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Predicament: Democracy! 3/30/2012 7:53:18 PM
Senator John Lewis stalled, wiping away tears and then moved on to say that his ancestors were among the first freed slaves to vote. It was a show that demonstrated who his ancestors were and what they did after they won their freedom. The show did not affect me much except when these slaves were emancipated and had the courage to immediately register and vote. During those times, you need a lot of courage to do so. Boy, how I wish that I could have a story to tell my descendants about the struggles I have to go through just so I could cast my vote. But their story was old. My story was more recent.
I remember that time when I became an American citizen. I was alone then because my mom was working and I went to the courthouse to swear allegiance to the United States. I shed a tear during that time. But there were no struggles. There was no fight. Only, I raised my right hand and swore. It was easy for me, then. And then I promised to be a good citizen, a law-abiding citizen and a citizen who would engage himself in things democratic.
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But the struggles and fight one does was quite different from the days when one was still trying to win that right to vote. They gained it during the emancipation but somehow lost it again; and through those years had fought for it. The right to vote for women and for the minorities was a long struggle. There were skirmishes instigated by law enforcement. There were imprisonment and death. But those who were fighting for that right to vote pursued it with the hopes that one day they would be able to vote. But the struggle I am in was not that blatant struggle to vote. Rather, it was more subtle.
I do not have ancestors I could allude to, to prove that I deserve this freedom. I do not have a hundred year history of my family or even a race that I could point to that had participated in this struggle. The only revolt that I have was when I was a Filipino, being suppressed of my rights when those rights was not yet fashionable; and it was not me per se who did battle. Another stroke of luck, you might say. But that was decades ago and in another life I lived, a different chapter in my life. And thank heavens for public television I was constantly enlightened and reminded that the life I lived here in the United States was born of the hardships people of another color endured.
Congressman John Lewis was a low key, humble congressman who had participated in the struggle. He was one of Martin Luther King’s disciples and the only one surviving from during that era. The people before me, those who had acquiescence to the ruling majority and those blacks who had fought their way were the people I should thank. Indeed, the freedom I am experiencing in this country was borrowed freedom. In my humble opinion, they were the continuation of the traditions of the United States that each new migrant must somehow constantly keep tabs of their rights. We must watch the course of history that the past must not be re-lived. It is a difficult task. Let us not be weak.
The struggles were the everyday encounter for what was going on in the United States. And in this way, I find affinity to that tradition we call democracy. And in so doing we could see those who had fought as our ancestor. True, our ancestors paved the way for democracy.
Even though my history in these United States only began recently, a little over 50 years, democracy had been in existence over 200 years. It was a long struggle that encompasses several lifetimes. And each new generation, each new immigrant stock begins their story, now a swearing in, a raising of the right hand as an allegiance to this country.
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