Why Asma’s on Team Franken

Meet Asma Mohammed. She’s a senior at Macalester College who had the honor of introducing St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman at a special grassroots event with Al and Senator Elizabeth Warren last week because of her work on our grassroots campaign. She’s committed to making sure Al can keep fighting for Minnesota students like her—but it wasn’t always that way. She explains:

There was a time in my life when I didn’t think my vote mattered. I didn’t think my voice mattered.

Maybe you’re familiar with this feeling—I had become disheartened by the politics of Washington. I didn’t believe anything I did could really make a difference.  I was simply jaded.

A few summers ago, I taught at an inner city public school in Minneapolis. At one point, my class started discussing major events in our country’s history. The room was transformed. These kids who weren’t even in high school yet were invigorated by our past and the possibility of our mutual futures.

They still believed that they could make a difference. They still believed that their voice mattered—and it changed me. Our government, politics—it all became the art of the possible again for me.

And so I got involved. I got on the phones and started talking to voters. I spoke with my friends, my classmates and my peers about the importance of making sure our voice was heard and voting. Yes, VOTING—which isn’t always considered to be the most exciting activity for my peers.

For me, Al symbolizes the change I can create. In his short time in the Senate, he has been an effective voice for student loan reform, and has delivered concrete results on health care reform that make a difference in peoples’ lives. In OUR lives. Al has had our back in the Senate, and now it’s our turn to have his back in this election.

I once said to a professor that a woman like me could never be President. And he looked at me and said, ‘Asma, you’ve already made it further than you thought you could. The more you let your voice be heard, the more power you gain for yourself and for young people like you.”

Look at what happens when WE show up. Look at what WE did in 2008. WE elected Al Franken.

So let’s speak up. I’m not just pledging to vote for Al in November, I’m pledging to knock doors, make calls and drag friends to the polls. And I’m asking all of you to do the same.

Asma told us why she’s on Team Franken. Now it’s your turn. Share your story now.

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