A Glimpse at Early Voting

I've not had a moment like this before, when, pulling up to the North Miami library, early voters were out by the crowd-ful, patiently waiting their turn in what was estimated to be a 2 to 3 hour wait. This was not your "typical" crowd to begin with. This was a predominantly Black and Haitian neighborhood, where you normally hear more Creole or Patois than English. What made this an incredible sight was that there were more people patiently waiting on line as it snaked around the block than I have seen at a Disney park. They were stationed like this on a workday at 2pm under the hot Miami sun in numbers that made a line at DisneyWorld look small. No complaints.The pride was palpable. Ladies in t-shirts from various church organizations sat on colorful chairs under umbrellas to stave of the sun while they gave advice to anyone with questions.

I was thinking back to other voting experiences I have had or witnessed. I could never imagine a New York crowd waiting two to three hours to cast their vote. Wouldn't happen. But NewYorkers do take pride in voting; although not in high numbers. Wouldn't it be transformative if they came out in numbers that correlated with those of these new Americans? I was thinking of voting in South Pasadena, California, where my fellow voters were mostly Korean or Chinese. A mix of older Americans and some newer citizens.  We lined up to vote in the driveway of a private home, designated an official voting site for that election -- something else I had never witnessed.

The North Miami voting line made me proud to be part of this mix. Americans all. It doesn't matter if your language is Creole, Patois, Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Guarani, Korean or something else, you are encouraged to vote.  A great reminder that no matter what your native language or culture or political views, you're safe to vote and your voice does matter.  With more communities with people of mixed backgrounds, creeds, colors, religions, I can't help but think that, despite incredible bouts of intolerance, we are still the best place on Earth!

Is Our Language Policy a Way to Freedom or Oppression?

Some might say that capitalism has been our greatest strength—the free flow of trade based on supply and demand, the allowance of financial markets to balance themselves and the encouragement of entrepreneurs to bring new ideas to market in a constant and free flow. I would argue that capitalism is of course fundamental to our way of life, to our American society. However, I would argue that our greatest strength as a nation is something else entirely: it is our diversity and our tolerance. No other country has the mix of diverse cultures, living together in communities, often under one roof, as we do. And although we have had major bouts of intolerance including segregation, regressive immigration policies, racism, sexism, the United States has had more laws created to counteract breeches. Ours has never been a country of the homogeneous; our identity was born out of tolerance for others—for their religion, primarily. We are and have always been an amalgam of cultures, languages and mixed races. No other country in the world has more children born to families with dual language capabilities. Yet we are among only four countries in the world that adjudicates monolingualism as the “natural” state of being. We now know that we come into this world hard-wired for multiple languages, yet we continue on this path of demanding monolingualism. Language policies in our public schools for the most part in transitioning non-English speakers to English speaking which effectively obliterate their home languages.

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses…” penned Emma Lazarus in 1883 in her sonnet "The New Colossus." When in 1903, these words were emblazoned upon the Statue of Liberty they were not watchwords of a homogeneous society striving for one language, one culture, one way of operating. Rather, these are the watchwords of diversity. Her name is not the commonly heard moniker “Lady Liberty;” Lazarus called her the “Mother of Exiles.”  Exiles who bring their own special cultures, languages, morals, foods, and world perspectives to our shore have always been fundamental to our culture.  It is what has made the United States the republic it is today. Yet, we have legislatively, linguistically, culturally maintained a suppression of those characteristics in favor of making us fit into an unnatural state of “oneness.” Speaking anything other than English has been seen as divisive, anti-American. Rather than embracing and elevating to the highest esteem our multiple language abilities, our policies and practices have suppressed our capabilities and consequently oppressed our people.

The time has come to recognize our diversity as our greatest strength and legislatively, educational and economically shift our policies and practices. Our world power – and our ability to participate fully in a globally interconnected, digital world – will depend on it. 

If we are to participate fully as leaders in the next few years and on into the coming centuries, we must turn this around. It is a right and a social imperative, to teach and encourage multiple language use in our children. The need for a paradigm shift is staring us in the face. 

A 14 year old peace-prize winning Pakistani girl was shot today by the Taliban. Her younger brother remarked, "Every day I pray for peace to come to Swat [the area in which they live] and if not peace, either the US or China." The Taliban released a statement saying that indeed they wanted her dead for writing an international blog, which the BBC published, against the Taliban but mostly for saying that Obama was her hero and that incited insurgency in her area. They admitted having a plan to kill her over a year ago, but said the "timing" just hadn't been right. A 14 year old school girl. Today she is fighting for her life, along with two other schoolmates caught in the crossfire as they left school.

How many ways is this wrong?

In an effort to tally Western thoughts in relation to Taliban rationale, I would love to hear from anyone who reads this. Write down just ONE way you consider this wrong. Please.