106 Coming Out and Coming Together our people.” The person said to me, “if you don’t join us, that means you are against us.” I said “I am against you, go to hell!” I was using the megaphone, shouting. They were [taking pictures of] me. And I didn’t care at that time. It was the spark of my activism in the open way. Respondents also came out after the scope and brutality of regime violence transformed their sense of obligation to encompass the broader national community, rendering nonfamilial Syrians as significant others. Omar, an activist from Houston, recalled, “My brother and family are in Syria, but people were losing their lives. And I don’t think our lives are more precious than those people who lost their lives.” Similarly, Firas of Southern California came out after the regime sent tanks to put down protests in Daraʻa in April 2011. Before this incident, he had covered his face in protests, and [I tried] to avoid mentioning my name in any petition. But after using the tanks, it was like, no, screw it! Why should I worry about my family when all of the people are getting killed? I know that this regime uses collective punishment. But I was like, I’m not going to care. I’m going to go public. figure 4.2. Syrians and SAC organizers call for outside powers to “Stop the Bloodshed in Syria” at the Federal Building in Los Angeles, California, on June 9, 2012. (Photo credit: Dana M. Moss) https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009272148 Published online by Cambridge University Press