It’s probably no surprise that I voted for Barack Obama with my Florida absentee ballot last week. It’s also probably no surprise that with Nov. 4 finally dawning, my column is taking a political slant this week.
My family had to earn our right to vote. I immigrated to Miami from Barquisimeto, Venezuela when I was 6 months old, and even though I’m more American than I am Venezuelan, I still had to earn my rights and liberties in this country ‘-‘- just like many other immigrants. What few people know is that I was an illegal immigrant. It was a lot easier than now to survive in this country illegally, especially growing up in Miami. I didn’t even know we immigrated illegally until I moved to Boston.
I’m not here to give you the clich’eacute;d ‘get out and vote because your vote matters’ speech. Honestly, I know that maybe one vote may not really make a difference, even though it was my home state that got George Bush into office with a mere 537 votes. What I am going to say is if you don’t speak up now, you’re likely not speak up anywhere else. How you show up in one area in your life is how you show up in another.
I grew up knowing that in most other places people are not as free as U.S. citizens to say they’re dissatisfied. If you decide to stay quiet in this election, you are giving yourself and others permission to stay quiet when you don’t agree on something. Heck, what does it matter if you even say anything, right? Who’s going to listen to us?
When I was 10, I started a petition to stop the rebuilding of the Homestead Airport near the Everglades where the air traffic would disturb the ecosystem of numerous endangered species. I collected more than 200 signatures ‘-‘- most of which were from my classmates ‘-‘- and started calling public officials to find someone to turn it in to. One listened: former South Miami mayor Julio Robaina (who I just found it is actually a Republican – go figure). He came to my school, collected my petition, gave me an award from the city and made a day named after my school. Coincidentally, my school is named after Majorie Stoneman Douglas, the original Everglades crusader.
I’m not telling you this story to brag about my young environmentalist days, but to tell you that public officials are listening, and they’re listening because we can or will vote some day. When you sacrifice your vote, you sacrifice your voice, not just politically but everywhere else. Sorry for the clich’eacute;d ‘Get out and vote speech,’ but it’s not just about voting; it’s about where else in your life does something piss you off and you stay quiet? Where else do you brush it off because you think it doesn’t matter?
It can be an unfair grade in a class, someone getting discriminated against, some unfair proposition, getting underpaid or getting over-charged. It can be when you don’t speak up for yourself when you don’t live the life you truly deserve. Where do you brush off one workout, one study session or just one chance to make your life a little better?
When P. Diddy (or is it Puff Daddy?) said ‘Vote or Die,’ he was right, because apathy translates to the rest of your life ‘-‘- not just politics. And by not caring to stand in line and vote, you’re really saying you don’t care about yourself or anyone else.
Stephanie Ramones, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, is a weekly columnist for The Daily Free Press. She can be reached at sramones@bu.edu.
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