Why I am Voting for Biden/Harris in 2020

Manisha Dass

I still remember the first election I voted in, almost 12 years ago. On that night in 2008, I attended an election watch party with my sister and friends at a university which shall remain unnamed in Durham, North Carolina. There was a cutout cardboard of President Barack Obama that I took a photo with. The atmosphere was joyous. We celebrated as the media channels started making their projections, and even had the cardboard cutout crowd surf (OMG, are we ever going to crowd surf again?!). President Obama not only won North Carolina, but won the presidential election in a landslide. I distinctly remember going to bed and waking up with a gigantic smile on my face. My only contribution in that election: voting.

Fast forward four years, 2012. I was in my second year of occupational therapy school, and started to better understand the nuances and links between government and healthcare. The conversations I had were not political, but there were definitely more discussions on why it was important for Obama/Biden to win this election. This election, my sole contribution was voting, and this shameless pouting selfie with my alma mater’s newspaper.

Being someone who is super into Shah Rukh Khan, Bollywood, and the latest “tea” in Mumbai, people are always surprised when they learn I am equally (if not more) passionate about politics, social justice, and issues that affect our lives as South Asian Americans. If I’m being perfectly honest, sometimes I’m shocked too.

The turning point occurred for me in 2015. October 2015 to be exact. I went with my mother and cousin to the North Carolina State Fair and suddenly learned that a LOT of people supported and were voting for this reality TV star who I didn’t even think was going to get a single vote. I lived in a bubble, and that night, my bubble popped. I went home and immediately researched (i.e. Googled) “how can I be more politically active?”

From that point forward, I volunteered in every possible way I could. I knocked on doors, I called voters, I texted. I carried a clipboard with me everywhere and registered people to vote literally anywhere I could. I was optimistic and also naïve. But above all, I was determined to make a difference. I even applied to get a second master’s in Public Administration because I wanted to work alongside the first ever woman president and change our world.

Then, November 8th happened. And because I live my life wearing rose-colored glasses, I’ll focus more on the future and what’s to come, rather than rehash the last four years.

This upcoming election, I am proudly voting for Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Kamala Harris. I am voting for the Biden-Harris ticket for multiple reasons, but at the very top of the list is hope — the kind of hope that I had in October 2015 after my Google search, when I started to believe that I could and would make a difference.

The America that my parents immigrated to in the ’70s has always been influenced by who is running the show in Washington, D.C. as President of the United States. However, it was always The United States of America, a stark opposite of the America that I’ve witnessed unfold over the last four years. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will restore the America I know, and the America in which my parents chose to start a new life.

I’m #ridinwithbiden for the following reasons (in no particular order):

• Biden/Harris will not fail to appropriately respond (or even accurately acknowledge) the global pandemic
• Biden/Harris will not turn a blind eye to, nor will encourage, systemic racism
• Biden/Harris will not allow our government to cage children, after separating them from their parents
• Biden/Harris will not be apathetic toward police brutality
• Biden/Harris will not engage in Twitter wars (nor start wars on Twitter)
• Biden/Harris will not use cyber bullying as a political tactic
• Biden/Harris will not humiliate America around the world
• Biden/Harris will address the lack of funding for education
• Biden/Harris will address the (very) broken healthcare system
• Biden/Harris will address the even more broken immigration system

I know Biden/Harris will do better, because, well, they are better. Election Day is 52 days away. Vote like your life depends on it because, honestly, it does.

Manisha Dass is the North Carolina state co-director for South Asians for Biden. In addition to being a senior project management specialist at a global nonprofit, working in the public health sphere, she also volunteers for multiple social justice causes, and serves on the board for the North Carolina chapter of the National Association of Asian American Professionals. If you think Manisha looks familiar, you are probably right! She was on the recently coveted Netflix show, Indian Matchmaking. Other than volunteering (and making Netflix debuts), Manisha loves spending time with her family and friends, walking on pretty bridges and trails (generally taking ‘gram worthy pictures of sunrises and sunsets), watching (and re-watching) Bollywood movies, dancing, and trying new restaurants.