Hope

Comes from reaching out

Last night I did some phone banking for the Harris Walz campaign. I don’t particularly like talking on the phone, so it’s kind of a terrible way for me to volunteer. But they say it can motivate 3% more people to vote, and that matters in a close election.

When I phoned people last week, they were from a list of Pennsylvania Democrats and I had nice conversations with mostly older people, making sure they had a plan to vote.

Last night we were calling Georgia Undecideds. Undecided people in Georgia are sick of getting calls; the first ten or so just hung up on me.

** Hot tip to those people: Just ask to be taken off the list. We can do that. **

Georgia was not working out so they sent a link to a new list of numbers for Arizona. That’s when I called Hope.

-Hi Hope! I’m calling from the Harris campaign about the upcoming election. Are you planning on voting?

-No, not really.

-Oh no? Why?

-Well, it may have been a coincidence, but every time I register to vote, I get called for jury duty. I just moved and I don’t want them to have my new address.

-Huh. Well, if you did vote, who would you vote for?

-Kamala… (Is that how you say it?) Kamala Harris.

-Why would you vote for Kamala?

-Because she seems like she listens to people. It would be nice to have someone in charge who listens.

And that’s when I settled in to listen to Hope. We talked for almost an hour. I have felt disconnected to “the American people” that I read about in the news who are outside of my social circles and I really enjoyed talking to her about a range of topics. Things like:

• Women do listen more; that may be why patients with female doctors tend to live longer.

• Hope’s vote is “worth” more than mine because of how the electoral college works. She was surprised to hear that I hardly see any political ads. (Just requests for money.)

• When she got to Arizona 4-5 years ago, it was solidly a red state, and there weren’t very many Asian people. Both of those things are starting to change.

• We’re both Chinese-American! We talked about the Chinese Exclusion Act (she was excited I knew that history) and about people we know who died their hair blonde so they wouldn’t be targeted by anti-Asian haters. A lot of that came from COVID paranoia, but the president in 2020 did nothing to dissuade that violence.

• She had issues for a while trying to figure out how to be “Asian enough” among some friends and “not too Asian” among others. My daughter—just a few years younger than Hope—and I have had conversations on this topic. I told Hope that I was proud of her for finding the right balance for herself. She told me she was impressed that my daughter and I could have such personal discussions—not something that comes naturally in Chinese culture. I think we both got a little choked up.

• She’s a great cook! She learned because she developed lots of food sensitivities and had to cook everything herself, and learn how to do it inexpensively. She eventually became a personal chef, but left that job recently. We talked about what regional Chinese food was best, and I had to admit that I do love a Cantonese restaurant. Hope’s family is from Guangzhou so she considered this a minor victory.

• Her friend just had a baby! I mentioned that I knew someone who had had a miscarriage and I was afraid that many women could no longer get proper treatment in that situation.

When I brought up the issue of women’s health, I could hear her light up. “Wait a minute… I had a job a few months ago trying to get that on the ballot. I was in 115 degree heat trying to get people to sign a petition but then I fainted and blacked out. I had to quit that job but I kind of remember it now.”

I looked online and found that abortion rights are on the ballot in Arizona. Sorry, I told her, you HAVE to vote now. It’s too important not to.

You’re right, she said. I’m going to vote.

We continued to talk, and I texted her a link from my personal number to a page to find out where she can vote. And then we got disconnected.

When I read in the news about undecided or hesitant voters in swing states, I get frustrated, to say the least. But talking to a real person who has her own issues and challenges made me sympathetic. After those hang up calls from Georgia, I almost quit my phone banking efforts, but then talking to Hope gave me… hope.

I’m going to do it again.

If you’re interested in volunteering for a Harris Walz phone bank, you can get started at this link: https://go.kamalaharris.com/calls/