Rahima Jamal with Shivam Shah and 7 others.
As a Washington Leadership Program Scholar, I had the utmost honor of meeting the United States Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy. As the senior-most ranking South Asian in government, we, as a community, are immensely proud of his glass-ceiling shattering accomplishments. However, we must also stop and think — why is is that the South Asian community is so detached from politics? Why is it that one of the most educated groups in the country, that has an opinion on nearly every subject matter, has such a low voter turnout?
In 2010, only 31% of eligible Asian Americans voted, compared with 44% of African Americans and 49% of Caucasian Americans. Turnout lagged even among college-educated and wealthier Asian Americans. In order to address this problem, the Washington Leadership Program is working towards promoting civic engagement in the South Asian community through the social media campaign #SouthAsiansVote. By promoting and consistently voting for candidates on the local, state, and national level, we can make sure that the issues we are most passionate about as a community — immigration, access to education, national security, and so many others — are considered. Check out our campaign at medium.com/@southasiansvote, and make sure you’re registered to vote come November! I can say with certainty that it will be one of the most important elections of your life.
