For my family, for my country.

The woman and the man seated in the center of this picture came to this country over one hundred years ago just before the turn of the twentieth century. they reluctantly left their homes in Italy in an effort to escape poor living conditions, tyranny and oppression. Cash poor but rich in determination and with the dream of America in their minds and hearts they reached their destination.

Somehow they found each other and married. They settled in New York, found work and had a family. They had little money but they were proud and determined to succeed. Each of their children grew up knowing that they were Italian but were also instilled with a deep love for the nation that was now nurturing them. It was never quite perfect but life was improving.

The youngest boy on the right, the one swinging his legs, grew up and learned a trade. He married a young woman, another first generation American from Italian descent, and they had two children early in the 1940s during the great depression. The couple struggled to feed and clothe their children. During the second world war they comforted their children as they screamed from the sounds of the air raid drills in the city at night. It was tough but they had each other and the knowledge that things could only get better.

The daughter of the couple grew up and was the first in her family to attend and graduate college. She married a man who was also a second generation American of Italian descent. They had five children all of whom they dedicated their lives to. All of the children went on to attend and complete university. Most went further and acquired masters and doctorate degrees. Tragedy befell the family and the couple lost a son to HIV. They all grieved but they recovered and knew that life would go on and things could only get better.

My great grandparents came to this nation because it was a place of opportunity, a place where if someone worked hard enough for what they wanted or believed in they could achieve it. America was a place where things could only get better. That has long since been the dream and promise of America. We may not have ever fulfilled that dream completely but it has always been the proverbial carrot that dangles in front of us, fueling us in a forward direction on the tracks of progress. I want that feeling of hope. I want to stop being ashamed of my government and of my president. We have all been wronged by this president and his administration.

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.
-Emma Lazarus

Gay, straight, black, white, latino, asian, handicapped, military, civilian, immigrant, expatriate, rich, middle class, poor, conservative, liberal, democrat, republican we have all been reduced to "wretched refuse" by the handful of tyrants that have trampled our nation into the ground. The "golden door" is for all of us, not just a privileged few and although it may not seem that we may never achieve total equality or the dream of America we still need to keep that as our goal and always move forward. The light of hope and the light of Liberty is lighting the way and we, ALL of us TOGETHER, need to run towards it with fury and know that things can, that things WILL get better. Its up to all of us. Each generation of my family had a fight they needed to fight in order to survive. Now is its my turn to fight and I intend on not only surviving but winning.