18mr:

The Ali Family, Midlothian, VA

Grandparents Mohammed and Safia Ali have been voters for over 25 years. But in 2008, the enthusiasm of their children, Razi with wife Sumayra, and daughter Nadira, had Grandpa and Grandma not only voting but volunteering! Their grandchildren, Tayyib and Raihaan have already heard many thoughtful and passionate political debates and seen their parents and grandparents proudly wear “I Voted” stickers from many elections.

The Ashraf Family, Brookfield, WI

Dad Ashraf has voted in many presidential elections, Mom Ashraf voted in her first in 2000 after becoming a US Citizen. Both parents voted casually - making decisions based on campaign ads or coworker opinions. But after daughter Zainab became politically active in college, she educated her parents on the importance of state and local elections and the need to really know candidates’ positions before casting their ballot. Today, Mom and Dad Ashraf are volunteers for GOTV efforts in every election and attend every political rally they can get into. 

The Khaja Family, Charlottesville, VA

Minhaj and Maryam want public education for their son Musa to better than their own. They want more creative teachers, more diverse classrooms, curricula that consist of real-world preparation and the People’s history over the textbook company’s history. They are both actively engaged in school board discussions and extremely educated about every city council member’s position on public education. And Musa will come with them to the voting booth every year until he’s ready to cast his own ballot.

The Akthar-Khaleel Family, Washington, DC

Newlyweds Wajiha Akthar and Awais Khaleel both come from hardworking South Asian immigrant families who wanted the best for their children. What they got was a political dynamic duo, Awais a lawyer and Wajiha a PhD candidate in public health, who are not only voters but activists in the fields of civil rights and mental health.

Studies show that when children have parental assistance with homework, they perform better in school. I would bet that when parents have children’s assistance with voting, they feel better about life in general. South Asians typically come from close knit families where parents offer plenty of motivation to their children to do well in school. Today, in 2012, we are learning that children are motivating their parents to get involved civically, to become a part of the American political process, to vote.

Many South Asians came to the US in the late 1960s and 1970s with the passing of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. Highly skilled, these folks came to the US in search of economic opportunity and stability. After obtaining citizenship, they built wonderful lives for their children, the first generation South Asian Americans. We reaped many benefits this country had to offer the middle class - quality housing, great education. But we also felt the pains this country could inflict - institutionalized racism, social disenfranchisement.

After working so hard and after contributing so much to the economy, why were we still not seen as an integral part of American society?

While our parents were busy establishing their careers, building stable homes, and guaranteeing us many privileges, they were forgetting the importance of the American political process. They wanted our schools to be the best, but they did not vote for school board.  They wanted our neighborhoods to be clean, but had no idea when city council elections were held. They bought into the American Dream with such fervor - we control our own success, if we work hard enough we will make it - they didn’t realize that actually, elected officials and their policies strongly controlled our paths to success too.

The good news is, us kids, the first generation South Asian Americans, figured this out. We are educating our parents and taking them to the polls. We are questioning their lack of involvement and challenging them to vote - not just for President - but for state and local offices as well. And we are raising kids who will hopefully be even more politically engaged than we are, who will run for office and win and create policies of fairness and equality and continue to educate us, like we did our parents, on how to be real, true, citizens of this American democracy.

Fatima Ashraf is currently a Virginia 18 Million Rising Fellow and a former Senior Policy Advisor on Health and Education to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg in New York City. She is currently mobilizing voters in Virginia for All Hands On Deck, a national organization committed to amplifying progressive youth voices in the political process.