Carmena the American, Part Ii

...By now Carmena’s anger had built up, and she glared searing flames at her ‘friend,’ said,”You shut you damn mouth and listen close, everything you just said does offend. “You think that my skin is what determines the direction and care of my thoughts? That certain opinions I cannot share? Spoken like a well-and-true bigot! “You’d reduce me to a function of a group, take away all of my sovereignty, deny my agency and my freedom, deny every choice that makes me me. “Do you not comprehend your own birth-right, that I never knew until I moved here? That you have the choice to build your own life, be it normal, or crazy, or weird? “Are you evil enough to deny that to me over meaningless pigment? Try to bully me with race-baiting crap, you and your kind can all go get bent! “And as for calling me a ‘Hispanic,’ as if that was important to say, go get your facts straight, I’m American, the kind the does not hyphenate! “My family wouldn’t have come this far if they didn’t mean to join in the club of free people living by their own will, that is what I am and it’s enough! “I don’t like your illegal aliens, or the way you want to control speech. I’ve seen socialism fail first-hand, I hate the tyranny of P.C! “And if I haven’t made it clear enough, if you haven’t figured out my gist, for trying to put me inside a box I will never vote for a leftist!” She stormed away before Sue could even work up the nerve again to talk. She assumed they weren’t friends anymore, but in truth it was not that great a loss. Later that night she was browsing online when she saw Sue’s social media feed, full of hard smears, distortions of her words, the kind that make an honest person seethe. When Carmena pointed out Sue’s bald-faced lies it was she who received the attacks! But instead of cowering she doubled down, against this evil she would not turn her back. And though it did cost her relationships, she was not one who could run from a fight. All the years and the toil were for nothing if she could not speak of what she though was right. She would not be skin, or a face in the crowd, no matter what the price was in the end. She would be what she chose, or be not at all, she was Carmena the American.