PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA

宾西法尼亚州，费城，02-20-2016

Speech of U.S. Congressional Candidate Lindy Li:

Witnessing the love and support for Peter Liang, I'm filled with a deep sense of gratitude. We are so strong when we unite, but why do we need a crisis in order to come together? Why do we need injustice in order to value justice? Why do we need a broken heart in order to feel?

I'm running for Congress to be your voice. Although we have thousands of supporters now, our campaign was unlikely from the very start. After all, I'm a young Chinese-American woman, which means that I have three strikes against me. Sometimes when people look my way, their first reaction is: "Wait, she's different. She's not a real American." But external appearances cannot measure the vastness of our souls or the depth of our love for America, the country that gave all of us the opportunity to chart a better life. No one should ever suffer over matters entirely out of their control, like one's race, gender, or age. But today I feel and I share your pain and I hear your voices crying out for help.

This week we saw an extraordinary outpouring of love for Peter and his family. My deep hope for all of us is that we continue to participate in our democracy, even after the cameras roll away, even after the pain washes away. Because, brothers and sisters, freedom is not free. We have to fight for a voice and we have to pay the price — and that price is one we should only too gladly pay: after the rest of the world moves on, we must continue to participate in the greatest living experiment in the world: American democracy. Our right to assemble freely here today is a cherished right that billions of people around the world do not share. We mustn't take this for granted.

The stakes are high, because nothing less than our lives are hanging in the balance. And although we may not look like the earliest Americans, our hearts are just as red, white, and blue. I am an American. You are an American. Akai Gurley and Peter Liang, too, are Americans.