Rebeka,
Brooklyn, NY

Like the majority of immigrants who have come to America, my ancestors came to this land seeking political, religious and economic freedoms not open to them in their native country, England; arriving in the early 1600s. I am proud that they fought in the Revolutionary War to found this country, to create a nation that sought to safe guard personal freedoms and liberty. At the same time, I am sorry that those liberties did not extend beyond the white Europeans. I am sorry about the long term generational impact that their immigration caused by opening a door which resulted generations of displacement, death and discrimination of first nations people as well as slavery. And that, while they did not own slaves, they did not work towards equality and freedom for all. I hope that in this generation, we can start to make amends to those who have been left behind by a system that for generations favored European immigrants.