Independence Day and Freedom seeing it from the lens of a young Samoan female

Written by: Cara Galeai

As many gather for barbecues and beer to celebrate our country's independence and our freedom, I contemplate my own liberties and know that the ease I live in my life is a distanced fantasy for SO many in this country.
I think of the long and continued history of displacement and destruction of America's Native/Indigenous people and their lands. I think of Vanessa Guillen and the women our country has not only failed to protect but have villainized and blamed for their own sexual assaults. I think of the thousands of families, separated, caged, and abused at the hands of our border control officers. I think of the Trans community, one of the most misunderstood and targeted groups in this country, both systemically and through personal conviction, driven by hate and ignorance.

To celebrate my privilege and freedom without acknowledging that so many in this country are NOT free is to secure myself in a tower of my own ignorance, reaping the benefits of a system that knowingly excludes and exploits my fellow women and men of color. I won't NOT think of Antwon Rose and Vanessa Guillen today. I won't buy into the hypocrisy. I won't accept my own reality of privilege and freedom as the reality for all of America because it simply isn't true.

I AM NOT WHAT YOU THINK!
by Antwon Rose
5/16/2016
I am confused and afraid
I wonder what path I will take
I hear that there’s only two ways out
I see mothers bury their sons
I want my mom to never feel that pain
I am confused and afraid
I pretend all is fine
I feel like I’m suffocating
I touch nothing so I believe all is fine
I worry that it isn’t, though
I cry no more
I am confused and afraid
I understand people believe I’m just a statistic
I say to them I’m different
I dream of life getting easier
I try my best to make my dream true
I hope that it does
I am confused and afraid