I hold it up high, proudly waving it around. I feel like I am touching the sky. Four red stripes on a yellow base, crowned by a blue triangle with a star: my flag. Over one million people are filling the streets of Barcelona, yelling “In- inde- independència” in unison. Sept. 11, about to hit 17:14 p.m.: we are claiming our independence.

9/11 is not a happy day, especially for Americans. The one I am referring to is a bitter sweet feeling among my people. This day, in 1714, meant the loss of Catalonia’s freedoms, an autonomous community in Spain. Nowadays, it is a reminder of this painful memory, but it is also an attitude of vindication and active resistance to oppression: the hope for a total national recovery.

Ten years ago, Arenys de Munt, my hometown, became the first town in Catalonia to organize a popular referendum: “Do you agree with Catalonia becoming a State of law, independent, democratic and social, integrated into the European Union? Yes or No?”

After that, over 500 municipalities followed our steps. It was the start of an endless and exhausting battle.

Since 2012, Catalonia’s people have massively protested every September 11^th , with thousands and millions of people coming together. It is a democratic movement, free of violence and hatred. We want to be able to choose and decide our future and what is best for our region. The independent movement has one the last four elections. Doesn’t this say something? Doesn’t this give us the right to speak up?

Two years ago, Catalonia celebrated an actual referendum to decide whether the people wanted Catalonia’s independence or not. A referendum that the Spanish government did everything in their power to stop, abolish, and reject.

On Oct. 1 2017, we woke up ready to change our future, but our worst nightmares became reality.

I was here, in the States, unable to go home, so I had to sit tight and watch my people suffer. The Spanish police flooded the streets of Catalonia with a violence, anger and rage that I had never seen before. Tears fell from my eyes. Why is this happening? Why aren’t they letting us decide?

Ninety percent of the voters said yes, but that did not matter, the nightmare did not end. Politicians and popular figures had to go into exile and innocent lives ended in prison. It has been two years and they are still gone or in temporary prison. They are being punished for leading the movement of democracy.

Even though we are sad and devastated, today, Sept. 11 of 2019, we want to fight. In fact, we have never stopped fighting, but it has not been fair. We have been mistreated.

People are still going to come out of their homes and show support. I will still follow it through a screen. We will still yell “In- inde- independència” in unison. But our hearts are broken to see all the lives that have been condemned and all the rights that have been prohibited to us. We just wanted to be able to decide and we still do.