By Eboni Farmer, The Hilltop
The power of the vote means so much to Mike Endale that he co-founded the D.C. chapter of Ethiopians for Obama — and he isn’t even eligible to vote during this election.
Endale, who immigrated to the United States eight years ago, said that when Sen. Barack Obama declared his run for presidency in May 2007, he knew it was time for him to apply to become a naturalized citizen. On Nov. 4, he will be voting for Obama, if only in spirit.
“I’ve always wanted to become a citizen,” Endale said. “When Obama announced that he was running for president, it made me really want to participate in the election.”
He said a vote for Obama, whose father came to the United States from Kenya to attend college, is a vote for someone who shares a similar immigrant story.
“Seeing Obama in the position that he is in gives hope to the generations of Ethiopians that are here,” Endale said. “It lets them know that they can reach for what seems impossible.”
In addition to Obama’s personal ties to Africa, Endale said the senator’s policies on immigration, health care and education are the reasons ‘Ethiopians for Obama’ is supporting him.
Since 2007, Endale and the 100 members of Ethiopians for Obama have been doing their part to get votes for the candidate.
Ethiopians are the largest of the African immigrants who have come to the capitol area. The United States Ethiopian Embassy estimates that there are nearly 100,000 Ethiopians in the region.
The D.C. chapter of Ethiopians for Obama has targeted the nearly 10,000 Ethiopians in Virginia, a battleground state, which hasn’t voted for a Democratic president since 1964.
Endale thinks the Ethiopian vote will be a viable factor in whether Obama or Republican Sen. John McCain wins the swing state. The organization is focusing on two key towns, Frederick and Alexanderia, with their large concentration of Ethiopians.
Recently, they gathered outside a Safeway supermarket in Alexandria, Va., preparing to embark on another day of canvassing in the 13th District. Since 2007, the group has been going door to door, morning until night several times during the week and on the weekends, collecting data on voters and sometimes even swaying voters on the other side.
The group has registered more than 2,000 people by Virginia’s Oct. 6 deadline. During one of their efforts, Emebet Bekele recalled a man who told her that he wouldn’t be “voting for a black man.”
She managed to keep her composure as she told him that she believed he was wrong and walked away. When the man called her back, they were able to have a constructive conversation. She recently learned that the man became a volunteer for the Obama campaign.
“They have the right to vote for whoever they want,” Bekele said, “but they shouldn’t be ignorant about it.”
Mistella Mekonnen, who immigrated to the United States from Ethiopia 35 years ago, said the presidential race is unlike anything she has ever seen.
“There has never been this much excitement in my community in any election I have been here for,” Mekonnen said.
She calls Obama “the beacon of hope” and has been doing all she can to make sure he clinches the victory, including going to churches, visiting homes and making phone calls to ensure that those who were able to register to vote did by the Oct. 6 deadline. On Nov. 4, she plans to drive people to the polls so they can vote.
Teddy Fikre, co-founder of the D.C. chapter of Ethiopians for Obama, introduced himself after a suspecting resident answered the door. “Hi, my name is Teddy and I am from the Obama Campaign.”
The trips are not always pleasant, though, and on a single day, the group has been kicked out of a building for soliciting, had the police called on them and one resident demand that they get off his property for asking questions about who registered voters are voting for.
Fikre said he doesn’t mind the conflict because of the greater goal. “It’s definitely worth it,” he said.