Can Freedom & Safety Coexist?

The answer depends on whom you ask, or what we believe, or where we live.

I spent New Year's Eve in the city of Dubai, the most glamorous of the seven emirates in the United Arab Emirates, where excellence, quality, and comfort is always on display. I rang in the new year watching a spectacular display of fireworks and a drone show over The Atlantis at the Palm Jumeirah Islands.

This was the first time I had arrived in the country on an American passport, and being granted a visa on-arrival was a privilege I did not have before. But as soon as I stepped outside, I was just another brown man on the streets of Dubai, soon to be lost in the crowd.

The UAE is among the top 5 ranked safest countries in the Middle East due to their low crime rate attributed to strict laws, a stable economy, and a diverse population of expatriates from around the world making tax-free money. According to my family, friends, and even some strangers I met there, America is still the wild, wild west. The lack of gun control and rising racial tensions are all they see, besides the obvi…