Oct 27 2007
A message from City Councilor At Large Sam Yoon - Please Vote!
Neighbors for Neighbors actively encourages participation in the democratic process but does not endorse candidates.
From “Sam” City Councilor at Large Sam Yoon,
I wanted to take a moment to write about what this year’s election is about. Our city is at a crossroads; for the past several years, progressive candidates across the city have received tremendous support and attention. We have seen the success of progressives throughout the past several years:
My friend and colleague, Felix Arroyo was elected city wide in 2003. In 2004, we elected an African American woman, Andrea Cabral, to serve as Suffolk County sheriff. In 2005, I was fortunate enough to receive the support of progressives city-wide, and with your support, I was the first Asian American elected official in the history of Boston. The true shift came last year, when the Commonwealth united behind a leader of extraordinary vision and principle: Deval Patrick.
This year, we are faced with yet another challenge: keeping the progressive momentum going. This election is truly a challenge for progressive people citywide. In previous years, attention from the media, excitement among the electorate, and energy among the activists fueled a progressive movement. This year, a citywide election is less than two weeks away, and many people don’t even know about it.
There are many reasons for this lack of attention. There are few “new” or “sexy” storylines. The candidates are the same. There is no mayoral election, and the preliminary election was cancelled. There may even be a sense of complacency and or even fatigue (reasonably so) after electing a progressive person of color to the Commonwealth’s highest office.
However, participation is the foundation of our democracy. And while many in the media don’t find any of our city’s issues compelling, the work we do in City Hall does make a difference in real people’s lives.
Campaigns are about debating our priorities: where do we spend our money and focus our resources?
How do we educate our children?
How do we provide safe and affordable housing for our families?
How do we make our neighborhoods thriving and successful?
As a city, how to we help protect our environment?
How should we allocate our resources to fight the escalating violence in our streets?
How do we make sure to respect, honor, and include all of the diversity among our communities; whether gay, lesbian, women, or people of color?
As progressives, it is up to us to move this city forward. It is up to us to participate and help set the priorities. It is up to us to continue building a progressive vision for Boston.
It’s easy to participate when the whole world is watching (or at least it seems that way). It’s easy to vote when all your friends are talking about new leadership and a changing guard.
The difficult elections are when no one is paying attention. We have to work together to wake the city up.
We have a responsibility, not only to talk about change, but to actively seek it. We have a responsibility to work together to ensure that everyone participates in our city. When progressives stay at home, when we don’t act, and when we are not part of the process, our city suffers.
In the words of Martin Luther King Jr.: “Our lives begin to end the day we remain silent about the things that matter.”
When everyone participates in our democracy, everyone wins. When very few people participate, only those few win.
Most importantly, it doesn’t matter who you vote for. I hope I can earn your vote, and I hope in my first two years in office, I have made you proud to have elected me. But, no matter who you vote for, you must get out and vote. The challenges our city faces are too great, too important, to stay at home.
One of my greatest fears is that progressives wake up on November 7th, and the headline in the Globe reads: “The Party’s Over,” as progressive candidates city-wide are shown the ugly side of an election. I hope that we can come together as progressives and show the city that we are here to stay. I hope that you join me, November 6th, and cast a vote. And I hope that you stay involved in the future of our city.
Sincerely,
Sam
City Councilor at Large Sam Yoon