Tribute

It’s two in the morning on November 4^th 2008 and my father is still awake. The glow from the computer screen is the only light in the room and his face is barely inches away from it. “We got this one Gabi, we got this. We’ll take Pennsylvania and New Mexico. I’ll give McCain Georgia and Ohio. But we got this.” The ‘this’ my father is talking about is the election. From its inception, my father Neville Shields has been an avid supporter of Barack Obama and followed both parties’ campaign trails armed with conspiracy theories and all. The ‘we’ however is up for debate. Normally that ‘we’ would be just a shortcut to the American population but as an immigrant Neville doesn’t have a vote and by all accounts today, no voice in the matter.

That’s the part that hurts the most. As an immigrant myself I know what its like to be excluded from certain jobs and privileges like financial aid, certain scholarships and of course voting rights. There was nothing else that could be done but to take it stride. But what happens when you have devoted your life time, family, and finances to a country that when at a point you want to become part of history , turns you down. Whether it is lack of finances, affinity to your own country, national conditions, or getting in trouble with the law which takes you out the running completely.

So I asked my father how he felt about not being able to vote. We talked about it at length. "It disappoints me. It makes you feel a little less secure in your position in life. If I were to move back home to Jamaica, I wouldn't get any of the Social Security that was taken out of my checks for 15 years. For a lot of people, day to day life gets in the way of being naturalized. Do you pay the light bill or Homeland Security. It's not that I haven't done my part for this country."

Rohan Sihn is a paramedic on 12XRAY ambulance in Bronx New York. When I asked how he felt about not being able to vote in the upcoming election, with out hesitation he said “ I hate it”. He had a confrontation with the law and though I did not ask him to elaborate on it, I know that ended his chances of ever becoming a citizen.

Leonard Kaze. a lecturer at LaGuardia Community College doesn't have the option of given up his dual citizenship to Canada or Haiti because of his family's safety. "People but don't recognize what a virtue it is to be able to vote and how hard it is to be told to stand on the sidelines.

But like immigrants have always had to do, these men have found a way to be a part of the cause. Neville has begun to bring his young 8 year old son up to understand politics, not just the ones that you feel are important but all because sooner or later they all affect you. Kaze has donated what he calls “a good amount” to Obama’s campaign while he and his family worked the polls on Election Day and Rohan has told his wife “everyday for the last month” that she had to vote if she wanted to see something she wants happen. After a lifetime in America and 4 presidential elections she was able to take part in, she is voting for the first time.