(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . "We're going to Disneyland." An immigrant story. [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-06-11 Jesus Morales was furloughed from his job in San Diego during the COVID lockdown. So with nothing to do, he decided to try his hand at making TikTok videos. His early videos were forgettable. Then he had an idea. As a child of immigrants, he knew the stories of how hard they worked and how unappreciated they were. He’ll never forget a story his mom tells about working as a waitress in an Aurora restaurant while she was pregnant with him. The party of more than 10 people left her just one penny as a tip. His parents vividly recalled sleeping on cardboard on a concrete floor when they first arrived in America. So he wanted to give something back to the immigrant community, but he wasn’t sure how. He wanted them to be able to take some time off, but his early efforts were ineffective. He would post TikTok videos of himself giving large sums to street vendors and then telling them to take the day off. He even started buying up all their wares assuming that they would be forced to go home. “I’d be like, ‘Hey, just please do me a favor, just go home and get some rest, that’s all I ask.’ And they’d be like, ‘Yeah, yeah.’ And 9 times out of 10, I would take a spin around the corner, and then they’d still be there selling,” Morales says. So he decided to “pivot.” He had never been to Disneyland. So he decided to incorporate a visit into his TikTok posts and bring some of the day laborers along with him on his first visit. That way, they would be forced to take some time off and enjoy themselves, likely for the first time in their lives. “We’re going to go to Disneyland,” Morales tells the men as they climb into the back seat of his SUV. “We’ll pay you for the day.” “But what are we going to do there?” one of the workers asks. “Enjoy the park. That’s all,” Morales says. Morales’ videos of his Disneyland visits, posted under his username #juixxe, have garnered him more than 5 million followers on TikTok. He estimates that he has taken more than 50 people to Disneyland. His videos have been viewed more than 150 million times. Even the men who started out their day with puzzled scowls in Morales’ back seat are later shown wearing Mickey Mouse ears and squealing like children on roller coasters. “That’s the thing that always gets me,” Morales says, “seeing or hearing them laughing.” He now brings his girlfriend and their 3-year-old son with them on their Disneyland adventures. “I’m not sure if he fully grasps what I do yet,” Morales says, “but every time we’re going to take people to Disney, he asks, ‘Are you bringing the amigos?’” A big part of the reason the TikTok videos are so popular is the humanizing effect they have on an underappreciated segment of the American population. Rarely in American culture are immigrants portrayed as human beings with families and feelings and actual lives. Now Morales has turned his TikTok hobby into a full-time job. He earns enough from brand deals and sponsorships to support his family. All cash donations he brings in from his followers are turned over to the immigrants he selects to star in his videos at the end of each day. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/6/11/2246152/--We-re-going-to-Disneyland-An-immigrant-story?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/