I've lurked on this site for about 4 years, and after reading kid oakland's diary respect.empower.include, I felt compelled to share my "endorsement" with friends and family. After the jump is an e-mail I sent on Super Tuesday regarding the current primaries. On one hand, it’s an endorsement for Barack Obama. However, I’d like to think of it as a celebration of how my own journey has been impacted by the work of both Michelle and Barack Obama.
Greetings from St. Paul. We just had a fresh layer of snow greet us yesterday, which only reinforced the Groundhog’s prediction of 6 more weeks of winter. As you can see in the attached picture, Leela and Meera both love each other’s company, and Leela loves being a big sister.
However, I’m writing to you for a couple of reasons. First, is to encourage you to participate in your local primary/caucus today (or in the near future, if you’re not in the Super Tuesday states). And, if you’ve already participated (in Iowa, South Carolina, New Hampshire or Nevada, or by absentee), then thank you.
And the second reason is to share with you a story of myself, and why I’m standing for Senator Barack Obama in tonight’s Minnesota Caucus. If you’re not interested in reading, right on — enjoy the pic of my two girls, and carry on with the remainder of your day.
My first interaction with the Obama family was more than 11 years ago. I was interviewing for an AmeriCorps position in a Chicago branch of a little known leadership program called Public Allies. I had underestimated the commute from Evanston (as I was a graduating senior at Northwestern) to downtown, and had shown up 10 minutes late. I was still flush with confidence for this interview, perhaps a bit cocky, knowing that I had a pretty good record as a community service planner/organizer among Chicago’s campuses. However, my tardiness made it a rocky start with my three person interview panel, which consisted of a current Public Ally, one of its staff members, and the Executive Director herself, Michelle Obama. That was one of the toughest interviews I’d ever experienced, as she challenged me to move beyond my comfortable pat answers and to “get real” about why I should be in her program. After all, graduating from Northwestern University meant that I had all kinds of privilege and access — if I knew so much, then would I be willing to learn from others in the room who didn’t go to college, or would I be willing to listen to those in the neighborhoods I was serving in? I recall it being a passionate conversation as she challenged me on my notions of social change, and my motivations to go into public service. It was one of those “full-contact” interviews, where I did everything the opposite of what I was trained to do in a job interview — argue back, share stories of my own struggle to understand my identity and how it intersected with privilege, and I had sweated through my shirt not because I was nervous, but because I was just moving around my chair and around the room. I remember closing the conversation telling her and the panel, “You may not know me from jack except this application and resume — but I guarantee you that not only will I get alot out of this place, but Public Allies will be a much better place because I went through it!” I recall pointing my finger at her virtually turning my interview into some WWE style boast. I left thinking I botched the interview. I ended up being accepted three weeks later to the Public Ally class of 1997.
I spent my Public Ally year as a youth organizer for the Illinois Center for Violence Prevention. I worked with junior high and high school students to create projects and experiences to promoted peace and non-violence, that provided an option for belonging and fellowship outside of the gangs, that provided youth connections to positive adults instead of self-destructive habits. During that year, I attended multiple community organizing trainings — One of those trainings was conducted by Barack Obama (who at the time I knew as Michelle’s husband), and during his workshop he talked about cultivating “community power” as an antidote to “institutional power” — and how it could be done by mapping and aligning your community residents giftedness and self-interests to inspire action and build relationships. My Public Ally fellowship ended after 10 months, but the Center kept me on board and over the next 2 years I put Barack’s community organizing training into practice. By the time I left the Center, the YouthPeace program that started out as a position paper became reality as we cultivated youth chapters in all three sides of Chicago (from Senn HS in Uptown, Orr HS in West Town, and Englewood Academy in Englewood) to far-flung spots outside of Chicago such as Rockford, Springfield, Carbondale and Cairo. One of my proudest moments was a youth retreat I organized that brought together all of these young leaders together to talk with each other and discover that even though they were from different economic classes, races/cultures, and even different parts of the state — they all discovered how eager they were to go to college, to make their neighborhood safer, and that they were happy to know that they had cool adults in their lives looking out for them.
I left the Center to come back to Public Allies Chicago, and become the youngest Program Director in its history. It was a dream come true to be able to direct the Apprenticeship program that gave me my “first break” in the biz. It was quite an opportunity since there were probably more experienced candidates with lengthier resumes, but I convinced them that I had the creativity and quick-learning capability to do the job. I’m proud to say that I made good on my promise to Michelle Obama — during my four year term, we were among the top 3 in retention for AmeriCorps programs in the state, “graduating” over 85% of our members each year, which is no small feat considering that the Public Allies program is considered to be the among the most rigorous of service programs. My program team had no turnover for four years — which was a first for the agency, and in itself is quite a feat since we weren’t that competitive with our compensation packages, and it was a stressful job. However, I continued to put into practice what I learned from Barack in that I always focused on the giftedness and strengths of my staff, created job descriptions that aligned with their strengths and self-interests, as well as invite them to create innovations and ideas to create more ownership in the program.
Perhaps what I’m most struck about Obama’s campaign is the presence of young adults in the campaign. I have an affinity for young adults, as I’ve spent all 11 years of my professional career working with folks aged 13-30. It’s quite telling that Senator Obama has averaged at least 57% of the under 30 vote in each of the early states. From volunteering at rallies, organizing via Facebook and mySpace, forming fundraising networks, and creating their own media messages through YouTube — they are innovating the way citizens engage in the process. They are not just supporting Barack because he’s a “rock star” — they support him because they know in his candidacy that their gifts and talents are being valued and utilized. While some dismiss their ideas as “naive and idealistic”, I say they bring insights that aren’t fettered by fear. They know the war is wrong and has cost us blood and treasure. They know that this planet needs to be better tended to since it’s their grandchildren that have yet to live on it. While their ideals are high, they realize that that dreams must be grounded in rock-ribbed results and practicality. For every Britney Spears-useless-young-celebs out there, I’ll show you 1,000 young adult AmeriCorps members rebuilding our neighborhoods. Their participation in the process bodes well for our society’s future.
I visited the Obama for America offices in St. Paul, I saw a sign on the wall that had the words, “Respect. Empower. Include.” I learned that that was the mantra for all of the workers and volunteers when they were connecting with potential voters. Seeing that sign re-connected me to the values that have guided my professional career. It reaffirmed why I believe that Barack Obama should be our next president. If we could have a government that operated with those values, we’d have an America that is more just, engaged and prosperous. While I have no doubt that there will be resistance by cynics, vested special interests, and even ourselves — I am going to cast my vote to try anyway. I believe that an Obama administration would invite us all to reconnect with our giftedness, and discover that our self-interests are much more aligned than we previously perceived.
So, thanks for taking the time to read my story. I’d be ecstatic if you’d cast your vote for Barack Obama. However, if you don’t, I’m hoping that you are just as excited about your candidate, as I am about mine.
Crossposted at my blog make no little plans
UPDATE: Thanks for making this a recommended diary. For all the time I've spent here as a lurker, I'm pleased to see that I've been able to make a useful contribution.