“Vote Like Our Lives Depend On It — Because They Do”

“There’s still forces that try to divide New Haven. Are we gonna let them do that?” asked Caprice Taylor.

“No!” cheered back the crowd.

“The world says people who like me, who look like many of you, do not count,” continued Taylor. ​“But when we vote, we say we matter.”

“If our votes don’t matter, why don’t they allow a non profit agency like Community Action Agency or Head Start to register us to vote or remind us in a non partisan way?” asked Taylor. ​“Because our votes matter. We have power.”

Taylor was among the local activists and government officials were revving up the vote Saturday at a rally held in Quinnipiac River Park in Fair Haven. Organized by Kica Matos and Shana Jackson, the rally focused on voter registration and empowerment.

When asked what motivated her, Jackson responded with one word: despair. ​“I could be angry or I could use my energy in a more useful way,” she said. Jackson, a librarian at the Yale Law School, organized this similar rally in Hamden with Matos, an attorney and social-justice community organizer who has spearheaded immigrant-rights campaigns for well over a decade. These events have been her first time organizing. ​“Individually, we feel like we can’t do a lot. But as a group, we have real pull.” 

Groups such as NAACP of New Haven, Bangladesh Society of CT, and the city Registrar of Voters Office all had booths at Saturday’s event encouraging people to vote. Families gathered on the sunny afternoon, strolling between booths and stopping to listen to speeches or watch dance performances. A free COVID testing tent was set up, thanks to Cornell Scott Hill Health Center.

The message was simple, but clear: vote.

“I live in that blue house, right up the street,” said Matos, pointing up the hill from the park. When asked why Fair Haven has a lower voting rate, she paused. ​“Not enough people understand the impact of their votes. There’s a lot of apathy.”

Speakers at the event addressed exactly why voting matters, especially on issues like immigration policy and the deportation of productive members of the community who have worked and lived here in some cases for decades.

“I had been in this country for 24 years when the ICE showed up on my door,” said Nury Chavarria, who spoke in a soft voice to the attentive crowd. She immigrated from Guatemala to the U.S. for a better life, and worked with ICE to fill out her paperwork since arrival – she even had a tax code. In 2017, that all changed when agents showed up at her door. 

“I wasn’t home, and they asked my son where I was. He didn’t answer; he was so scared. They used excessive force on him.”

Chavarria was one of the first people in Connecticut to be affected by harsher ICE policies, driven by the Trump administration. She was given less than a day’s notice to leave the country, and went to a sanctuary church with her youngest child, Hayley. 

“It was inhumane,” said Charla Nich, a member of CT Shoreline Indivisible. ​“They put a huge shackle on her foot, tracking her wherever she went. She couldn’t leave the church for six days. There were no showers or real beds.” Nich, along with other members of CT Shoreline Indivisible, helped Chavarria and her family. Kica Matos rounded up legal and broader community help to win a reprieve for Chavarria.

Chavarria’s daughter Hayley, who wore black rectangular glasses with a grey sweatshirt, spoke at the rally as well. ICE threatened her family, the week of her 8th birthday. Hayley was bullied in elementary school, and it got worse when her classmates found out what was happening to her mom. ​“I took my mom’s watch as a momento, because I wasn’t sure if I was going to see her again,” she said.

Today, Chavarria is still fighting her case. ​“ICE just thinks they can send people away,” said Nich. ​“But people have families and lives here.”

Anwar Mahmud, a member of the Bangladesh Society of CT, also spoke up. His story took place in the summer of 2018.

“The week my son graduated from high school, it was the happiest moment of my life,” said Mahmud. “

A week later, a note from ICE came, demanding his wife leave the country by August. Mahmud rallied for help, even doing a 36-hour hunger strike in Hartford. After a judge repeatedly delayed the case, he and his wife got asylum. ​“We read about separations at the border,” said Mahmud. ​“But Trump was also ripping families apart in the homeland.”

“We need to know our history and appreciate the fight before us. This summer, we lost an American hero: the honorable Congressman John Lewis,” said Dori Dumas, president of the New Haven chapter of the NAACP.

“Voter suppression and racism is alive and well,” she continued. ​“People are constantly working to erase the gains we have made. Congressman Lewis did his part, and now it’s our turn.”

Recipe For Change

“How many of you all have cooked with a recipe?” asked Earl Bloodworth, the director of the Bridgeport Reentry Program. The crowd raised their hands. ​“A recipe is like a plan – it’s what we need to succeed. We need a plan, not just how we’re registering or even voting, but how we’re keeping officials accountable.”

Dumas agreed: ​“We have the power, because we’re the ones who vote people in.”

Other activists stressed the importance of local elections. ​“We talk about elections the wrong way,” said Jordan Harris, the president of the NAACP chapter at the University of New Haven. ​“We talk as though voting in one election or voting for one person, like the president, solves everything. But down-ballot elections affect us. The mayor, for example, controls who the chief of police is. In some places, you can even elect your sheriff.”

When asked why college students have lower voter turnout, Harris stressed the importance of education. ​“People don’t understand the impact of elected officials on their lives,” he said.

“You can’t call the White House with your problems, can you?” Shannel Evans, the city’s Democratic registrar of voters, asked the crowd. ​“But you can call your city officials. We need you to come out in the odd years for those municipal elections, too!”

Including All Voices

Later at her booth, Evans smiled. ​“We have so many flyers: how to register to vote, where to go, safety information, and more,” she said. She partnered with the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity to spread awareness of voting rights, especially for ex-felons.

“I grew up on 55 Division St. in Newhallville,” said James Carr, a member of Omega Psi Phi who helped Evans run the booth. ​“Both my parents were working and out of the house. I was the oldest and had to take care of my siblings. I got involved in the streets, and did some bad things.”

“I decided to clean up my act,” said Carr. After he began college at Gateway, he wanted to vote. ​“I had never taken the time to understand voting,” he said. ​“But I wanted to.” Carr had cleared his record before he went to college, and has been raising awareness about ex-felon voting rights since.

“You know, ex-felons can vote if they’re not on probation or have any open cases,” said Carr.

“You also can’t have any outstanding fines or have committed election fraud,” added Evans.

“Voting changes our lives,” said Carr. ​“I want people to know that they can participate in this process.”

The event concluded with a music performance from Movimento Cultural, a group that celebrated Afro-Puerto Rican heritage, and a call for change.

“We need to vote like our lives depend on it,” said Matos. ​“Because they do.”