Why I Vote
Early voting on Virginia’s redistricting amendment begins today, and I’m assigned to work an election shift this afternoon. When I was talking to a friend about this yesterday, we agreed on two things: one, we hated that Virginia is proposing to redraw its congressional districts in a partisan manner; but two, we were going to vote for it anyway. As I have written about before, things we’re seeing on the news every day confirm that the Republican party, writ large, is not a responsible governing institution and has to be removed from power.
The most obvious indicator of this is the ongoing attack on the people of Iran. That’s right – when you drop bombs on major cities, innocent civilians get killed even if they are not the targets. In the chilling parlance of professional military-speak, the dead civilians are labeled ‘collateral damage.’ But this is who they are in real life. Meet my friend (I’ll call her Zahra).
I worked with her at Literacy for Life for several years before she and her husband (I’ll call him Ali) had to return to Iran for a family emergency in 2017. Under that year’s Muslim ban and subsequent immigration restrictions, they have not been able to return to the United States.
I have communicated with both of them off and on over the last decade. A couple of years ago, I had a FaceTime chat with Zahra as she showed me around her apartment in a high-rise building in Tehran. Their two children were in school during this chat, so I didn’t get to see them. She pointed out the window at a neighboring high-rise where her parents live.
A few weeks ago, Ali reached out to me on social media, apparently just to say hi. Zahra isn’t on social media anymore – well, no one in Iran is on social media right now because there is no internet or cell service in Iran. I sent him a ‘Ramadan Mubarek’ message a few days later, and he responded with two voice messages: one said “thanks, we appreciate this,” and the second said “[Zahra] isn’t on Facebook or Instagram anymore, but she says hi.” I responded that I missed them and that I am a friend in the US if they ever need one. He responded “Thanks so much, Karen! That truly means a lot to us. We really, really appreciate it. And the same goes for you, you’ll always have a friend here in Iran. Although I have a feeling you might not be planning a trip here anytime soon… especially with Donald Trump deciding whether to strike us!”
Let that sit for just a minute.
Last Saturday morning, I sent him a message saying, “Stay safe. I hate this.” He has not responded.
As I see attacks from bombs, missiles, rockets, and drones in Tehran, I am terrified for Zahra and her family. Those high-rises we see being hit by rockets and drones? They could be her home. I know that her parents own a home outside of the city, and I hope that’s where they are. But I don’t know. I’ve covered part of her face in this image for obvious reasons – but I’m not sure whether the threat comes from her country or mine.
The electric power grid across Iran is disabled. The current temperature in Iran is 57 degrees; it’s early evening there, and the temps will go down into the 40s tonight. No power equals no heat. Ali has a professional job at Tehran University, but the University is shut down. Remote classes are not possible due to a lack of power or internet
.
So that’s why I’m voting to support the terribly gerrymandered map that will work to disenfranchise millions of my fellow Virginians who still identify with the Republican party. Some of them are the true-believer MAGA types, but most are otherwise sane individuals who choose not to recognize that this version of the Republican party will destroy American democracy.
I hate this. I campaigned in favor of the 2020 Constitutional Amendment that created a nonpartisan redistricting commission precisely because drawing legislative districts should be focused on guaranteeing people the best possible representation. But these are troubling times, and such times demand troubling solutions.
Well, once again, I could have written this. Well the "why I'l vote for the amendment" part, since I don't currently have friends in Iran. But twice in my life I have come close. for two years in high school there was a (cute) new guy. His father taught at the Univ of Tenn for two years, while on a sort of home leave from the Embassy in Tehran. (I was so uninterested in the whole State Dept thing, that I never asked a lot of questions about this.) They were scheduled to return to Tehran at the end of the second year - as I recall. That would have been '64. I do remember how much they missed Tehran and all the good things they had to say about living in Iran.
Then in the mid-70's I worked with Emily Sharigian, whose family had come to the U.S. a couple of years earlier because by then there were political tensions. I cannot remember if her family was allied with the Shah or anti the Shah, but she was delightful and I really liked working with her. I do remember that she longed to "go home".
I have never seen either of them - Emily or the cute boy whose name I don't even remember - again, but over the past 10-15 years as our relations with Iran have waxed and waned, I have often wondered about them both. Did they return, are they alive. And today, is Emily hiding from the bombs now. WTF?
Vote for the redistricting. I hate it, but we when they go low,, this time we need to go low, too. And to do it better!