An Oral History of a Great Man

The myth of the great American dream promised an abundance of well-paying jobs, big houses, widespread freedom, numerous opportunities, and beautiful land, which were all waiting to be taken. The great American dream is what lured my father to the United States from Guyana, South America, in 1978. My father, Indarjit Seepersaud, left many things behind in order to come to the United States, and he encountered many difficulties in America, but through it all, he managed to make a home for himself and his family in America.

My father, Indar, gave up many things in order to come to the United States. For example, my father had to leave his family business behind when he left for the United States. My father said,

My mother left my father because he was an alcoholic. My mom owned a shop in the market, and all my dad would do is drink away the profits. After my dad drank himself to death, we rented a house that was close to the market for a while, and I quit school to help her with the shop.

My grandmother owned a small bakery. It was located in an area that was called the "Market." The "Market" consisted of small shops that only sold one thing. For example, the store that Indar's mother owned only sold baked goods. Indar further explained,

When my mom saved up a lot of money, she bought a house and built a bar in the front of the house. She spent almost all the money she saved up. Mom and I had a real good business with that bar. We made a lot more money with the bar than with the bakery shop. After we made some good money, things really became easy because I would tend bar while mom would bake some small stuff to sell in the bar. We struggled earlier with the bakery and before that too, but with the bar we really didn't struggle anymore.

My father had to leave the bar when he came to America. It was something that Indar and his mother had worked very hard for, and he had to leave it behind. Indar said this about leaving the bar and his mother:

That was the first real home I've ever really had because we weren't renting anymore. My mom was really the only parent I had. She's always been there for me, and we have always been close. It was hard leaving her alone to run the bar by herself.

My father is very close to his mother, and she is like his best friend. She always managed to provide for my dad, even when she separated from her husband, and that's the reason why they were so close to one another.

My father encountered many difficulties after he settled in Minnesota. Racism was the first difficulty my father encountered. My father landed a job at a factory, working as a security guard at night. My father stated,

I thought the job was easy. My wife wasn't working when we first got here because we didn't own a car, but everything we needed was within walking distance, even the factory where I worked at. The only thing that bothered me was walking to the factory in winter. After we had been living in the house for a couple of weeks, we started to get bad phone calls. The people on the phone would swear and say that people of our kind weren't wanted in the neighborhood. They said they would come and get us with their baseball bats. I didn't let them get to me. I just kept on doing the things I always did. I didn't think we would have things like that happen to us.

When I got promoted at the factory, I went to work in the casting department. The guys that were in the department were all white, and I was the only colored person in there. They didn't think I could understand English very well, but I did. I just couldn't speak English clearly. They would make jokes about me and give me a hard time. It really made me mad at first, but I couldn't do anything, so I just concentrated on my work. It was my boss in the casting department that would give me the hardest time. I thought if I said anything, they would fire me, and I really needed that job because it was good pay.

My father talks lightly about the racism he encountered, but when I talked to my mother about the racism, she gave me some insight into my dad. My mother said,

It bothered him more deeply than he will admit, but he always hides his feelings like that. I remember when he would come home from work, and he would tell me about the things that they would say about him. They were really cruel men. There were nights when he wouldn't be able to sleep because of what they would say about him.

My father didn't let the men he had to work with every day bother him when he was working. He stayed in that department for four years before he received a promotion to another department.

My father saved the majority of his money. He saved enough to buy a car and enough for a down payment on a house in the suburbs. Indar said,

My wife was fed up with the racist people in our neighborhood, and she just wanted to get out before something happened. I started to look at houses away from the crowded city, and I found one. We moved to the city of Rosemount, which was like living out in the country because it wasn't so overdeveloped. We moved to Rosemount, and after about three weeks, it started all over again. These people didn't even know us, but they disliked us and wanted us to move. We were getting phone calls at all hours of the night, and they were putting messages in our mailbox.

My father spoke lightly once again on the subject of the racism his family encountered:

We were the only colored family in the whole neighborhood, and it made my wife and I keep totally to ourselves. We didn't even know any of our neighbors.

My parents didn't know who was sending them all the threats, and that made them suspicious of everyone.

My father left his country where he had more than he could want and came to America with only two suitcases and his family, but he built a life for his family from scratch. My father encountered many people that tried to discourage and turn him away from his goals, but my father continued to work towards his American dream. Indar has almost paid off his mortgage, and he presently owns four cars. He's also putting his youngest son through college without any financial assistance from the government. My father has managed to accomplish a great deal considering what he started with when he first arrived in the United States. He has struggled to achieve many things.