English transcript

Hi. Um, I'm just trying to make a video before I go to bed to get my thoughts out.

Um, and also I just wanted to explain that I'm competing for Great Britain at this Olympics,

and I did at the last Olympics to honor my mum because she's British.

I'm half British. I was born in England. Um, but I'm also half American.

I grew up in the US, and that's where I went to school. I did my first...

...two Olympics for the US and won a silver medal for the US.

That's where I live now. So, yeah, I care about the US and I care about what's happening there.

Um, and I'm saying all this because the other day I posted a photo with my thoughts on ICE,

and that photo has since gone everywhere. It's been shared all over the place.

And I've gotten a ton of messages. And most of them, honestly, have been supportive

and encouraging, people thanking me for speaking up and using my platform.

But a lot of the messages have been awful.

People telling me to kill myself, threatening me, um, wishing that

they'll get to see me blow my knee or break my neck during my event,

calling me slurs, like...

It's insane.

Um, and maybe that's the price you pay for speaking up and using your platform.

And so maybe this video is just going to invite more hate and vitriol, but I think it's important to

say what we feel and stand up for what we believe in and stand up to injustice.

And I've been really proud seeing other athletes doing that. Hunter Hess, Mikaela Shiffrin.

I think it's inspiring and it's important. And, um...

I also think that there's a lot of nuance to it, and I feel like

sometimes people forget that. So I just want to remind everyone that, like,

you can love the US and be proud to be an American—I am—

and still think it can be better and still think that the country can improve.

And just because you love the US doesn't mean you stand with this administration and stand behind

their policies and their legislation and support the things that they support,

because I don't. And I do not support ICE.

And I think it's absolutely evil and awful and terrifying.

There have been US citizens that have been murdered in the street, executed in the street,

and the officers are essentially acting with, like, impunity because

their identities are covered. There's no accountability. It's really scary.

They're racially profiling people, rounding up Black and Brown folks and

kidnapping them, putting them in unmarked vehicles with no arrest warrant,

no probable cause. They're being held without any sort of due process.

It's... it's crazy. It's scary.

And people are being sent to countries that they're not even from,

and US citizens are being caught in this.

And I think overwhelmingly the majority of the people being targeted are

good people, hard-working people that are non-violent and have no criminal history

and just came to the US seeking a better life.

And that is literally the foundation story of the US.

We are a country of immigrants, and that's the American dream.

And I think people forget that sometimes.