The Palm Tree Type

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I'm with Her.

Since casting my first vote as a Naturalized U.S. Citizen in that now infamous 2016 election, the U.S. has undergone a seismic shift toward xenophobia, racism, bigotry and antifeminism, a detrimental division sowed largely in part by a now legally indicted former president. It should thus come as no surprise that I will casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in this upcoming presidential election.

What has surprised me is how readily apathetic some have opted to remain. I get it. The overwhelmingness of the current political, socioeconomic and cultural landscape not just in the U.S. but around the world is palpable (and often feels crushing). There are significant issues, both domestic and foreign, that require serious thought and swift resolution. A lot has been said about the current administration’s handling of such issues, and I, too, realize that there’s no single action that could address them all nor meet our collective needs, demands and expectations.

There is no perfect path.
There is no perfect platform.
And there is certainly no perfect person. In fact, I think politics are inherently flawed, as are the humans who pursue them professionally.
And yet – and yet – I see no other possible option for our country’s moving forward than showing up in droves to vote for the Harris-Walz ticket. There is simply too much at stake, too  much we risk, if we do anything but.

* * *

I am an immigrant. My non-English speaking parents brought me (and my brother) to this country with little in their pockets but much (much) hope to fulfill the American Dream.

I am a first-generation high school graduate whose college and post-graduate education was made possible by scholarships and loans that I am still paying off.

I relied on social services for healthcare until I had a full-time job with benefits. In college, Planned Parenthood was my only resource for gynecological care, screenings and birth control.

I have taken misoprostol (the “abortion pill”) to ease a miscarriage (a desired pregnancy).

I have held the hands of friends, mothers at that, who have had to make the difficult, life-altering choice to terminate a pregnancy for health, financial and other personal reasons.

I have seen the anguish, both physical and emotional, of friends who’ve relied on fertility treatments to become pregnant.

I am a breast cancer survivor whose costly ongoing treatment would not be possible without the Affordable Care Act’s protection of pre-existing conditions.

I am a former military wife whose veteran husband receives VA benefits.

I live in a city still reeling from a mass shooting, and I am enraged by the senseless ongoing gun violence in this country.

I am the mother of a young daughter whose generation, I can only hope, will be more inclusive and more level-headed; a young daughter whose life and liberty I want to protect fiercely; a little girl whose future autonomy, opportunity and safety is very much in our hands today…

I refuse to set her back.
I refuse to do anything that could even remotely provide a sliver of a chance for Donald Trump to inhabit the White House ever again.

So, no, it should come as no surprise that I will stand firmly behind Kamala Harris and Tim Walz this November and for the duration of their term – firm in both my conviction for the United States I believe we all deserve and steadfast in my commitment to hold them accountable to that promise.

I support this ticket with high hopes and high expectations. I won’t have either demeaned by empty rhetoric, by bars set so low that we expect so little.

So yes, I am unabashedly voting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. When my daughter one day asks me where I was in November 2024, I will be proud to tell her that I was at the polls, casting a vote for our first female president and with it, a vote for a country where the American Dream can be all of ours for the taking.