Desi News Corp - Index

Desi News Corp - Desi News - Feb 09 - Index

around my neck for the first
time all day, bumping the lady
beside me in the process. She
had wiry yellow hair and brown
skin. She looked me in the eye
then glanced down and pointed
to my ‘T.O. SUPPORTS OBAMA ‘09’
pin.
“Are you from Canada?” she
asked.
I nodded. She introduced
herself as Marissa and told me
she was from Los Angeles. She
went on to explain how her
entire family had gone canvassing
door-to-door in Pennsylvania,
one of the swing
states. She kept describing
Obama’s accomplishments
with a we. When we beat Hillary.
When we were against the
ropes. When we were elected.
“It took a lot of work, but
we made it,” Marissa continued.
“Thank you so much for
coming, we’re glad to share this
day with you!”
I smiled and waved her off,
but her gratitude didn’t register
with me until I got home and
heard first-hand accounts of
what the other bus riders had
experienced at the border.
Everyone had a valid Canadian
passport but some were
not born in Canada. Those
born in Somalia, Ethiopia or
Saudi Arabia had their passports
confiscated. They were
taken inside, forced to remove
their hijabs, then fingerprinted,
photographed and, in some
cases, questioned about their
knowledge of certain men
from their home country.
One male passenger was
born in Saudi Arabia of an
Ethiopian mother and a Somali
father.
He said the border official
looked him square in the eye
and asked what business he had
in Washington.
Feeling a bit caught off
guard by the pointed question,
he answered wearily, “We are
going to see Barack Obama’s
inauguration.”
To that the official responded
that he would never
visit the Middle East to witness
a political leader’s inauguration,
so what was his real reason for
visiting?
Far from the thank-you I
had received for my attendance,
I realized then that
Obama’s victory had numerous
contexts and did not belong to
one set of people over any
other.
For Marissa, witnessing the
inauguration gave her a sense
of worth and optimism towards
her country.
For my Middle Eastern
fellow passenger, it meant
North America was one giant,
much-needed step closer
towards equal rights.
For me as a desi woman living
in Canada, it served to remind
me that globally, although we
are all different, we all want the
same thing. To truly believe
that, in our community, compassion
and hard work alone
determine a person’s true
colours.
– SHANNON BOODRAM
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