Why I give up to vote?
A Reflection Essay of Election Interview
with Nelson Su

He turned off the alarm at 7:30 in the morning, cleaned up himself in the bathroom, got a cup of fresh hot soy milk and two boiled eggs to eat at the dining table, and began to read news in his iPhone 6: “Donald Trump Elected President”—the headline jumped out to his face. “WOW”, Nelson was surprised by the election result for a few seconds, read through the news. Then he stopped caring about the election and packed himself up to class. It’s November 9th, 2016, a big day for most Americans, one fundamental turning point in the U.S. history, yet just another routine school day for Nelson Su, an American Born Chinese who currently studies Statistic in Baruch College.

Being an American voter, Nelson’s reaction to the 2016 Election result could be too calm and even cold compare to neither those who cried, got sick, and protested, nor those who laughed and celebrated for Trump’s victory. Nelson simply felt nothing special about the result, “I didn’t feel anything…no feelings at all…no matter who win the president it’s the same” as he told me in the interview.

Before I actually conducted the interview with Nelson, I heard so much viewpoints and arguments from both Trump’s supporters and Hilary’s supporters. I wasn’t get rid of the struggle to pick a voter from either side to be my interviewee until I met Nelson, who told me he would give up the chance to elect, and so did his parents. According to projections from the United States Election Project, only 138,884,643 Americans voted among 231,556,622 eligible voters in 2016 Election.

This indicates 92,671,979 eligible voters, 48%, gave up to vote, which is a large population needed to be noticed. These people, from different states, varies races, and diverse backgrounds, gave up their chance to vote for their own president for thousands kinds of reasons. I’m curious to hear what they think and why they quite. I think it’s important to listen to the voice from those who gave up the election. Thus, I invited Nelson to be my interviewee to fulfill my curiosity.

At first, I thought Nelson gave up voting just because he didn’t care that much about the politics, because he didn’t seem to pay a lot attention on the politicians and their policies overall based on the interview. In fact, Nelson told me that it was actually the first time he cared about the U. S. election, because it’s his first time being eligible age to participate. Nelson said he gave up voting simply because he didn’t like either candidates, as he told me in the interview, Trump don’t even know how to respect people by being a racist and sexist while Hilary is not honest enough by hiding something from her email. However, I don’t think the dislike of either candidate is persuasive enough to give up voting. Making no choice means letting the rest of voters to choose the president. This is no difference from handing in one’s fate to other people’s hands. I believe this behavior shows one’s politic indifference.

However, I don’t think the dislike of either candidate is persuasive enough to give up voting. Making no choice means letting the rest of voters to choose the president. This is no difference from handing in one’s fate to other people’s hands. I believe this behavior shows one’s politic indifference.

When I came back to the interview and try to analyze it, I find a bunch of elements making Nelson politic indifference, such as his living background, family, friends, and his identity as American born Chinese. For instance, his early education experience in China could be a very important factor shaping his political indifference today. In China, citizens don’t have right to vote, and are not encourage to talk about politics freely, especially in earlier years. This could make his family, parents, and teachers in school rarely talk about politics, which build little knowledge and realization of politic issues in his childhood. This tends to make Nelson pay less attention when he grew up. In addition, his friends could also influence his attitude toward the politic. In the interview, Nelson told me he had two friends vote for Trump just for fun, saying they want to see what will happen if Trump is the President. Besides, one of his friends went for the protest against Trump, not because he actually hated him, but just want to participate in such events. These people, who he grew up with and handing out with, may influence Nelson not to think politic seriously.

As the election interview going, I became more and more interested to this person, and realized that Nelson was not only a voter who quite, or those who are indifference to politics, but also one of the representatives for U. S. minorities, immigrants, and American born Chinese. By learning more about his experience, I believe that Nelson didn’t vote not only because he tends to be politic indifference, but also because he doesn’t believe he could change anything about his life through voting. He mentioned several times in the interview that it would the same for him no matter who becomes the president: “Who’s the president won’t change anything. I still go to school the next day, do my homework, sleep, and play”

Indeed, if the politicians can’t make people feel there is an improvement, a hope, and a better country when there is a new president, why would people vote? If there is no difference when people try to influence the politic, why would they make an effort? In Nelson’s case, I see how Nelson’s indifference reflects the political attitude and status of his group, American Chinese. Here, I would conclude that the less participant of minorities and immigrants in political, the less power of these groups have in American political environment overall.

In the interview, Nelson insisted to say the election’s potential benefit for him is not important, yet that of the whole America is, which attributes his social identity as a loyal American rather than an individual. However, later he said he could just leave the country and move to China if Trump performs badly, as if America is never his root, which is conflict with the previous patriotic identity. To better interpret the interviewee’s social identity, it is necessary to learn about their life history such as the living environment, the cultural and the educational background, and life stories that may relate to marginalization, microaggression or belonging, which could all contribute to influence the subconscious of relationship between self and the society.

To fully understand such a conflict, it’s crucial to interpret his life. For example, although he was born in America, he went back to China to study the traditional Chinese principles and culture, which could taught him to consider as a Chinese all his life no matter where he is. Besides, I think Nelson actually believes China is his root by many other details.

For instance, when I asked him the feeling of living in Guangzhou, he told me it’s very comfortable living there because most people are Chinese, which indicates living in China and with his own ethic group makes him feel belonging.

In addition, when I looked up his posts in WeChat, the most popular social media in China, I found his strong sense of belonging in Guangzhou. In one post, he posted a photo of two hands holding together: one is young and the other is wrinkled with a traditional sliver bracelet, with a title saying: “Yes, I’m back.” The title obviously shows that Nelson always believes Guangzhou is his hometown. Another post a few days later is a photo of two backs: one is a young tall male and the other is an aged female, with title: “the sadness of leaving infects the whole city”. It’s not hard to guess the wrinkled hand belongs to the aged woman, who is probably his grandma. And by saying it’s sad to leave the city, it’s very clear that Nelson love to stay in Guangzhou, accompanying with his family. From this, I can see how Nelson’s ancestors, his family, always keep the connection between Nelson and China, reminding his identity as a Chinese.

In contrast, when Nelson talked about his feeling living in the New York City, he said although New York City is a melting pot, “People treat you differently if you look different”. He explained by saying that people always feel more comfortable to handing out with their own ethic group. Just like Chinese people gather in Chinatown, there are Korea Town and Japanese Town for each group. Although many American born Chinese hand out with white, black, and Mexicans, eat food from western world, and are no difference with the “real American”, Nelson is very Chinese. He said most of his friends in America are American born Chinese and Chinese. These friends teach him Chinese cultures and customs of current young generations. For example, Nelson usse Chinese social media platforms such as WeChat, Weibo, and 17, which allow him to learn from and connect with even more Chinese people. In the live software 17, Nelson has more than 17 thousands of fans, which demonstrates his good communication with Chinese. These experiences could strengthen his identity as a Chinese rather than an American.

In the interview, Nelson also told me a childhood story, which I believe is an experience showing his insecurity and microaggression he went though in America society. It was in his first middle school, David A Boody in Brooklyn, New York. One day after the lunch, when Nelson was taking a rest in the playground, a friend crying came to him and told Nelson he was bullied by two black kids. Then Nelson went to these two kids and got into fight with them. As a result, Nelson was the only one who got kicked out of the school, which was the first time he feel racial difference in America. This also made Nelson first realize “They don’t really like Chinese people”. This story not only shows “microaggression” in Nelson’s life, which strengthened his identity as Chinese rather than America, but also invoke me to think about America society and its spirits.

America is an immigration country, a dream land attracting people from all around the world for its diversity, inclusion, and freedom. But is America really like what it advocates? When people arrive and settle down here, how will the recognition of their identity change? Do they actually feel they belong here? If America treat minorities differently with marginalization and microagression, it can’t make people find belong, and it’s impossible to become the home, but just a lodge, for its immigrants.

Poll results retrieved from:
Over 90 Million Eligible Voters Didn’t Vote in the 2016 Presidential Election