immigration story. She read books about extraordinary immigrants’ triumphs and everyday tales of hardship, but the stories of her family—and other Generation Zero families—often felt invisible.

If you’re a first- or second-generation American, you know how hard it is to understand your reality. But you also know there is a great deal of beauty and strength to come from an immigrant family. Maybe your working-class family sacrificed. Maybe you’ve strived to accomplish your parents’ abandoned dreams. Or maybe you’re living a hyphenated identity, trying to make sense of the unique experiences that make you American. You are not alone.

Sabreet Kang Rajeev is a first-generation Indian American of Sikh descent. Sabreet is a full-time Social-Science Researcher and holds an MA in Sociology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and BA in Sociology from the University of Maryland, College Park. She is currently completing her doctorate at the University of Baltimore.

Throughout her life, Sabreet experienced the beauty and struggle of being part of a blue-collar immigrant family, and she is driven to raise awareness and empathy for a minority group of Indian Americans who do not historically come from educational or economic privilege. Generation Zero is her first book.

You can learn about Sabreet by visiting sabreetkangrajeev.com


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