And so the magic begins! In the heart of an Arizona summer, the LAST thing you want to do is walk and walk and walk in 118 degrees of blistering heat. However, given what we were trying to accomplish and for each of us in the group it was quite different, yet similiar in so many ways became to be so worth it. We wanted a voice, for ourselves, our family and for our community. We were specifically talking to voters in low voting precincts, West Phoenix to be precise. While it has been said time and time again that Latinos don't vote were were determined to defy that stereotype.
If we want to be heard and represented unfortunately sometimes, those representing us sometimes look at who's voting and where and all they care about sometimes is being re-elected. The inequities were so blatant! Lack of sidewalks, broken street lights, unkempt parks. It stared at you in the face when you walked the streets of these neighborhoods. The disparities between low voting neighborhoods and the north east corner of the district that consistent voters was so obvious-( I could go on forever about that). Walking in the heat didn't even phase me. It was the conversations I had with people about why I was volunteering my time in the summer to do this. It was listening to their stories and then making connections about why I was out there and why they should vote. It was all worth it and after the elections we proved it.
It was such a powerful transformational experience for me and we did the same thing, every single day for the movement and to improve the quality of life for all people. I still get excited thinking about what we accomplished.... more to come!
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