Using our Voices Today and Every Day

2020 has been a trying year for all of us, pile on the census and the need to count everyone in our communities to ensure funding and congressional representation for the next ten years AS WELL as an election. Now more than ever we need to raise our voice, we need to be counted and we need to vote.

Growing up as an immigrant, my voice was never heard. It isn’t unusual that immigrants and refugees are STILL not invited to the table, much less heard. After my divorce, however, I opened my eyes to all of the places where my voice could make a difference and I learned that my actions, as well as inactions, speak for me. It was time for change and NOW is the time for us all to make a change in our activism and in us being seen in the census counts as well as the elections.

I urge you, during this election, to make your voice heard.

Fill out the census by phone, online, or by returning the forms you received back in March.

You can all make your voice heard through your vote.

We might be cautious or even silent in some spaces. We might be careful of what we say and where we speak our minds out loud. There is one place where our voice can make us stronger as individuals and as part of greater communities — the voting booth.

I encourage you (especially those who are minorities and immigrants like me) to make your voice heard by registering and making your vote count.

We are stronger when we vote, we are stronger when we act, we all are stronger together. America—the spirit, not the policy—has inspired people from around the world, to make a change. Your actions speak louder than your words. Let your vote be your loudest action.