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I talked to my mom on the phone yesterday. She told me that they had taken me off the registrar in Massachusetts because I had not returned census documents in 4 years. Even though I was saved two 5 hour bus rides and 3 hours in line, I was disappointed and depressed.

Still I felt happy for my mother, a South African ex-patriat, who has banned from her own country for 30 years for fighting against apartheid. In 1994 after apartheid was revoked, she  was given back her right to vote and voted for Nelson Mandela. Now after teaching in South Africa for 2 years she had come back to the US just in time to vote for Barack Obama.

My mother told me a poem she had heard that lifted my spirits, despite not being able to participate in this historic election. She heard it from a young African-America child on the street.

Here’s the Poem

Rosa sat so Martin could March

Martin marched so Barack could run

Barack ran so we all could fly