Q: How Do We Make America What America Must Become?

ADRIAN REYNA

Strategy Director, United We Dream

I was born in Mexico, and grew up undocumented and queer in Texas. My whole life, I was taught that I would overcome the struggle of being undocumented by having a piece of paper saying I belong in this country. This is false. As long as there are immigrants, women, and black, brown, queer, trans, and native people under attack, no one can be free--because our liberation is connected.

We must reckon with the consequences of race and class in communities of color, and have an honest conversation about it.

We must right all the wrongs that have come with creating a police state that prosecutes communities of color: the mass extermination of native people, the brutalities that black communities have faced, the harms brought onto LGBTQ people, the worldwide climate consequences from mass capitalism, and the world conflicts we face because of America's hegemony across the globe.

Freedom calls us to course-correct and bring justice to every generation that has suffered under the grip of white supremacy. We await leaders who are ready to step up to the plate and embark on a new direction. Until then, we must continue to make our struggles visible and continue to be loud. Our world and our lives depend on it.

That is how America will become what it must be. That is how we all become free.

MICHAEL LI

Senior Counsel, Democracy Program, Brennan Center for Justice

The motivations behind the American Revolution weren't always particularly noble. Truth...