On Juneteenth 2025, I stood in Monrovia, Liberia—the city named after a U.S. slaveholder president—and announced my candidacy for the highest office in the land of my birth: President of the United States of America.
By Rev. Torli H. Krua, contributing writer
This isn’t a publicity stunt. It’s a declaration of truth. Liberia was never just another African country. It was a U.S. colony, funded by Congress, enforced by the U.S. Navy, governed by exiled African Americans stripped of their citizenship.
For six years, I led a campaign seeking visa waivers for Liberians. But I have come to see the deeper injustice: Liberians are already Americans. They were born under U.S. authority, in a U.S.-created territory, with a U.S.-crafted constitution.
Today, while wealthy Liberian politicians hold U.S. passports and rig the system in their favor, poor Liberians are denied basic entry under an exploitative scheme that rejects nearly 80% of applicants. This must end.
The Massachusetts Constitution of 1780 declared that all men are born free and equal. The U.S. Declaration of Independence affirmed that rights come from our Creator, not from governments. Yet, Congress passed the 1790 Naturalization Act to limit citizenship to white persons and used military force to deport African Americans to Liberia. That was not immigration. It was colonization.
Now, in 2025, it’s time to complete the Emancipation.
I’m running for President to restore what was stolen: dignity, justice, and birthright citizenship. I’m calling on Americans of all backgrounds to unite, elect a truth-teller, and finally end the unfinished business of Juneteenth.
Free Liberia. Restore Citizenship. Pass H.R. 40. Complete the Emancipation.
Rev. Torli H. Krua is the founder of the Free Liberia Movement and Universal Human Rights International. He resides in Boston, Massachusetts
