On the day of the 4th of July, I ask myself the question: What makes America special? Why, as a young student more than 37 years ago, did I try so desperately hard to come to America? To me, the answer is undoubtedly freedom and the American Dream.
Growing up during Mao's Cultural Revolution, we were strangers to individual dreams and freedom. As children, we were taught that our dream was to be loyal servants of the big socialist machine, serving the Party and the country. Our "freedom" was limited to obeying the Party. We had nothing, but we were expected to be content. To complain was to risk imprisonment or worse.
After coming to America, I wasted no time embracing freedom and pursuing my American Dream. I started with nothing. Through hard work and determination, I was able to earn an education, build a career, buy a house, and become a proud member of the middle class. More importantly, I've been able to live life on my own terms—a life defined by "freedom."
Everyone's American Dream is different, but they all rely on the foundational concept of freedom and reaping the benefits of one's labor. Every day, I am grateful for the incredible blessings this country has afforded me.
However, for a long time, I took freedom and the American Dream for granted. I didn't give much thought to the fact that they could be only a generation away from extinction. It never occurred to me that one day I would witness the evil Communist ideology taking root in America.
About 10 years ago, I started to see troubling signs reminiscent of Mao's China, the very place I had fled. Slowly, the radical left infiltrated and gained control over America's major institutions, including our public schools. Marxist identity politics gradually replaced Dr. Martin Luther King's teachings of judging individuals by their character rather than the color of their skin. Today, children are taught that people are either "victims" or "oppressors" based solely on their skin color—a Marxist doctrine familiar to those who grew up in Mao's China.
Now, it is evident to anyone that the American Dream is slipping away.
What's worse, our freedom is also diminishing, particularly the freedom of expression, which is the cornerstone of our Republic. People with "incorrect" political views are denounced as haters, extremists, and bigots, just as in Mao's China.
Recently, I had a conversation with an Indian mother who moved to the United States in pursuit of the American Dream, seeking a better education and greater opportunities for her two young sons. However, she shared her concerns about the blatant indoctrination her sons face in school, causing her to question whether she made the right decision.
I've heard similar stories from other immigrants, and some are now contemplating an "exit strategy" from the country they once dreamed of coming to
Although I sympathize with their concerns, I will never abandon America. As a survivor of Communism, freedom and the American Dream have become sacred to me. There is no substitute for the American Dream anywhere in the world. Here, in America, is where freedom and the American Dream will either stand or fall.
As an immigrant coming from a country where totalitarianism extinguished the light of freedom, I feel a duty to warn about the dangerous path the Radical Left is leading America down. That's why I have been speaking out publicly, including through my work with 1776 Action, to expose the threat of the evil Marxist ideology to America.
Progress is indeed being made. On June 29th, I went to the Supreme Court in D.C. to celebrate its landmark ruling declaring Harvard and UNC's race-based admission policies unconstitutional, effectively ending affirmative action.
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