On Thursday afternoon I took the CTA to the Obama for America headquarters in downtown Chicago. Interestingly, my bus ride to the green line EL took me past the block on which Obama's house is located. It now has very visible police protection and in fact the entire block was cordoned off to traffic. I wonder if it's going to be like that for the remaining 2 months/4 years, or only when he's at home. No doubt there were a lot of tourists driving by out of curiosity (I admit I was one once when we had some interested visitors over). A co-worker of mine said he'd been walking by Obama's property a while ago and got a good glimpse of it, and found that the bit of land that Obama bought from controversial Tony Rezko was actually a thin strip of land beside the house that basically just widened his plot. He said that anyone looking at it would think that it made perfect sense to buy it, as it creates some distance between one wall of the house and the boundary line that separates his plot from Rezko's.
Back to my afternoon at the Obama for America office (which by the way, is just off the CLINTON stop on the green line... just left of Clinton, if you will): it's a basement office that is much, much less fancy than I expected. Your $5 donation isn't being wasted on rent, let me assure you. It was just BUZZING with activity, with a constant, steady stream of volunteers coming in. (They have a fantastic multi-tasker of a receptionist there). On their website, they have you sign up for the time slot during which you'd like to work (which I did) but really, you're allowed to come in whenever you want and stay for as long as you'd like without signing up at all. Without saying anything too specific, let me just tell you that the work I did was easy. It was structured but didn't require training.
I was expecting the majority of the volunteers there to be under 30, but that wasn't the case at all. Every demographic I can think of was well-represented in the time that I was there. Given that there was a constant flux of people coming and going according to their own schedules, every time I'd look up I'd see a whole bunch of new faces around me, completely different from the last time I looked around. A totally motley crew. After the first two hours there though, I started to feel that perhaps the one group that was kind of over-represented was the hard-of-hearing over-seventy white female population! Amusing and kind of endearing, actually. It was also a pleasant surprise to find that the whole show is being run by my old immigration colleague, Scott S., who gave up immigration work last October to be hired full-time by Obama.
There are actually things you can do to get involved with or without going to your local office, wherever you are in the US. If you want to find your local office though, call 1.866.675.2008. I'll probably make this a regular thing because I have the time now so if you'd like to join me here in Chicago, let me know... it would be fun to do this with friends! The office address is 566 W. Lake St. (Lake & Jefferson), and they're open M-Sat 9am-9-pm, Sun 12 noon-7pm.
Time to say goodbye
15 years ago
5 comments:
Mona,
I am so proud of you. You've taken a step I am yet to see new Americans take. You know what I mean. Lots recent immigrants to the United States who have become naturalized have not been able to fully participate in the political process of this country. Obama gives the perfect opportunity being a son of an immigrant. Keep the good work. I was meant to travel to Indiana today but I am a little under the weather. I would like to organize for you and several of our friends to go out there one of these remaining weekends before Nov 4. Sarah Palin has shown me another side of this country I never knew! It is absurd but the truth is here. I never get that there is a bunch of good citizens who think it is kool to cheer up folks who seem either foolish or naive! That is Palin for you! Take care! SG
Hi, Thanks for your comment. I can't quite figure out who you are, but do get in touch if you'd like to go to Indiana. I've signed up to go on Sept. 20 (because the voter registration deadline in Indiana is Oct 4) and if you get in touch with me via email, perhaps you can go with me? I still have to find out the details of the trip from the campaign people though. I've also signed up for the weekend before the elections. Anyway, do get in touch with me.
Mona
PS - I know what you mean by recent immigrants not getting involved in the political process. I did see a few at the Obama for America office downtown. And I know of others who have expressed interest. But yes, in general, there is a disengagement from politics that I don't quite understand but would like to. Perhaps it's because their main drive is to fit in/adjust and not appear to rock the boat/endanger their own status as recent immigrants? It's a vulnerable place to be in for some people.
Way to go Mona! Hope that all the involvement of people like you does make a difference on voting day! The world needs a change!
My concern at this point is that the majority of unregistered voters don't know that the deadline for registration in their state is a whole month in advance of election day. We're a country of procrastinators as it is. So by the time someone thinks to themselves that they might like to vote this year (usually it's thanks to all the media attention to the elections), it's too late. And on top of that out of those who've registered, I've actually heard of people saying the day after, "No, I didn't vote... my alarm didn't go off, and then I had to do this and then I had to do that... blah blah blah, and then it was already 7pm."
Like, um, you know.
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