“When I kissed my wife and son goodbye and went to work as a member of the Capitol Police on the morning of January 6, 2021, I didn’t expect that I might never see them again. Yet, that is almost what happened. As an angry mob of insurrectionists goaded by the sitting president descended upon the Capitol, I put my life on the line to protect America’s sacred democratic institutions. It wasn’t the first time I sacrificed for my adopted country.”

Born in the Dominican Republic, I immigrated to the United States as a boy. I spoke no English and was unprepared for the dangers of my new life in Brooklyn. I worked hard to give back to the country that took me in and offered me opportunities to thrive. My patriotism led me to join the Army, where I was mobilized for the Iraq war for 545 days. I witnessed the horrors of war firsthand and suffered PTSD. Coming back to the States, I completed my education, married, had a son, and landed a job with the police force in Washington, DC. I’d achieved the American Dream. What I couldn’t have predicted was that I was on a collision course with history.

A stunning example of what it means to sacrifice and strive so that your loved ones may have a better life, American Shield urges everyone to put truth and justice above the petty and personal, and calls on all Americans to work to build a future in which all of us can thrive together.

“To journey to America and fight for your piece of the American Dream is one thing. To then take an oath to help others in a foreign land get a piece of their own freedom is courageous. To come home from war and take another oath only to find yourself defending that freedom against your fellow Americans is a nightmare—one that some involved on January 6 have not yet awakened from. American Shield is a tale of how to survive the battles we choose and the battles that choose us.”
                —Roy Wood Jr., The Daily Show