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Good evening.

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My journey to this stage

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began when I came to America

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at the age of 17.

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You see, I'm one[br]of the 84 million Americans

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who are immigrants

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or children of immigrants.

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Each of us has a dream when we come here,

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a dream that usually has to be rewritten

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and always has to be repurposed.

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I was one of the lucky ones.

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My revised dream[br]led me to the work I do today:

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training immigrants[br]to run for public office

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and leading a movement[br]for inclusive democracy.

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But I don't want you to think[br]it was a cakewalk,

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that America opened its arms wide[br]and welcomed me.

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It's still not doing that.

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And I've learned[br]a few lessons along the way

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that I wanted to share with you,

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because I think that together

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we can make American democracy

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better and stronger.

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I was born in India,

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the world's largest democracy,

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and when I was four,

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my family moved to Belize,

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the world's smallest democracy perhaps.

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And at the age of 17,

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I moved to the United States,

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the world's greatest democracy.

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I came because I wanted[br]to study English literature.

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You see, as a child,[br]I buried my nose in books,

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and I thought, why not make a living[br]doing that as an adult?

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But after I graduated from college

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and got a graduate degree,

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I found myself moving[br]from one less ideal job to another.

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Maybe it was the optimism[br]that I had about America

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that made me take a while to understand

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that things were not going to change.

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The door that I thought was open

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was actually just slightly ajar --

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this door of America

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that would open wide[br]if you had the right name,

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the right skin color,

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the right networks,

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but could just slam in your face

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if you had the wrong religion,

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the wrong immigration status,

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the wrong skin color.

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And I just couldn't accept that.

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So I started a career[br]as a social entrepreneur,

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starting an organization[br]for young people like myself --

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I was young at the time[br]that I started it --

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who traced their heritage[br]to the Indian subcontinent.

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In that work, I became and advocate[br]for South Asians and other immigrants.

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I lobbied members of Congress[br]on policy issues.

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I volunteered on election day[br]to do exit polling.

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But I couldn't vote,[br]and I couldn't run for office.

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So in 2000, when it was announced

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that the citizenship application fee[br]was going to more than double

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from 95 dollars to 225 dollars,

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I decided it was time to apply[br]before I could no longer afford it.

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I filled out a long application,

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answering questions about[br]my current and my past affiliations.

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And once the application was submitted,

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there were fingerprints to be taken,

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a test to study for,

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endless hours of waiting in line.

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You might call it extreme vetting.

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And then in December of 2000,

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I joined hundreds of other immigrants

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in a hall in Brooklyn

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where we pledged our loyalty

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to a country that we had[br]long considered home.

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My journey from international student[br]to American citizen took 16 years,

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a short timeline when you compare it[br]to other immigrant stories.

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And soon after I had taken[br]that formal step

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to becoming an American,

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the attacks of September 11, 2001,

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changed the immigration landscape[br]for decades to come.

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My city, New York City,

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was reeling and healing,

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and in the midst of it,

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we were in an election cycle.

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Two things happened

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as we coped with loss and recovery[br]in New York City.

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Voters elected Michael Bloomberg[br]mayor of New York City.

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We also adopted by ballot referendum

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the Office of Immigrant Affairs[br]for the City of New York.

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Five months after that election,

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the newly elected mayor

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appointed me the first Commissioner[br]of Immigrant Affairs

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for this newly established office.

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I want you to come back to that time.

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I was a young immigrant woman from Belize.

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I had basically floundered[br]in various jobs in America

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before I started[br]a community-based organization

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in a church basement in Queens.

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The attacks of September 11[br]sent shock waves through my community.

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People who were members of my family,[br]young people I had worked with,

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were experiencing harassment

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at schools, at workplaces[br]and in airports.

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And now I was going[br]to represent their concerns

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in government.

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No job felt more perfect for me.

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And here are two things I learned[br]when I became Commissioner.

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First, well-meaning New Yorkers

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who were in city government[br]holding government positions

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had no idea how scared immigrants were

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of law enforcement.

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Most of us don't really know[br]the difference, do we,

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between a sheriff[br]and local police and the FBI.

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And most of us,[br]when we see someone in uniform

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going through our neighborhoods

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feel curiosity, if not concern.

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So if you're an undocumented parent,

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every day when you say[br]goodbye to your child,

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send them off to school and go to work,

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you don't know what the chances are

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that you're going to see them[br]at the end of the day.

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Because a raid at your workplace,

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a chance encounter with local police

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could change the course[br]of your life forever.

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The second thing I learned[br]is that when people like me,

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who understood that fear,

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who had learned a new language,[br]who had navigated new systems,

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when people like us[br]were sitting at the table,

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we advocated for our communities' needs[br]in a way that no one else could or would.

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I understood what that feeling[br]of fear was like.

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People in my family were experiencing it.

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Young people I had worked with[br]were being harassed,

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not just by classmates,

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but also by their teachers.

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My husband, then boyfriend,

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thought twice before he put[br]a backpack on or grew a beard

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because he traveled so much.

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What I learned in 2001[br]was that my vote mattered

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but that my voice[br]and vantage point also mattered.

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And it's these three things --

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immigrants' votes,[br]voices and vantage points --

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that I think can help[br]make our democracy stronger.

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We actually have the power

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to change the outcome of elections,

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to introduce new issues[br]into the policy debate

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and to change the face[br]of the pale, male, stale leadership

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that we have in our country today.

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So how do we do that?

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Well, let's talk first about votes.

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It will come as no surprise to you

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that the majority of voters[br]in America are white.

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But it might surprise you to know

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that one in three voters[br]are black, Latino or Asian.

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But here's the thing:

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it doesn't just matter who can vote,[br]it matters who does vote.

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So in 2012, half of the Latino[br]and Asian-American voters

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did not vote.

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And these votes matter[br]not just in presidential elections.

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They matter in local and state elections.

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In 2015, Lan Diep,

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the eldest son of political[br]refugees from Vietnam,

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ran for a seat[br]in the San Jose City Council.

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He lost that election by 13 votes.

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This year, he dusted off[br]those campaign shoes

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and went back to run for that seat,

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and this time he won, by 12 votes.

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Every one of our votes matters.

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And when people like Lan[br]are sitting at the policy table,

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they can make a difference.

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We need those voices.

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We need those voices

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in part because American leadership

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does not look like America's residents.

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There are over 500,000[br]local and state offices in America.

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Fewer than 2 percent of those offices[br]are held by Asian-Americans or Latinos,

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the two largest immigrant groups[br]in our country.

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In the city of Yakima, Washington,

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where 49 percent[br]of the population is Latino,

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there has never been a Latino[br]on the city council until this year.

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Three newly elected Latinas[br]joined the Yakima City Council in 2016.

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One of them is Carmen Méndez.

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She is a first-generation college student.

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She grew up partly in Colima, Mexico,

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and partly in Yakima, Washington.

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She's a single mother,[br]a community advocate.

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Her voice on the Yakima City Council

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is advocating on behalf[br]of the Latino community

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and of all Yakima residents.

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And she's a role model for her daughter

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and other Latinas.

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But the third most untapped resource[br]in American democracy

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is the vantage point[br]that immigrants bring.

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We have fought to be here.

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We have come for economic[br]and educational opportunity.

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We have come for political[br]and religious freedom.

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We have come in the pursuit of love.

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That dedication,

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that commitment to America

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we also bring to public service.

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People like Athena Salman,

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who just last week won the primary

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for a seat in the Arizona State House.

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Athena's father grew up in the West Bank

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and moved to Chicago,

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where he met her mother.

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Her mother is part Italian,

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part Mexican and part German.

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Together they moved to Arizona[br]and built a life.

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Athena, when she gets to the statehouse,

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is going to fight for things[br]like education funding

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that will help give[br]families like hers a leg up

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so they can achieve[br]the financial stability

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that we all are looking for.

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Immigrants' votes,[br]voices and vantage points

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are what we all need to work[br]to include in American democracy.

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It's not just my work. It's also yours.

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And it's not going to be easy.

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We never know

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what putting a new factor[br]into an equation will do.

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And it's a little scary.

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You're scared that I'm going[br]to take away your place at the table,

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and I'm scared that I'm never[br]going to get a place at the table.

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And we're all scared

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that we're going to lose this country[br]that we know and love.

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I'm scared you're going[br]to take it away from me,

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and you're scared[br]I'm going to take it away from you.

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Look, it's been a rough election year,

0:11:57.600,0:12:01.976
a reminder that people[br]with my immigration history

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could be removed at the whim of a leader.

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But I have fought to be in this country

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and I continue to do so every day.

0:12:11.720,0:12:14.816
So my optimism never wavers,

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because I know that there are[br]millions of immigrants just like me,

0:12:19.400,0:12:22.360
in front of me,[br]behind me and all around me.

0:12:23.000,0:12:24.880
It's our country, too.

0:12:25.920,0:12:27.136
Thank you.

0:12:27.160,0:12:29.760
(Applause)