Diana Mascilli

I want to ask the students screaming “Death to America”, do you have any idea what happens when American values die? Because I do. My family fled Iran, a country where freedom died. You don’t know what you have until it’s gone. You think America is oppressive because you have never experienced real oppression. You think silence is violence because you’ve never been silenced. You think words are dangerous because you have never watched a government drag someone away for speaking them. You think capitalism is evil because you have never stood in a bread line. You think borders are immoral because you have never had to flee across one. You think revolution is romantic because you have never had a revolution take everything from you. I have. And that’s why I refuse to be quiet.