My Parents Worked Hard for the Privilege to Vote, Others Should, Too

Youth commentary

By Emily Lee, Pacific News Service

SAN FRANCISCO-September 16, 2004-Not everybody in this country gets to vote. California law says: "[Only] a United States citizen, 18 years of age and resident of this state, may vote." But is that fair?

Recently, San Francisco City Supervisor Matt Gonzalez introduced an initiative that would allow non-citizen parents who have kids in public schools to vote for school board members. Personally, I don't think that's fair either.

Right now non-citizens, or immigrants, have children in public schools and yet don't have a say in the school board elections. I agree that non-citizens should participate in what happens in schools. But I also believe that we can't let them vote, because if we do, they would want to be able to vote in all the other elections affecting them and their kids, which is almost all of the elections. If we let non-citizens vote, it would be extremely unfair to the people who have worked hard to become U.S. citizens.

My parents both worked very hard to become citizens. My mom became one as soon as she could because she wanted the benefits of citizenship, like certain services from the government. My mother had absolutely nothing -- no money, no food, nothing. Aid from the government was crucial to her.

My dad became a citizen about a year ago, even though he had been here for about 30 years. He didn't want to be a citizen for all those years because he didn't want all the responsibilities that came with citizenship -- like jury duty. I think this is a common reason many immigrants don't become citizens. Also, he doesn't know any English -- he can't speak it, read it, write it; he can't even ask someone, "How are you?"

But my dad became a citizen last year because he broke his leg and now he can't work any more; so he wanted to qualify for disability. Also, after being here for 30 years he qualified to take the citizenship exam in Chinese. My parents worked hard to gain the benefits of citizenship and it would be unfair to them to let non-citizens vote.

Letting non-citizens vote would also mess up the entire citizenship system. It would make it pointless, because the citizenship system is in place to teach new Americans how and why democracy works. Because voting is a privilege, it should inspire non-citizens to work harder to obtain the privilege to vote.

So, non-citizens should understand that if they want to vote for the school board, they should work hard to pass the citizenship exam. I think many non-citizens want all the benefits of citizenship but don't want the extra responsibilities, just like my dad used to think.

Supervisor Gonzalez said it takes too long for immigrant parents to become U.S. citizens. "Because of government red tape and a long Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) backlog, immigrant parents must wait an average of ten years to become citizen," he said. By the time they get sworn in their kids might be out of public school. That's why he thinks we should support his ballot measure. Sharon Rummery, immigration spokesperson, said it now takes only 8 months after application for someone who has been a permanent resident for 5 years to become a U.S. citizen.

Gonzalez and Rummery are both exaggerating. Gonzalez exaggerates the amount of time it takes to become a citizen so we'll support the ballot measure. Rummery is exaggerating so it won't make her office look bad. It takes a lot longer than 8 months to become a citizen, but it doesn't take 10 years. In reality, it's somewhere in between those two numbers.

Instead of letting non-citizen parents vote, we can find another way. For example, we can let them say what they think about the public school system and make sure the people who can vote are there to listen. Non-citizen parents should still do their best to be involved, and then they would feel better about not being able to vote. If we really have to, we could let non-citizens vote in the school board elections, but their votes shouldn't count as much as those of citizens.

Gonzalez says non-citizens have kids in public schools, so they should have a say about what happens in the school system. But if that's the case, we should let let kids vote in the school board elections, too. Most parents -- like mine -- don't have a clue as to what's happening in the schools. We should let the kids vote because they're in the school system and they know what's wrong with it. Most parents don't know anything about the schools -- they aren't there every day. So what's the point in letting them vote?

This issue is really about laws and not bending them. I believe in the privilege of voting and think that nothing should bend those rules.

Other Readings of Interest @ AAV

• National Poll on Asian American Voters Shows Large Undecideds, Record Interest
  By APIAVote.org
  APAs favor Kerry, but 20% undecided; jobs, economy top concerns; most say 2004 may be "most important election of my lifetime"
• Are You Ready to Rock the Vote House?
  By AAV Staff
  APIAVote.org wants you to throw a house party on Sunday, September 26 in nationwide teleconference with candidates, voter reg. drive
• New Generation of Asian Americans Makes Political Waves
  By Deborah Kong, PNS
  Though numerous, California's APAs have a reputation for shying from mainstream politics. Some Bay Area candidates are trying to change that.
• But I Don’t Want to be Political...
  By Frances Kai-Hwa Wang, AAV Contributing Editor
  A last push to go to the polls for those of us who really don't want to. (Originally ran slightly different form on Election Day 2000 as part of IMDiversity's month-long special content and discussion section, Bush-Gore Diversity Q&A Special. In light of that year's astonishing lessons re-emphasizing the importance of the individual vote and citizen participation, the editors resurrected the article for inclusion in the "APAthy to Action: Elections 2002" series.)

Emily Lee, 16, a contributing writer for YO! Youth Outlook Magazine, a PNS publication.