A Voice Without a Vote
Yasser El-Shimy (GRS’12): “You can’t let politicians decide your future.”
On his wedding day, just 10 days after immigrating to the United States from Egypt, Yasser El-Shimy (GRS’12) asked his bride-to-be, an American journalist, to drive him to a rally for presidential candidate John Edwards. El-Shimy’s fiancée gritted her teeth, dropped him off at the rally, and sped off to the hairdresser to prepare for their ceremony.
“She hated me at that point,” says El-Shimy, a political science doctoral student. “But she supported me.”
In the video above, El-Shimy explains why, even though he cannot yet vote in American elections, he still feels compelled to get involved and speak out politically on behalf of both his homeland and his adopted country.
“You cannot be apathetic,” he says. “You cannot sit by and let politicians decide your future.”
Robin Berghaus can be reached at berghaus@bu.edu. Chris Berdik can be reached at cberdik@bu.edu.
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