Please Vote on November 4th, 2008

I remember when I was going to boarding school in New Hampshire. I had already gotten in to the school and had accepted the invitation. Being from Harlem, New York, I didn't know anything about New Hampshire... so I did what any curious 13 year old boy would do: I searched the internet.

I didn't know exactly where to start though, so I typed in "Black New Hampshire" into the yahoo search bar; I mean, I'm black, I wanted to know about New Hampshire... it was pretty simple to me. I found out that things were going to change pretty drastically with my new living arrangements.

There were no trains! There were no bodegas! And the most scary of them all... there were no black people! Just trees and white people! I have no issues with white people but being 13 or 14 years old and going to live on your own in the woods as a minority (which I had never been in school until high school) could be a bit much.

I was afraid so I told my mother and she warned me of what could be awaiting me in New Hampshire. She told me of her tough college experiences with race in Buffalo, NY; how she was called names and the overall climate of the place. I didn't like it and didn't really get it but I did realize for the first time that I was black and would be treated differently because of it.

In high school, I was still a bit naive. I did not really learn anything more about black people that I hadn't already learned in elementary or junior high. I guess you could say Shakespeare's Othello gave me a new perspective on race relations (and it still remains as my favorite piece of literature today). College is where I began to be interested in why my blackness served as a weakness. If I couldn't get an answer to my questions, I wanted to stuff my brain with as much possible information that could possibly lead me to conclusions about why these type of prejudices exist. I have no answers now but I do understand that things may be changing slowly but surely.

In 2004, when Barack Obama spoke at the Democratic National Convention as the keynote speaker and the CNN commentators suggested that the first term senator may be a potential candidate in 2012 0r 2016, I laughed. I did not believe that I nor my far from existing children or even their children would even live to see a black candidate be nominated by a major political party in this country. Boy, was I wrong.

What little faith I had in the American people... and how much that faith has changed since August 2004.

I spent my entire college career under a president that I didn't vote for and dislike a great deal. His re-election was hard and unbelievable for me. I loss a little bit of hope. As a first year college student, I thought that the American people were agreeing to war; a war that I knew would just lead to many innocent people dying. I did not know much about politics now and I know only slightly more now but I do know that we made a mistake in 2004.

And I also know that we have a chance to best amend that mistake tomorrow, November 4th. If you want change, you have to act for it. I am nothing like an activist. I couldn't organize my daily schedule let alone an agenda and a group of people. However, I believe that if we all accept our right to vote as an opportunity to take action and a duty for ourselves, our friends, our families and all people, we can and will have justice on November 4th.

Tomorrow, I embark on my first live voting experience (I voted through absentee ballot in 2004). I ask that you join me in looking down within yourself and discovering what you believe in and are willing to stand up for. You don't need to be politically savvy to make a difference. You don't need to be politically active to make a difference. You don't need to know what party you're in to make a difference. All you need to do is vote. Tomorrow, the citizens of this great country are all equal; we all have one vote. And if you treat that one vote as your stake in the future of this country and this world you will be at peace with yourself when the United States of America makes the right choice for its next president.

November 4th, 2008 has the potential to be the greatest and most influential day in the younger generation's lifetimes. Please take part in this most historic election so that you can be able to tell your children and grandchildren that you were apart of history. If you don't know where to vote, please check here. I thank you for your time.


two times.

My alias is Perf and I support Barack Obama for President of the United States.