I'm from Puerto Rico so I was openly critical of the US from early on. I didn't like them. I didn't like what the Military did to Vieques, I didn't like how I never saw my flag flown by the state on its own. I didn't like how they changed the color of my flag so it would look more like their own flag. I thought my island was beautiful and rich in culture and nature, and I saw the US as trying to impose themselves and take that away from us like they did to Hawaii.

I was always left leaning. When I got a Facebook I marked myself as Very Liberal because I couldn't fully get on board with what regular liberals were spewing. I had no idea there was a left. Gay marriage and Puerto Rican liberty were my pet causes in particular, although I was generally always willing to learn and change my mind to be more respectful of stuff I didn't know about.

When Obama was elected in freshman year high school, I thought maybe things would change for the better like they said they would. When they didn't, I became disillusioned. I was actually terrified that he would make PR a state during his presidency. People here are mostly very very brainwashed into believing we can't do it on our own, that we're inherently inferior, that we need the US. Blame that one on years of imperialist propaganda shoved down our throats. He didn't. I actually don't think anyone ever will.

I began reading pieces that were critical of Obama and learned that the left exists. I wasn't fully ready to understand economic implications, I guess I believed that capitalism could be reformed by a strong welfare state. All I ever heard was that communism was good in theory. I really did admire places like Cuba, though.

Eventually in my early to mid 20s I flip flopped a lot, and at one point I believed in the power of incrementalism. It wasn't until the Trump era that I began to realize that this system and the supposed ways to change it are complete bunk. Eventually I found y'all and professors like Parenti that really really cemented my ideology to where it is today.

I still don't know if I'm authleft or anarchocom. I'm figuring that out for myself by reading. But I know that PR and the rest of the world can't realistically achieve communism without the US bursting through the door to bully and overthrow like they do all the time in the rest of the world. The US needs to fall, and thus I fully support a full scale revolution on the mainland while doing my part to better things at home and show people that there's a better way. I think we can get there. It's hard, but it's the only real way to survive.

Hurricanes. Earthquakes. Pandemics. Unfair laws like the JONES Act. Those aren't going away with statehood and they're never going to care about us ever. They don't care about Flint. We're brown too. I don't want everything I love about my island to be wiped away and replaced with old gringos who shit all over everything we love and treat us like garbage. They're currently ruining all of our efforts to contain the virus by coming here for vacation (no we cannot stop them the airports are privatized and access is federal) after we've been quarantining for months, refusing to wear masks. I hate it here. We need real change, and that's not gonna come from voting.

Solidarity forever.