Every day when I take the bus to work I ride past an informal garbage dump in Quetzaltenango's public market called La Democracia. Oftentimes I see homeless men fighting for rotting scraps of food with street dogs. Malnourished, shrunken children lying about their age (they're always fourteen, Guatemala's age where it's no longer 'child labor') offering to shine my shoes or sell me twelve cents worth of gum...
...teenagers working as assistants on buses, hollering destinations with determination "Guate!" "Momos!" "Huehue!" hoping for more passengers and more money. Mothers at my school who draw maps for me so I know how to walk home and not get mugged when it's late at night.
GOTV for my students, who will have to live with the effects of CAFTA and of the dirty 36 year civil war (1960-1996) whose aftershock is felt everyday.
GOTV for Chato who needed to come to the states for a while to work to support his wife and newborn son in the 90's. Who rode a bike around Texas working in carwashes twelve hours a day to save a little money for his dream: a college education for his child.
GOTV for Esteban who is currently in his last (hopefully) year of middle school: if he passes his final exams he'll stay in school, but he told me three days ago that he'd start working if the tests don't go his way.
GOTV for GLBT Guatemalans who threw their first pride parade in my city last year and envy the civil rights that exist in the states. For their struggle to create a place where they are respected.
GOTV for the very real fear that my neighbors and friends have of John McCain and Sarah Palin. Whenever I'm found out as being from the US folks here get a bit quiet and a bit nervous. "Who are you voting for?" they ask. "Obama." I reply, and they relax a little. They are afraid for relatives living in the states. Worried about what McCain would do for the economy. Ashamed of how their countrymen and women were treated in Postville, Iowa. Terrified about the rising xenophobia and anti-Latino sentiment popping up. Every single Guatemalan I've talked to feels this way. Every. Single. One. If there are any who support McCain here, I don't know where they're hiding.
Now, I'm not naive and don't think that an Obama Administration would automatically solve all our problems down here. But, I do know that John McCain would be a step in a direction that would hurt the people that I love down here.
I believe that Obama would bring about some healing. Some better policies on trade and immigration. That he would humanize immigrants. That he would allow us the space to try and make our communities better instead of trying to squeeze money out of a country where most people live on less than two dollars a day.
Please try your hardest. I believe in you. GOTV.