By Hanna Tamrat
We all talk about owning a piece of Obama’s campaign. But that kind of talk didn’t hit home with me until my sister a few days after Obama’s historic nomination speech called me and left a voicemail message saying: “Congratulations!”
For a split of a second while listening to the message, I thought I won some kind of award of which I wasn’t aware of. Then, the message continued: “…Obama Selashenefe!” (…because Obama won!)
Frankly, I haven’t spent more than a couple of hours per week (except for those days I just get carried away…) volunteering for the campaign. But, that was all it took for my family to know I was invested in it.
So, whatever amount of time and energy we have put into it, we each own a piece of this campaign. Why is that important? It means we had a say in the direction of this country–a country we call home. As immigrants with a second generation of American-born Ethiopians coming of age, not only is it a privilege but it is a huge responsibility.
With Obama running for President, we have a prime opportunity to have our voice heard in unison and as one of the constituencies politicians would look to for generations to come for policy directions, be it domestic or foreign.
Ethiopians for Obama seized this opportunity like no other that I have known, at least not at a multi-state level. It is the first movement in my opinion that strives on ensuring that we count, primarily through our votes. And the best part about it is that we don’t even have to be “politicians” or political-savvy people or even that much interested in politics, really. We are just exercising our rights and our duties as citizens by voting and ensuring our families, community members and more also vote.
Every time I hear pundits talk about “record number of new voters,” I smile to myself thinking “…and we represent a chunk of that!” Not only do we represent a good number of first-time voters, but we had something to do with it as volunteers, whether it is reaching out to Ethiopian-Americans or other Americans.
To some, the idea of a nation-wide unified Ethiopian political force may seem too ambitious and remote, but great things start with great vision! I am sure I heard or read this great wisdom somewhere, but I certainly also saw it happen in the past few months culminating towards the nomination a couple of weeks ago.
A man, who against, absolutely, all odds, became the first black Democratic nominee for President in the history of this country. Now, that’s a big deal!
But his vision didn’t end there and neither has ours! Our success, as Ethiopians, who seek visibility, and as Americans, who are not immune to the day-to-day struggles we experience in this country, is closely related to Obama’s success. And, even though at this point even a failure would be translated into success for both him and the entire country, we still owe it to Obama and, frankly, to ourselves to see this through!
We owe to him because he led us on an inclusive, irreplaceable and irreversible journey which we took and will continue to take along side all our fellow Americans. We owe it to him for allowing us to forge within our Ethiopian community a movement which will highlight our unified potential in this great nation. We owe it to him for validating our own hopes and dreams for our future and the future of our children and their children, simply by living his hope and achieving his dream.
All this should be reason enough to support him. If not, keep tuning in! Better yet, I challenge all the 80+ members in this group to give me the reasons we should continue or start to support Obama. Let us inspire one another with our stories, our visions and our wisdom! As I always tell even my Ethiopian brothers and sisters who are not U.S. citizens, don’t undermine what you have to offer.
Yes, we can! Yes, we did!
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Hanna Tamrat is a dedicated Ethiopians for Obama member and a brillian author.
Join Ethiopians for Obama at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group /ethiopiansforobama/