Its been a little over two years since I was introduced to DailyKos through a college roommate. Reflecting on it now, I want to write a little bit about myself as I prepare to step into the next chapter of my life.
My name is Mishal Ali. I identified myself as a Republican in one phase of my life, but that was before I delved deeper into politics and had a true sense of what I really believed in. I was born in Karachi, Pakistan and my parents decided to immigrate to the United States when I was very young, hoping that the educational opportunities that America afforded would help my sister and I. They came with very little money, but with hard work and luck we were able to prosper economically over time.
We decided to settle in North Texas and while it was hard at first adjusting to a totally new situation, I got used to the American culture. My outlet was through sports and I grew up with the Dallas Cowboys, Dallas Stars, and the Texas Rangers as my life. While I was going though Junior High something happened that changed my life forever. On the day of the 2nd football game of my 8th grade year, the terrorist attacks of 9/11 happened. I remember there sitting in 1st period choir watching the TV in both horror and shock. After that, like many other Texans and Americans, I rallied behind George W Bush. I started listening to talk radio which means in Texas you have the choice between Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh if you listened to the mainstream talk stations.
I listened and because I did not know politics very well, spewed many of the talking points that I heard these Republican cheerleaders make on the radio. Because I was in the suburbs, my friends and my teachers were mostly Republican. Indeed everyone I knew was Republican. But something about a lot of them did not seem right. After 9/11 I got a lot of hostile looks at school. A lot of the kids that I played on the football team with threw pepperoni on my food and ran away. Some of them called me a "sand nigger". What got me to see what was going on with the administration came in the form of a move called Unconstitutional. It was a film on how the PATRIOT Act was infringing on our Civil Liberties. Indeed I saw this happening around me every single day. Many of my family members were taken to secret prisons that were built for terror suspects, but they had done nothing wrong except that they were Pakistani and Muslim. John Ashcroft should be prosecuted along with many of his cronies, but I know nothing of the sort will happen so I'm not going to waste my space.
I saw the things that were happening around me, how xenophobic some people were. The invasion of Iraq changed all of this. I was a little doubtful about the war, but I had nonetheless supported it because hannity and Rush and Charlie Jones and Mark Davis told me it was going to be all right. Worst mistake of my life. As time went on, and I found out about the lies, the wiretapping, it all began to disgust me. All of this evildoer rehetoric was unbearable. I was too naiive to challenge conservative on economics. My high school AP Economics teacher, bless his heart for his genius, was a huge supporter of Bush and true believer in Friendman, and I spewed the free-market gospel. It was pretty bad until I graduated from high school.
College gave me a breath of fresh air. I was surrounded by people and things that were extremely new to me. I went to Oxford College of Emory University for my first two years of undergraduate study. Being in a small, diverse community gave me an opportunity to mingle and discuss ideas with others that I had not imagined. It was here that reading a book and watching a YouTube videochanged my life. By my Sophomore year I was set on going to business school, and then to Wall Street to make money. After reading The Audacity of Hope and watching then-Senator Obama's speech at the DNC Convention in 2004, I was stunned. The video brought me to tears, as it made me relate to this man, this politician as never before. I soon changed majors to Political Science, keeping my other major of Economics.
I was an early supporter of Barack Obama, and I still remember telling my rooomate at the time, who continues to be a huge Mitt Romney supporter, that this man was going to be next President of the United States. He shrugged it off, and what came next is history. But it was one part of Obama's life that continually had me thinking. After his graduation from Columbia, he spent years as a community organizer in Chicago. Before I had graduated high school, I had received my Eagle Scout award from the Boy Scouts of America, so this I always found the spirit of community service fascinating. After discussing international affairs, theories of war, international trade, and how economics can be applied to the law, I graduated this past May from Emory University. I faced one of, if not the toughest job markets for college graduates.
One small booth at a job fair-that's all it took. I had thought about doing Teach for America but the prospect of two years commitment had me a little reluctant. Educational inequality in America is something that is a real problem in this country and I wanted to do my part to help kids stay in school and receive a quality education I saw the inequality happening at my high school, where we had kids in my class go to ivy league schools and some of my friends drop out, or go to work. With Teach for America, I was however, not offered a position in the upcoming years corps. However, I still wanted to work in the community and help kids stay in school. That is where City Year came into the picture.
There was a young woman who was at the booth by herself during the career fair. She was at a small table while the crowds were at the tables for various consulting firms and investment banks. I spoke to her about her City Year experience in New York City and I was hooked. I applied and was recently accepted into City Year Los Angeles. I accepted the offer yesterday and I am exptremely excited about moving to LA soon. I have been there a lot and my significant other is in the city, which helps significantly. I hope that like the President when he was a fresh grad, help make a difference in the lives of others and help build community. I hope to go to law school after, and my ultimate hope is to make a change in education policy when I am into my law career. Being from Texas, I dont need to say much about education policy other than that the system needs to be changed. i hope this administration takes foundational steps and really make change. Children are the future, I am the future, and I hope that together we can help bring America back to greatness. Thank you for reading