My grandfather (Nana), Suresh, moved to the United States in 1959 as a young man on a student visa pursuing his master’s degree. His parents, my great grandparents, sought value in being ‘foreign educated’ and bringing his education home – to Mumbai, India to run their family business. 2 years after my Nana moved Stateside, in 1961, he received a telegram with word that the family business had collapsed. He was left with two options: he could either return home – to nothing, or he could stay and make something of himself. Embodying the land of the free and home of the brave, he chose to stay. He worked multiple jobs by day, and attended night school so that he could send money back home.

Meanwhile, my Nana’s parents had arranged his marriage to a woman he didn’t know. Instead, his childhood sweetheart, Meena, embodied the same spirit as my Nana and chose bravery and freedom. Meena got on a Scindia ship and sailed across the Indian Ocean to marry my Nana at their local Y in Illinois. Without a penny to their name, they set down humble roots and my Nana got a second master’s degree to train as a civil engineer. My mother, Hema, and her brother, Sujal, were born in Farmington Hills, Michigan.

In 1979, my Nana became a partner at Harley Ellington Pearson Associates – a civil engineering company. He was the first person in my family to achieve the American dream. As Professor Sarah Churchwell (University of London) writes in ‘A Brief History of the American Dream’, over time the phrase ‘American dream’ has become synonymous with upward mobility and ‘enough economic success to lead a comfortable life’. However, historically the phrase captured ‘the idealism of the great American experiment’. The phrase represented self-improvement, a thirst for knowledge, inherent curiosity and upholding key values – such that the bearer of the phrase was held in high regard. As Professor Churchwell writes, the true American dream represents ‘what democracy can accomplish on its own behalf for its citizens’.

When my mother was in her final year of high school, my grandparents (immigrants) decided to move the family back to India. She had spent years in America as a young woman of color in a white town struggling to assimilate (i.e. due to racism and sexism) and was finally settling into her life as an Indian American teen. Like her mother had before her, she took her mother’s blessings and moved back to America to finish high school and put herself through college at Kalamazoo College in Michigan. Although my brother and I were born and brought up in Mumbai, India, my parents valued their Liberal Arts educations and encouraged us to apply to colleges in America. Fortunately, both my brother and I were the beneficiaries of a Liberal Arts education, at Pomona and Sarah Lawrence College.

In 2021, I moved back to America to pursue an internship at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) post the pandemic and graduate school at the University of Cambridge. Just as my grandparents’ and parents’ generations made sacrifices to give me the optionality I have today, I want to work to ensure that young Americans can enjoy the same freedoms and liberties they benefitted from. While that may not mean the American dream in its financial sense, I will fight to ensure that Gen-Z works hard to protect and uphold our democracy. Unlike my family, I have chosen to live and work in America and currently call Washington, D.C. home. As a result of this choice, I feel morally responsible to give back to a country that has given to me beyond my imagination. Exceptional higher education, agency in my day-to-day movements and financial autonomy have given me an independence that I will never take for granted.

Within my first two years of living in America, I realized that young people would avidly complain about everything they thought was wrong with our country, however, few would actually do anything about it. Fortunately, around this time, I was invited to join the board of 18by Vote – a youth-led organization dedicated to creating sustainable civic leadership among young people who have been historically excluded. 18by Vote was founded in response to low youth voter turnout during the 2016 General election and is the recipient of the 2024 ALBA/Puffin Award for Human Rights Activism. It is through ALBA and 18by Vote that I can write this piece today, as part of the #WhatIVoteFor campaign.

This election season, my vote is inspired by the sacrifices of my grandparents. With a background in psychology and education, I am voting for education policy, specifically early childhood education (ECE). Research published by the Annie E. Casey Foundation stated that ‘over 50% of America’s preschool-age kids are not in school’. Concerningly, this statistic is steadily increasing. Without early childhood education, academic and health disparities will worsen and disproportionately impact low-income and marginalized communities. As education is strongly linked to nutritional outcomes in America, this election season, I am also voting for affordable, nutrient-dense meals distributed widely across schools across the country. In 2023, according to the Food Research and Action Center, approximately one in 7 households (13.5%) experienced food insecurity, or lack of access to an affordable, nutritious diet. An estimated 47.4 million Americans experience the dire consequences of food poverty.

As a young voter, I am voting for harsher laws and screening on gun ownership. There’s no place for gun violence in America. I am heartbroken by the high prevalence of gun violence in schools across the country. Polling conducted by Harvard’s Institute of Politics found that 70% of young Americans believe that gun control laws should be more strict. An additional survey conducted by YouGov found that 47% of young Republicans feel the same way and support a national assault weapons ban.

Finally, as a South Asian woman of color, I am voting for bodily autonomy. Women should have the right to make their own decisions, including the right to choose an abortion. Research conducted by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRLCE), a non-partisan organization, at Tufts University found that more than 3 in 4 young adults believe that abortion should be legal in all or most cases. Taking away a woman’s fundamental rights is terrifying and has already led to devastating, unfathomable consequences, including an increase in maternal mortality and long-term health consequences. A 2022 poll conducted by Teen Vogue found that close to half of young adults were more likely to vote due to the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

With so many issues on the ballot to think through ranging from education policy to reproductive rights, I urge young voters to do their research on policies, understand what each candidate and party represent, and vote as issue-based voters. As a Gen-Z issue-based voter, my vote this election season is multi-fold. I am voting for a safer America – an America which I could consider raising children in, as local artist Maggie O’Neill powerfully depicts through her art ‘Vote for your daughter’. On November 5^th, I will first and foremost be voting for mothers, sisters, and daughters across the country. I will be voting for change. With 46 American presidents who have each been male, it is time for this country to do something different – to choose togetherness regardless of the language your grandmother may speak. On November 5^th, I will vote for the candidate who plans to unify this country, and who believes that we have more in common than we could ever have set us apart.  As Professor Churchwell poignantly concluded in her article ‘The first voices to speak of the “American dream” used it not as a promise, or a guarantee’ however, as an exhortation – they urged all Americans ‘to do better, to be fairer, to combat bigotry and inequality’ and ‘keep striving for a republic of equals.’

– Maya Patel