Starting with the Kids: A Brighter America

The last few days have been tense with conflict and uncertainty as we watch the election unfold.

Amid the noise, I was just another immigrant in the land of the free, begging citizens to practice their democratic right to vote. If they refused, I simply screamed at them to shut the hell up or messaged: “Don’t text my damn phone again!”

But was that really the best approach? A screech of emotional dismay and frustration? Who did I actually motivate to impact change?

Not a damn soul!

I won’t waste my time feigning objectivity because I am not a journalist, and I respect you as my reader to let you know that I support Biden and Harris. Donald Trump is an openly racist, xenophobic, and misogynistic narcissist, and I can never support him and his policies. I support change. I support Black Lives Matter, the LGBTQ community, human rights, and the lives of the children Trump has caged at the border.

Though I am not yet able to vote, I am not useless. With or without the right to vote in America, I do have strong opinions on how the citizens of this and other countries should be treated. Whether or not Biden wins the election, it is important for me to act in the best interest of my community and underprivileged groups.

Trump’s popularity is a blatant disregard for Black and Brown lives, LGBTQ lives, women's rights and so much more. Given the implications of his presidency and his followers, it is up to us, the little people, nonprofits, and grassroots organizations to protect the interest of disadvantaged communities such as low-income students, the medically fragile, the LGBTQ community, women’s rights, and human rights.

While we fight a bigger system, we can still make an impact in our local communities.

Through civic engagement such as activism and volunteerism, we can do a lot together. If the election leaves some of us heartbroken, we can mend those hearts through our generosity and community service. This is why I serve on the Board of a small nonprofit in New Jersey. If you can’t vote, serve... right?

Even if you can and do vote, serve anyway.

However, it would be idealistic for me to ignore the truth that having one or another President is not the singular solution to all our woes. Though having a more progressive leader in the White House would make change a lot easier, we can still achieve a lot on our own.

Dorson, the nonprofit that I work with, serves inner-city students to help increase college access in its community. Low-income students are victims of an inequitable system (that is amplified and exposed in this pandemic) and we, at Dorson, work diligently to increase their opportunities and access to higher education. Even further, we strive to develop strong community leaders and agents of change who will do a better job with our country and future; A far superior job than we have done.

Dorson came into my life when I was going through a lot of personal change. It helped me transition and saved me from self-diagnosed early depression (a story for another article). The Foundation really gave me a purpose; one that I identify with strongly in so many ways. Here are two major reasons:

1. I was raised by a single mother who did everything she could to support four of her children. But everything she could offer wasn’t nearly enough to give me access to the opportunities I knew I needed: access and exposure to higher education. My mother attended vocational school, but she knew little about the pursuit of a Bachelor’s or postgraduate degree. I always wanted the fancy degree and the fancy career, but I thought I only needed to get there. I didn’t realize how standardized getting there would be. As the first person in my family to pursue a college degree, I had to figure out the process of admissions on my own. Even with a scholarship opportunity on the table, I had very little assistance. People from my community and background, like the students Dorson serves, don’t know how to even fill out the Common Application (required for college admission), and we have no one to teach us.

Dorson is the beacon of light in its community, offering guidance for low-income students in that capacity. Consequently, helping students gain access to higher education.

2. I learned eventually that as hard as it was to get to college, getting through was an unrelenting challenge of its own. We always hear people talk about getting into Yale and Harvard, but we never hear about how students navigate those schools. College is not a “come as you are and we’ll take care of you” place. It’s a “Come and figure it out on your own” place. For me, it was a heightened version of the latter. My first year in college was difficult, as I am sure it is for so many students. The difference is that for low-income students we don’t immediately know that we have resources we could tap into. For example, I learned a year late that there was a Reading and Writing Center where I could have gotten help with essays. I learned that I could have sought out tutors. I learned that I could have used the counselors and therapists on campus to alleviate the pressures of campus life. And all of it would have been free.

Low-income students are often unaware of the resources available to ease the college journey, resulting in a high drop-out rate in that demographic.

The more time I spend with the students at Dorson, the more I see how little they know. The more I think back to the difficulty of my college journey, the more I want to help. Anyone who understands the value of education can understand my increasing need to serve through this organization. America and people of color are becoming more educated, and I want to be a part of that change. I want to be on the right side of history as people of color become increasingly represented across fields and industries. At the end of the day, I want to be able to say “I did my part” in opening the door to a brighter tomorrow: an increasingly educated America.

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For more information on the work, we do at Dorson, visit our website.

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