As an
immigrant, voting in today's historic U.S. Presidential election was quite a landmark for me. I became a U.S. citizen in early 2006, after almost 10 years as a
"green card" holder, partly so I would have the right to vote today. While the Democratic Party is far too centralist for my liking, voting for an African-American candidate,
Barack Obama, felt right to me. How, as an African woman, could I not vote for the son of a Kenyan?
This morning, I got up early with my sweetie, Azi, to vote at our local poll station. Our neighborhood polling station is just a block from our house at the local branch of Berkeley library. As we left the house we heard the news that the voter turn-out was unheard of with long lines at many polling stations across the country (
see picture to the left). I had goosebumps as we went to vote. YAY!
The last time I voted in a major election was back home in South Africa for the
first democratic election in 1994. That was an exciting election - change and hope was palpable in the air. The lines were long (
see the picture to the right) - so, so much longer than the lines here in the U.S. today. I'll never forget that the first time I cast a vote was in such an important, historical election. It felt powerful and healing, as a white South African, to cast my vote for the ANC (with
Nelson Mandela as the party leader). The
South African political climate has changed dramatically in the last 14 years, but I hold onto the reverence for real transformation of that time.
In the South African 1994 election, to counter voting fraud, our hands were sprayed with this special invisible ink when arriving at the polling station. I remember clearly that the ink smelt strongly of oranges. I recently looked up the magical meaning of oranges as a herb ~ they are a powerful drawing herb, used to attract luck, fertility, love and prosperity. How apt! To this day, whenever I smell oranges, I have this visceral memory of casting my ballot at Mowbray City Hall,
Cape Town, with the hope of change in the air.
As an immigrant, voting in today's historic U.S. Presidential election was quite a landmark for me. I became a U.S. citizen in early 2006, after almost 10 years as a "green card" holder, partly so I would have the right to vote today. While the Democratic Party is far too centralist for my liking, voting for an African-American candidate, Barack Obama, felt right to me. How, as an African woman, could I not vote for the son of a Kenyan?
This morning, I got up early with my sweetie, Azi, to vote at our local poll station. Our neighborhood polling station is just a block from our house at the local branch of Berkeley library. As we left the house we heard the news that the voter turn-out was unheard of with long lines at many polling stations across the country (see picture to the left). I had goosebumps as we went to vote. YAY!
The last time I voted in a major election was back home in South Africa for the first democratic election in 1994. That was an exciting election - change and hope was palpable in the air. The lines were long (see the picture to the right) - so, so much longer than the lines here in the U.S. today. I'll never forget that the first time I cast a vote was in such an important, historical election. It felt powerful and healing, as a white South African, to cast my vote for the ANC (with Nelson Mandela as the party leader). The South African political climate has changed dramatically in the last 14 years, but I hold onto the reverence for real transformation of that time.
In the South African 1994 election, to counter voting fraud, our hands were sprayed with this special invisible ink when arriving at the polling station. I remember clearly that the ink smelt strongly of oranges. I recently looked up the magical meaning of oranges as a herb ~ they are a powerful drawing herb, used to attract luck, fertility, love and prosperity. How apt! To this day, whenever I smell oranges, I have this visceral memory of casting my ballot at Mowbray City Hall, Cape Town, with the hope of change in the air.
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