Knowing and relishing a diversity of ideas makes a life richer and the legacy you leave fuller. The current grassroots campaign of Barack Obama has woven a diverse tapestry of individuals rich with the colors and flavors of America. Nowhere is this more evident than in Tucson Arizona.
Sitting in Tucson's 7th District Representative Raul Grijalva's campaign office watching the first presidential debate, one is struck by the variety of the individuals in the room. Beyond the marked ethnic diversity, there was generational diversity. Young children sat with coloring books on the floor. Students from the University of Arizona stuffed envelopes for an education proposition. A Vietnam era Veteran wearing Veterans for Obama t-shirt took pictures of the audience. A couple of gray-haired folks listened intently to the questions posed to the candidates. A young couple held hands and leaned against each other, listening to Obama talk about tax breaks for the middle class. One could not help being struck by how much this room represented the real America.
Representative Grijalva's congressional district is unique in the United States. The urban center of District 7 contains the central, south and west sides of the city of Tucson. The population within the district is predominantly working-class families, from a variety of ethnic and racial backgrounds. The majority of Tucson's Hispanic, urban Native American and African-American residents live in the 7th congressional district.
The district extends south to the Mexican border encompassing Nogales, Ariz., then west to the Arizona/California border to include all of Yuma County. The district line then follows the Colorado River north to the communities of Parker and Parker Strip within La Paz County, and finally stretches east to Maricopa County's West Valley.
District 7 is also home to 7 sovereign nations: the Ak-Chin, Cocopah, Colorado River Indian Tribes, Gila River, Pascua Yaqui, Quechan, and Tohono O'odham. District 7 has both the oldest reservation in Arizona as well as the newest.
Representative Grijalva is known to his constituents one of the most liberal members of Congress. The voters in this room tonight talk about jobs, the economy, and access to education, immigration and the futility of the war in Iraq. The concerns they hold in common transcend their diversity of language, race, ethnic origin and age. There is an easy camaraderie and the pre-debate conversations flowed.
After a week of watching white older male faces debate the merits of another financial bailout, was refreshing to see a truly diverse group working together. The only thing in common in the faces in this room, are the furrowed brows of worry, the nervous anticipation of what will happen to us as individuals, as a community and as a country. I wonder what has brought these people to this room now.
Lois Putzier is a 77-year-old white woman who came to Tucson in her 20's. She was an active volunteer with the Samaritans who go out into the desert around Tucson and render humanitarian aid to migrants in distress. The Samaritans web site tells a stark story of the human price of failed immigration policies. There is a listing of bodies recovered in the desert since October 7, 2007. The group, No More Deaths, a faith-based humanitarian group, patrols migrant areas of the desert providing water and medical aid. Lois and her husband actively volunteered with these groups until a few years ago when their health prevented them from going out in to the desert.
Lois tells me, "When I first came to Tucson I was bigoted. I had a lot to learn and learn I did." While sitting in an assembly line of sorts stuffing envelopes and having a hard time keep up with Lois, she tells me that she came from a Republican family and the first and last Republican she voted for was Eisenhower. She is here she says to make sure Raul Grijalva is reelected and to help the Obama campaign.
Jackie Bowen moved to Tucson from Atlanta, having always wanted to live in the West. She headed for San Diego and found she could not afford to live there. Now in Tucson, this black woman who looks younger than her 42 years, will be voting for the very first time. When asked why now, she says she never really knew what a Democrat or Republican was before now. Homelessness and jobs are the most important issues for Jackie. She was a client of Primavera, a Tucson program that provides housing and employment services. She came to Rep. Grijalva's campaign to help. She says she has "jumped in with both feet."
David Higuera, a young man with intense eyes, tells me about a group that is opposing the Pay Day Loan industry's proposition on the Arizona ballot designed to maintain the 391% interest rate through fees that they have been allowed to charge borrowers. The payday loan industry is spending millions to promote this ballot proposition as payday loan reform. He is passionate about the Vote No campaign and is working actively to require the pay day loan industry to play by the same maximum interest rate of 36% that governs all other lenders. David also works with a company called The Strategic Issues Management Group (SING), which advises the Tohono O'odham tribe on communications issues. The O'odham's ancient lands cross over the international border into Mexico. Respect of tribal sovereignty around Federal and State immigration activities on the reservation is of paramount importance to the tribe. Water rights and jobs are issues that also hit home for the nation.
Soren Frederik Bregenov is a young Danish Political Science PhD student from the University of Copenhagen. His PhD concentration is on international campaigns. He first worked in Representative Grijalva's Washington DC office and has been in Tucson for the past three weeks working on the grassroots campaign for both Grijalva and Obama. Soren spends every weekend door-to-door canvassing Independents, Democrats and Green Party voters. On Sundays he canvasses in Nogales, a border town where most voters he encounters are native Spanish speakers. He sees the campaign process here as one where volunteers come forward not just to work for candidates who espouse their cause, but they also are working for issues that affect others more than themselves. In Denmark, Soren says, the political concerns are more regional and organized around groups that only work on their own issues, however national taxes and also an effort of the current leaders in Denmark to move a universal healthcare system closer to an individual market based one are of deep concern to Danish voters. He gets a mostly positive response when canvassing, but he says voters are sometimes confused by why someone from so far away would care about the Democratic campaign here.
In Representative Grijalva's office on this first debate night, a small cross section of America was represented by about 60 people who have come together in a common purpose, to get one man elected and another re-elected. The experiences and immediate local and regional concerns of the people in the room last Friday are diverse and close to their hearts. They share a belief that their efforts in this campaign are meaningful and will result in the change they passionately desire. Hope is more than a campaign slogan. Hope is what propels these voters to put their lives on hold while they devote countless hours to bring about a change they really do believe in.