MY VOTE, MY HOPES, MY STORY: THIS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IS PERSONAL

On November 4, 2008, I cast my vote for then Senator Barack Obama, a very young man who was about to become President of the United States.  Less than an hour later, I set out on a journey by train.  As I sat alone on my seat in that train, I could not help thinking about what I had just done.  Deep in thought, I pulled out my phone, wrote and sent a long letter by email to my children in the hope that someday they would imagine the magnitude of what that moment in history meant for their father.  My son had just become of voting age, was in the university and would be casting his first vote in that election.  However, my daughter was still years away from being of voting age.  About 6 years later, my daughter called home from her university and asked me if I still had that letter because she was trying to locate it on her computer.  I was almost moved to tears because, although we had never discussed it, I realized at that moment that the letter had struck a cord with her. 

As I have thought of the upcoming presidential election between Secretary Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump over the last few weeks, that private and very personal letter that I aptly titled “A letter to My Children” has reverberated over and over in my mind and, with just two days now to the election, I feel an urge to share a tiny portion of the letter publicly because this nation of which I am part is once again on the cusp of history.  With so much antagonism and polarization in our midst resulting in the neglect of otherwise crucial matters, the issues that lie ahead for our nation and world are as significant, perhaps even more so than they were in 2008 when I wrote the following words to my children:

“Whatever happens now, do not allow the significance of today to be lost on you and your children. You should know, and you should let your children know, that during this period in our nation's history, your father was often overwhelmed by the realization that God blessed his son with the opportunity to cast the first presidential election vote of his life for a man who looked like him.  You should also know and let your children and grandchildren know that God also blessed your father's daughter with the opportunity to cast her first presidential vote for the same man who looks like her.  I am saying this confident that, in just hours, we and all those people who have tried over the past year and half to attack Senator Obama in very negative ways will very shortly begin to refer to him in the new title that God is about to confer on him: "Mr. President".  With that also comes the confidence that he will be running for a second term in office when you, my daughter, cast your first presidential election vote.  In raising you, we have focused on the word of God and have emphasized the importance of seeking God's kingdom and helping the less privileged.  This is why we are Democrats…”

To me, this election is personal.  Many years ago, I met a Chicago-based American while attending a conference in Moscow, Russia.  Over the years, we have maintained a very close friendship and have developed a very tight family bond, such that we consider ourselves members of one another’s family.  She is of Mexican heritage and I am of Nigerian heritage.  Neither skin color nor ethnicity has prevented me from regarding the Villasenor family as my Chicago family or from her regarding mine as her family.  So, when Donald Trump insisted that Mexicans were “criminals and rapists”, he was referring to my people; my family.  He has had almost a year and half to apologize for that and many other insults that he hurled at individuals, groups of people and countries but he has refused to do so. A man who runs around praising and funding the persecution of people who look like me, as Mr. Trump did in regard to the “Central Park Five”, and has consistently done in cases of police brutality, must not receive a license from me to continue to destroy people.  I cannot trust a man who stiffs workers rather than pay them for their labor to enter the Oval Office and make policy decisions that benefit the less privileged.  If a man has spent his entire life degrading and disrespecting women like my daughter and boasting about his sexual assault of women, he cannot be my dinner guest and must not be the lead in most of the newscast that I watch for the next 4 years.  A man who repeatedly says that black people live in hell and does not see how that is an insult to me, and all who look like me, is too ignorant to be the leader of a world that I live in.  A man who has spent years trying to de-legitimize the presidency and citizenship of a President who looks like my son is not worthy of my embrace. 

I will step into my voting booth on Tuesday, November 8^th and cast my ballot for Secretary Hillary Clinton because it is the right thing to do.  I will do so because that is the only step that is consistent with my spiritual beliefs, my status as the father of a young man and a young woman, and (God willing) a future grandfather who wants his grandchildren to live in a world that is not boundlessly infested by the hateful bigotry of Donald Trump and his supporters. Certainly, I do not agree with everything that Mrs. Clinton stands for and will not agree with all of her policies as President but she is the right person to lead this country, and the right leader that the free world needs.  Having just had a presidency that is unrivalled in its decency, maturity, sincerity and intellect in modern times, we need a presidency that will solidify and extend the gains of the last 8 years.  Of the two candidates, the only person able to do that is the one who is brilliant, caring, respectful of all, has a remarkable history of service, accepts and understands the promise of America and believes in John Wesley’s admonition to “Do all the good you can by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can…as long as you ever can”.  That person is Hillary Rodham Clinton and I look forward to joining millions others to make her the next and first female President of the United States.

THE SINS OF OUR FATHERS - BY PAUL INYANG

 Paul Inyang

I have been wondering about the elections and why it has been as divisive as it has been. It seems like the public has been abused to ...the extent that we are all exhausted. When Barack Obama was elected, many of us thought that America had finally turned a new leaf and we were all headed in the right direction. As far as many were concerned—the best was yet to come. He was handed the worst of circumstances since the great depression and in my mind confronted it without dwelling much on how things got so bad. Soon the drum beat of war started beating. First it was the Republican House and Senate turning themselves into the—just say no legislators. Many of us thought that there was something sinister about the brouhaha but were ready to chuck it up to political rang-lings. But it dragged on into Barrack’s second term. Having been on the other side of the aisle, I like many, labeled it just a difference of ideas—until it became obstructive.

Then the “birther” stuff reared its ugly head. I never knew that birther was even a word until now that it is part of the political lexicon. How the hell does one question the birth place/rights of a president? The President had to “prove” that he is American. It has never happened in the history of this great nation (please someone correct me if I am wrong). No president and I repeat, no president has been subjected to such ignominy. Are there people in this great land who are not immigrants other that the Native Americans (Indians) whose birth right was stolen from them—yes, they were robbed. Who owns this land If I may ask? Many stood by, black and white and watched the birther issue grow. From the pulpits to the Pugh—very few spoke up in defense of the president or the presidency. Until some guy in an oversized suit that was made in Mexico, pronounced himself arbiter. He judged himself the ender of the issue—suggesting someone else started it all. There were those, who before now claimed omnipotence—who stood by nodding their heads in resounding agreement. What a con job!

When you thought that you had heard it all, black, brown and yellow people were lumped together and dumped into the dustbin of miscreant—my African American he said. The last time someone said that—they were called “maser”. That was ended by the ironically by the great President Lincoln. Mexicans/Hispanic of course bore the brunt of the rubbish being spewed out. Some even suggested that the internment of Japanese Americans during the Second World War was good for the country. So let’s build a big wall and turn America into a big internment camp. Oh, by the way, we do not need one for the northern border—I suppose they look too much like the majority. The people down south are the problem—they are thieves, robbers, drug pushers, and rapist—by the way, they impregnate young white women. Oh, all these colored folks—they are the trouble in America—the “big problem”.

Then came women, how they dare aspire to be president. So what will we call her, Madam President? No, she is a crooked, bleeding, indecent liar and an enabler. Worst yet, she can speak and run rings around our red-meat eating nominee. What effrontery! Women after all “wink, wink” are supposed to hit the “glass ceiling”, recognize it and know their place. Of course, they are supposed to be assaulted, groped and treated as indecently as one can get away with, especially, if they the transgressors are celebrities and rich—rich in everything but character. Locker room talk? President Carter in an interview with playboy once said; "I've looked on a lot of women with lust. I've committed adultery in my heart many times”—to which Art Buchwald responded; that America now has a president that does not “do it” but commits “lust” in his heart. If we are unlucky, we will have one that only assaults and gropes with his hand.

I forgot we must “Make America Great Again”. What do we really mean here besides the obvious? When did this great country lose its shine? The oval office got a little darker and the population got a little more diverse. Did they not hear old saying that “once you go black you cannot go back again”? Yes, I think you all can surmise what this means. America will forever be diverse—that is not about to change. Hate has never been a recipe for greatness. If you doubt me, ask Adolph Hitler wherever he is. The world has rejected this principle before led by one great nation—the United States of America. More recently, the Twin Towers were blown up—since then Osama Bin Laden is dead (thanks to Barrack) and New York has been rebuilt better than ever—standing on the graves of the innocent. Yes, America is GREAT and we do not need to re-brand or sully that image. The land of the free, that is the yearning of everyone in the world and stands alone because of what it stands for and most of all—freedom. That is greatness in my book by any measure!

Check this out—a woman is about to run this great country and America will remain great. Go vote your conscience, whatever that is and let us have a conversation about getting along after this elections. God bless the new president who ever she is!