Demand Better from Our Country, from Ourselves
A couple of weeks ago, I had brunch with a group of friends. Inevitably, the topic of politics came up at some point and I talked about how important it was to increase the Asian-American voter turnout. “At around 40%, we have the lowest turnout among all racial groups,” I sighed, “my people need to step it up!” [I found out later I was actually wrong about the number. The actual turn out is even lower.]
“Oh, 40%? Honestly I thought it would be lower, like 19% or something,” one of my friends said. Others agreed, but quickly clarified that they didn’t mean that they thought the turn out should be lower, just that they expected it to be lower.
What was implied was that 40% wasn’t low enough to make me get all riled up about it.
I replayed this exchange in my head for several days after, and realized that what makes me angry is both the low numbers AND the fact that it has been normalized to be the expectation. Until we change what we expect from society and from each other, voting behaviors will not change. Until we set our privileges aside and understand more deeply what is at stake in elections, voting behaviors will not change. Until we demand better from our country, our country will not be better.
The brunch conversation then transitioned to a Trevor Noah clip with his youth correspondent Jaboukie Young-White about why young people don’t vote. After Jaboukie pointed out many procedural issues with voting and why they don’t suit young people, the segment ended on this note:
Trevor: “Ok, so if America adopts digital voting, if they allow people to do it from home, and make Election Day a national holiday, then young people would definitely vote?”
Jaboukie: “Oh no, why would I spend my day off voting?”
Our brunch table laughed. The audience at the Trevor Noah taping laughed. I imagine people across the country laughed when they saw the clip. Laughing because of its relatability. Laughing because we don’t demand better from ourselves.
I absolutely agree that many voting procedures are antiquated and need serious updates. So let’s garner power and make it happen. It does not happen if all we do is sit around a table watching comedy that pokes fun at it. It does not happen if we laugh and move on.
It will not happen if we don’t demand better from our country, from ourselves.
We are officially two weeks away from the 2018 midterms. Vote. Vote. Vote.
#VoteThemOut
