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FROM THE MARGINS: ONE TEST PASSED, ANOTHER TO GO
By Patrick Azadian
Glendale News Press
Nov 7 2008
CA
It was election night, and after doing all the permutations of which
candidate would get which state, I became a bit impatient.
I tried to kill some time. I visited a local restaurant in Monrovia
near my work. I knew what everyone else was expecting. Florida was
a key state. But the results were coming in way too slow for me.
I ended up watching the results trickling in on a tiny flat screen
at an Italian restaurant owned by Korean Americans. As I chatted with
the Mexican American bartenders about our experiences of being 1 1/2
-generation immigrants in America (arrived here in or before early
teens), the election results became final.
Many historic milestones (good and bad) have occurred during my
lifetime. The Islamic Revolution in Iran and the Iranian hostage crisis
(the experiences still haunt me to this day), the destruction of the
Berlin Wall, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Independence
of Armenia and liberation of Nagorno-Karabakh (an Armenian enclave
in Azerbaijan) are just a few.
The election results took me by surprise. I had told my friends I will
believe it when I see it. Frankly, I did not believe as a society we
were ready to see beyond color and race. I did know we were headed
in the right direction, but was not sure if the time had come.
It had. We passed the ultimate test.
I received a couple of unexpected phone calls on my cell from
co-workers who would never call me during those hours under normal
circumstances. They were all African American and wanted to share
their joy.
Later, I did shed a couple of tears in private.
Beyond the obvious, we all know what this means. As a society, we
have come to accept that ability and qualifications can no longer be
attributed to race, creed or ethnic background. In theory and law,
we had an understanding on this issue. The election results have been
the ultimate test on how committed we are to this concept.
It wasn't long ago when societies believed that there was a direct
correlation to race, ethnic background and ability. This theory is
now defunct.
As a follow-up of the same theory, culture was also considered to
be a factor in people's ability to progress in certain fields and
professions. The validity of this theory has also been questioned,
and the idea has been rejected by social scientists.
Having said that, the consequences of lack of opportunity for certain
segments of society can sometimes be perceived as a validation of
above-mentioned world views.
Simply put, provided the right opportunities and role models, all
human beings are capable of achievement and success. More importantly,
even if the conditions are not necessarily ideal, human beings are
still capable of grand achievements.
For me, this is one of the most important lessons from the elections.
No doubt, there are still communities and people who will directly
associate ability to race, gender or national origin. The mainstream
seems to believe otherwise. With the results of the elections behind
us, this world view is well on its way toward becoming marginal.
And it will be interesting to see how this shifts and affects the
smaller communities.
With the upcoming local elections, Glendale will have an opportunity to
judge itself based on the standards set in the national elections. Will
we go into the voting booths educated about the abilities and
platforms of all candidates, or will we depend on voting in ethnic
and racial blocs?
Will we cast our ballot based on qualifications or last names? Will
we confuse ability with affinity?
Will we look to the past patterns for inspiration, or will we look
ahead to the future? Will we pass the ultimate test?
These are important questions that only the voters can answer.
By Patrick Azadian
Glendale News Press
Nov 7 2008
CA
It was election night, and after doing all the permutations of which
candidate would get which state, I became a bit impatient.
I tried to kill some time. I visited a local restaurant in Monrovia
near my work. I knew what everyone else was expecting. Florida was
a key state. But the results were coming in way too slow for me.
I ended up watching the results trickling in on a tiny flat screen
at an Italian restaurant owned by Korean Americans. As I chatted with
the Mexican American bartenders about our experiences of being 1 1/2
-generation immigrants in America (arrived here in or before early
teens), the election results became final.
Many historic milestones (good and bad) have occurred during my
lifetime. The Islamic Revolution in Iran and the Iranian hostage crisis
(the experiences still haunt me to this day), the destruction of the
Berlin Wall, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Independence
of Armenia and liberation of Nagorno-Karabakh (an Armenian enclave
in Azerbaijan) are just a few.
The election results took me by surprise. I had told my friends I will
believe it when I see it. Frankly, I did not believe as a society we
were ready to see beyond color and race. I did know we were headed
in the right direction, but was not sure if the time had come.
It had. We passed the ultimate test.
I received a couple of unexpected phone calls on my cell from
co-workers who would never call me during those hours under normal
circumstances. They were all African American and wanted to share
their joy.
Later, I did shed a couple of tears in private.
Beyond the obvious, we all know what this means. As a society, we
have come to accept that ability and qualifications can no longer be
attributed to race, creed or ethnic background. In theory and law,
we had an understanding on this issue. The election results have been
the ultimate test on how committed we are to this concept.
It wasn't long ago when societies believed that there was a direct
correlation to race, ethnic background and ability. This theory is
now defunct.
As a follow-up of the same theory, culture was also considered to
be a factor in people's ability to progress in certain fields and
professions. The validity of this theory has also been questioned,
and the idea has been rejected by social scientists.
Having said that, the consequences of lack of opportunity for certain
segments of society can sometimes be perceived as a validation of
above-mentioned world views.
Simply put, provided the right opportunities and role models, all
human beings are capable of achievement and success. More importantly,
even if the conditions are not necessarily ideal, human beings are
still capable of grand achievements.
For me, this is one of the most important lessons from the elections.
No doubt, there are still communities and people who will directly
associate ability to race, gender or national origin. The mainstream
seems to believe otherwise. With the results of the elections behind
us, this world view is well on its way toward becoming marginal.
And it will be interesting to see how this shifts and affects the
smaller communities.
With the upcoming local elections, Glendale will have an opportunity to
judge itself based on the standards set in the national elections. Will
we go into the voting booths educated about the abilities and
platforms of all candidates, or will we depend on voting in ethnic
and racial blocs?
Will we cast our ballot based on qualifications or last names? Will
we confuse ability with affinity?
Will we look to the past patterns for inspiration, or will we look
ahead to the future? Will we pass the ultimate test?
These are important questions that only the voters can answer.