The sound of applause rang throughout my classroom as the television blared on a Tuesday morning. It was November 4, 2008, and I was sitting in the front row of my sixth grade Civics class, a class I wasn’t particularly a fan of. Usually I’d sit and find a blank space in the room and zone out, but I knew that that day was an important day. Politics was something I never really understood, and still to this day I still try to understand. It was also a subject my parents were very strong-minded about; something that ironically was hard to talk about in the household. Both my parents are immigrants from two different countries just trying to achieve the American dream. And like any other sixth grader learned in U.S. History class, there has always been some type of racial discrimination in America. I may have been deemed to be “too young” to understand, but it’s a topic my parents taught me about at a young age.
“Living here in America, the ethnicity you are, you have to work twice as hard as others do. Always do well in your studies. That’s how you’ll succeed in this country.” This is a quote I heard constantly from my dad as a timid 11-year-old starting middle school until now as a sophomore in college. My parents came here when they were my age, seeing the constant struggle between races in America, from the start of the Afghan War to fall of the twin towers in New York. Through their experience here, they always make the effort to reveal the reality of being a person of color is here.
But 2008 was an important year not just for my family and I, but for a majority of the country. It was the first time a there could be a chance to have our first black president in the United States of America. From listening my parents praise someone in politics for the first time, I knew the Barack Obama was the right leader for our country. I can reminisce about his campaign that we had to watch in the same Civics class, I remember how he had such a passion for aiding the middle class with taxes and finding equality between all classes. I can distinctly remember the feeling of hope just from the passion Obama had in his campaign.
On Tuesday, November 4, 2008, Senator Barack Obama was chosen to be the President of the United States of America. I remember simply smiling in for the first time in my Civics class. Even my Civics teacher, Mr. Shoo, addressed me about it after class. Especially since I wore a hat that said “Obama ‘44” right across the front. This was a change I may have fully not understood, but from what I did know, it was a premonition of a better future for kids like me.
Looking back on such an essential historical event that I slightly took for granted is something I learned to comprehend throughout Obama’s four terms. He came up with the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. ObamaCare, a system where most people could afford health care. He had the stimulus package that changed this country. Even with the media trying to find some flaw in Obama, like questioning his religious belief in Islam, he still never stopped to try to make a change in this country. Every day there is a change, whether it’s political or anyway else. Just the other day I saw an advertisement about a show coming to ABC next month, and an Indian woman is the lead role of the show. Something as little as that can have a huge impact on everyone, especially it’s media and ABC is a national television station. Obama has basically confirmed this quote; “You can do anything, if you put your mind to it.” Because of someone’s achievements and impact on my life, it helped little old me pursue something I felt strongly about. I am proud to say that I was nominated for a Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star Award this year for Outstanding Performance by a Featured Role. Back then, I thought acting and doing musical theater was simply a hobby of mine. That all changed after many hours of practice and giving it 100 percent during my last high school musical. Now, I am even thinking about pursuing a career in music industry. Obama not only reached into my heart, but in the hearts of every person like my family and I. He has showed us all that if we put our minds into something, we can really achieve the “American Dream.”
