Samson, Portland, Ore.

  
    "I've experienced a lot of racism resulting in shame. Shame of who I am as an Asian American and as a queer person. It often feels like I don't fit in or belong. Or that I can never truly be myself around others. I've been called names. I've been threatened. I've been made to feel unsafe. I want to stop others from viewing me as the "other" in America. I grew up on a farm in Arkansas raising chickens. I was in 4-H Club and Future Farmers of America. I have my lived experiences as an American and I deserve to be American unhindered. I wish people would get to know me before having these ideas that I don't belong based on how I look."