I came to this country 25 years ago to study and look for new professional opportunities. I was born and raised in Chile during Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship. I believe you become who you are as a sum of your experiences in life. I have never liked extremes, including in politics. I dislike Cuba’s and Venezuela’s communist governments, which have resulted in dictatorships. I also dislike Nazi Germany and the current dictatorship in Egypt.
When I became a United States citizen, I wasn’t engaged in politics because I felt my voice didn’t matter, especially since I wasn’t even born here. But then I realized I have a say: I live here, I pay taxes. My children were born here, and I want them to live in a country where they can thrive like anyone else.
I have never seen the amount of disinformation during an election season like the one we are currently exposed to. I’m Latina, and I have seen disinformation circulating in social media, such as in WhatsApp groups, as much as on the internet and in English and in Spanish. That is why I try to rely on trustworthy news entities to get facts and try to listen to rallies from both presidential candidates: former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee.
After informing myself as much as possible, I decided to vote for Harris. My decision is based on several points that interconnect: the economy, climate change, gun control, abortion and, last but not least, national security.
I believe Harris’ economic agenda has the middle class at heart. Also, the clean-energy economy is at the core of Harris’ opportunity economy, where lowering energy costs, expanding clean-energy jobs, and increasing housing affordability and extreme weather resiliency are wins for our families. The current clean-energy plan, which Harris helped get passed in Congress, is creating a new generation of good-paying union jobs that are good for our communities and our planet.
This is linked to the second reason why I’m voting for her. She knows climate change is real and that it is happening now, and her economic plan is linked to it. I understand we cannot change things overnight, but that is the future everywhere, whether we like it or not. An economy based on fossil fuel consumption is in our past, one that sacrificed our community’s health. The Latino communities are among the groups most affected by climate change, from severe weather to health impacts and even the cost of house insurance, which significantly affects our lives.
What is also impacting not only Latinos but all Americans is gun shootings. I think this country needs a president willing to have more gun reform policies. The K-12 Violence Project, run by data scientist David Riedman, has a “K-12 School Shooting Database” considering any incident “when a gun is brandished, is fired, or a bullet hits school property for any reason, regardless of the number of victims, time, or day of the week.” This tracker has counted 257 school shootings so far in 2024. EducationWeek, a news organization, uses more limited criteria and has counted 30 school shootings so far in 2024. Even if I only consider the 30 school shootings by EducationWeek, the United States is still by far the country with the highest number of school shootings in the world, and, to me, it is so clear that the reason for this is the easy access to guns we have. I don’t need to be a scientist to end up with that conclusion. I want gun reforms not only for my children but for all children in this country who are in the right place every day: at school.
I am Catholic, and I believe nobody can impose their God on anyone else. The God I believe in gave me free will: I am the one choosing my decisions, and because of my faith, God is present in those decisions. The decision to have an abortion is between a woman, her doctor, her consciousness and/or her God, if she has one.
Last but not least, I’m voting for Harris because I think she will be able to make better decisions for the country on the international level. We are on the verge of a third world war with everything happening in the Middle East. As our next president, she will be making decisions that not only will impact our lives but also the role we will play in conflicts that are currently developing. I think Harris will play a better role as an international leader.
I want this beautiful country to be a place where everyone has opportunities to succeed, where the efforts of each individual show tangible progress, and where the communities left behind are no more. Where we can all look at each other with humanity and kindness. My vote, for the greater good of this extraordinary country, will be for Kamala Harris.
Alejandra Cádiz-Gómez is a Chilean immigrant who has lived in the Atlanta area for decades.
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