Story Number 1

I AM A CHILD OF THE WORLD.  THE WHOLE WORLD.  I HAVE LIVED FOR PROLONGED PERIODS OF TIME ON 4 OUT OF 7 CONTINENTS, BUT THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IS MY HOME.   AND I AM AN AMERICAN CITIZEN.

IN MY HEART, SOUL, CORE OF MY BEING I BELIEVE THAT:

WE NEED TO STOP HATEFUL, VIOLENT, DESTRUCTIVE, IGNORANT, AND APATHETIC WAYS OF THINKING AND EXISTING.

WE MUST START TO START SEE EACH OTHER AND ALL THE BEAUTIFUL LIFE FORMS LIVING ON OUR PLANET AS OUR EXTENDED FAMILY......

Who I am is a conglomeration of so many different people, places, experiences, interests, desires, cultures. I identify myself first and foremost as a human being on this planet—ser humano—a being that is human. I see myself as totally unique in this world, yet equal to everyone else. I hate the term ‘race.’ To me it doesn’t mean anything. People throughout our history on this planet have migrated and migrated some more. Tribes have mixed. People have crossed continents, had children with the local populations and then a few generations later their children’s children migrated again. So what does this mean? This means that EVERYONE IS MIXED. Culturally, ethnically, historically, linguistically. Every person, everywhere in the whole world. Race is a simplistic and amorphous concept that holds so much importance to so many people yet in a historical context it simply has no real meaning.

I think that culture ultimately has more meaning than race, yet culture is another example of something that people think of as being solid and fixed, but which can actually be quite dynamic, malleable, constantly changing. Speaking for myself, my roots both ethnically and culturally on both sides of my family stem from a small rural village in India. However, I am the 4^th generation of my family to be born in South Africa. My father and his father were born in South Africa. My mother was born in Zambia and her mother was born in Zimbabwe (these two countries are just north of South Africa). My great grandparents on both sides of the family moved from India to Africa in the early 1900s. But I have spent most of my life here in the US. Actually, I have lived in different parts of Los Angeles County, California since I was 8 years old. Between the ages of 2-4 I lived in Galveston, Texas. So this means that I have called the US my home for 17 out of my 24 years of life. My family (parents, siblings and I) permanently moved to the US in 1992, which is funny because we left a country that was rioting and striking against apartheid and a racially segregated system in South Africa, only to move to LA in the same year as the LA race riots, which were sparked by the brutal beating of Rodney King (a black man) by the LAPD.

I don't think the meaning of 'American' has anything to do with race.  I think it has more to do with how you think about the world around you and how you relate to that world.  In America, you can be your own person and not give a crap about what anyone thinks of you.  You can have some crazy fetish, or be a tribal person from the Amazon, and there is probably a whole community of people just like you with some sort of Legal Defense Fund to protect your rights and freedoms here.  America is the land of opportunity and infinite dreams, especially in a place like Los Angeles (I have only lived in LA, although have traveled throughout the US).  Here, I can be totally me and totally free.  Since most of my relatives live in other countries (mostly in England) and I don't know any other Indian South Africans here besides my parents/aunt and uncle, and people that visit us, I have pretty much been free to make up a culture for myself that best suits me.  So, this is now me and who I am....feeling crazy and passionate about the world constantly....

I consider myself to be an American because America is my home. It is and has been my home for most of my life. It is the place that educated me and taught me how to live, breathe, laugh, play, think, behave. It is the place where I have developed into a human being, a mature and rational adult capable of making my own decisions about myself and about the world around me.

With regard to Barack Obama, I think he believes in the freedoms written into the American Constitution, and I think he truly believes that all human beings were created equal and should be treated that way.  For this reason I think that Barack Obama will go a long way in changing how the US governments treats traditionally marginalized peoples domestically and abroad.  I think it is this message mixed with the historical significance of having our first President of Color that makes Obama's election so exciting.

I think Obama reflects American society because he understands America from an insider and an outsider's perspective.  As a person born and raised in America with a White American mother, he has always been on the 'inside' of what is considered 'average American'.  On the other hand, as a Black man in America, as the son of an immigrant, and as a person who has lived abroad as a child, he understand America from an outsider's perspective in a multitude of ways.  I think Obama has chosen a career in politics because he truly understands the purpose of the job, which is to create just and fair laws that work to protect and give structure to society without impinging too heavily on people’s freedoms. 

As public servants, politicians should ideally create laws and policy for the good of the people without involving their own personal biases or the opinions of lobbyists and donors. I’m not saying that Obama is the perfect politician, but I am saying that I believe that he understands the importance of the work that he does and therefore works very hard to do his job well, while being mindful and considerate of the impact of his policies and decisions on the American people as a whole.  

I am so excited to vote for Obama this year, and am also so excited to get other people motivated to vote for him too. I feel deeply in my bones that this year is the year for big changes in the world, and that an Obama presidency will ultimately be a positive change for future generations of Americans.

Thank you for reading my words.

Much love,

Hopeful in Los Angeles