We all know the timeless debate—where does freedom of speech stop? With political correctness? With common courtesy? With common sense? It’s a trick question; freedom of speech does not end, not in this country. But, I can’t call people names without them getting mad at me! Surely, that’s infringing on my rights! And to that I say that you are 100 percent wrong.

All freedom of speech means is that the government can’t pursue you for what you say, which it cannot and it does not. Freedom of speech doesn’t mean people can’t call you out on it. In fact, taking that ability away is actual infringement on their rights.

Freedom of speech means you have to assume responsibility for what you say, and if you can’t handle people telling you that you’re being rude or intolerant, you probably shouldn’t be saying anything in the first place.

I recently had someone try to argue that America was going downhill because he couldn’t say the n-word. A privileged white male actually said those words in the year 2015. Normally, I try to keep a level head in arguments like these because god forbid a Latina woman expresses her emotions, right? But with Venezuelan elections approaching and patriotic pride surging in me, I couldn’t help but lose it.

My parents were willing to die for their country, Venezuela. They were willing to die for the idea that people should have a say in what happens in their world and that no one man can rule all. They were willing to give up their lives, but they couldn’t give up the lives of their children. I was born in Venezuela, what is arguably one of the most beautiful countries on Earth, but I had to leave at five years old because of an increasingly dangerous sociopolitical situation under the dictatorship of Hugo Chavez.

My parents were respected journalists and artists in Venezuela who were dedicated to presenting the truth in any way possible. As you can imagine, this was not very convenient for the Venezuelan government. My parents were high on the government’s hit list because of their position to spread the truth and apparently because of their high position in the underground opposition movement, something I only learned about recently myself.

Venezuelans are known to exercise their right to protest, as seen in the student protests of 2014, but one of the most significant demonstrations the Venezuelan people had was on April 11, 2002. The ever-growing opposition marched to the presidential palace where Chavez unleashed the power of the military on the people. What followed was death, incarcerations, and chaos. My parents had to go from hiding place to hiding place, from mountain cottages to inner city apartments, until we finally were able to safely leave the country and our entire family behind.

My parents struggled for years to make it in this country. My mom was trapped in Venezuela for three months, and my brother and I were left to our own devices while my father worked day and night to put food on the table and bring her home.

We are some of the lucky ones. There’s countries in this world that have it worse. North Korea is corrupted beyond recognition and yet there’s still kids out there that have the nerve to tell me that America is losing its right to freedom of speech because people get angry when you are blatantly racist.