History
Why I'm in Austin Tonight
by VALARIE KAUR
It's late at night here in Austin, Texas (U.S.A.) and I've just settled into my hotel room downtown.
My second time ever in Texas, I am here to call and knock on doors for a campaign - but not just any campaign - a movement. And, like all movements, once you realize that the stirrings of your own heart don't belong only to you but to an entire generation, it has you.
Some warn that all this enthusiasm is setting us up for disappointment. President Obama will not be perfect, he won't usher in a golden age, and he won't make everyone happy. This is true, but it's also missing the point.
Barack Obama is here to lead us, not save us. It is our time, not his. The movement is not about him; he is simply the face of it. And he knows it.
"I'm asking you to believe", reads his central message. "Not just in my ability to bring about change in Washington... I'm asking you to believe in yours".
This movement is about all of us who are ready to believe in our own sense of empowerment again. It's about fulfilling our desire for our own renewal and transformation. It's about our willingness to work for it.
This is why I became a precinct captain in California, calling and knocking on the doors of neighbors and strangers, asking them to get involved in a process I never believed in until now.
It's why I took the risk of offending my own faith community and shared my political conviction with Sikh-Americans who traditionally back the Clintons.
It's why my best friend and I stayed up all night before California's primary, making 300 hand-written notes to tell our neighbors why we support Obama, only to jog through suburbia at 4 in the morning, delivering them on front doorsteps, hoping they would sway just one undecided voter on election morning.
It's why I wept when I punched his name on the ballot. It wasn't his name on the ballot; it was mine. It was the name of all of us who are in this movement together.
And this movement is the reason why I accepted a place at law school this fall. I am beginning to believe again in my own power, and I'm not alone.
I saw this tonight, when I stopped by campaign headquarters downtown, a loud cavernous office filled with rows of people on phones, with laptops, sitting beneath hand-painted signs with messages of hope. Colorful chaos with order and purpose.
"You know what I'm dreaming of?" I heard a field organizer say. "Sleep".
She's been traveling with the campaign ever since she graduated from college last summer. Others are still in college, on leave. And I remember taking time from my own leave from college after 9/11 - to document stories of hate violence against my community.
What a different moment this is. It is not a moment of tragedy that is defining these college kids, this generation, but a moment of hope.
This hope is shared by all generations, I was reminded when talking with my father tonight. He is a life-long Republican who temporarily switched to the Democratic party just to vote for Obama in the California primary.
"You know, I was thinking about it and figured out I could do something from over here", he told me, in epiphany. I could make calls! Can I help you make calls?"
It's been a big enough deal for my dad and me to want the same person to be president. Now, working together to get him elected ... this is getting to be too much.
"That's what's so amazing about this campaign", a friend told me in response, "watching so many different people come together. I wish I could be there in Austin with you", he said.
He is a turbaned Sikh-American who canvassed neighborhoods for Obama in New Hampshire.
"You know, I never felt fully American until I knocked on those doors and talked to people", he said. "It really makes you feel part of a community".
A democracy. A country. That's what it feels like.
That's why I'm here.
No matter what the outcome. This campaign has already changed us.
March 1, 2008
Conversation about this article
1: Harinder (Bangalore, India), March 02, 2008, 4:04 AM.
May WaheGuru bless America and Americans. The only jarring note is their not allowing Sikhs to meet the Pope while they are wearing the kirpan - an article of faith!
2: P. Singh (Vancouver, Canada), March 02, 2008, 5:54 AM.
Would those supporting and campaigning for Hilary Clinton not say almost exactly the same thing? That "what's so amazing about this campaign is watching so many different people come together"? Or "You know, I never felt fully American until I knocked on those doors and talked to people, it really makes you feel part of a community." As a Canadian who thinks Obama is great, if primarily for his amazing speeches delivered in that rich, sonorous voice - this article smells a lot like campaign propoganda and has a tenuous connection, if that, to the art and culture of the diaspora. I am not familiar with the rules of posting articles on Sikhchic.com, but is the site fair game for political advertisement, or articles pushing particular candidates? This article is clearly doing just that. I don't have any strong feelings one way or the other - just curious. [Editor: We are equal open to supporters of the other candidates, as long as the pieces are written articulately and well, respectfully, rationally - and add to, or represent the Sikh world-view.]
3: M. Banwait (Fort McMurray, Canada), March 02, 2008, 9:43 PM.
Any Canadian supporting Obama or Clinton needs to re-check if they like to continue having a job ... or their neighbor having a job ... if you're okay with these possibilities, then go ahead and pull out of NAFTA ... you're gonna see tens of thousands of Canadians lose their homes.
4: P.Singh (Vancouver, Canada), March 05, 2008, 12:25 PM.
M. Banwait, you make a very good point. It is a little bit funny (and scary for Canadians), how "Blame Canada" has become a platform item for both Clinton and Obama.
5: Apaar Singh (College Park, MD, U.S.A.), March 08, 2008, 1:33 PM.
Why is this on the sikhchic.com website?
6: Kavi Raj Singh (Tustin, U.S.A.), March 09, 2008, 4:32 PM.
Even though this is a nicely written article, just like Obama's speeches ... it fails to address the true issue ... why him? What has he done to earn to lead USA ... the answer is "nothing" ... You don't give the charge of a trillon dollar company to an individual just because he can give emtionally charged speeches. A leader without the experience to show us the way in these turbulent times is a guranteed prescription to disaster. Also, let's not forget it was Obama who called Hillary the senator from Punjab ... showing clearly his insensitivity to Sikhs. I am not sure I want another such person in the White House. Certain decisions need to be more than emotional and this is one of those.