海角大神

Omar Kurdi grew up doing all the typical things of American boyhood: riding bicycles with neighborhood buddies, rollerblading, and getting swept up in game fads like pogs.

His pathway to the ballot box, though, has been more unconventional. The Syrian-born college student had to become a United States citizen first.

He cleared that hurdle early. At age 15, Omar went with his dad to the federal building in Los Angeles to have his picture taken. Because of his age, he didn鈥檛 have to be interviewed or be sworn in with his parents.

With citizenship comes the vote, and Omar says that he, being a 鈥減ost-9/11 Arab-American,鈥� feels an intense obligation to exercise that right. He cites 鈥渁 pressure on the whole Arab community to be more involved, [which] means carrying on your responsibility through voting or whatever other means.鈥�

Omar, who often visited relatives in Syria during his youth, appreciates firsthand the difference between elections in a democracy and a dictatorship. At 21, he鈥檚 already a seasoned activist for worker rights, Palestinian causes, and social justice matters 鈥� fully exercising the free-speech rights that he knows would not be tolerated in some countries.

That doesn鈥檛 mean he thinks his adopted country is perfect. The US doesn鈥檛 qualify, technically speaking, as a true democracy, Omar asserts in an e-mail follow-up to an interview, in part because 鈥渋t disenfranchises people who lack access to political power 鈥� namely working class/poor people.鈥�

He is not one who intends to be disenfranchised. Though this serious young Californian is not yet sure who will get his vote for president, it probably won鈥檛 be either of the major-party candidates, primarily because of their stances on foreign policy and the Iraq war. That means his pick won鈥檛 become the next US president, but that does not sap Omar鈥檚 enthusiasm for casting his first vote ever.

鈥淚鈥檓 excited about voting ... because I think it鈥檚 a very crucial period in history, and the results of the decisions we make will be felt all over the world for years to come,鈥� he says. 鈥淲hen the US prides itself on being the leader of the free world, it鈥檚 an added burden to live up to the standards that it sets for itself.鈥�

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Damascus-born, Omar left Syria with his mother and sister at age 1 to join his father, then an endocrinologist, in New York.

鈥淚t was to be only for a brief time; then we stayed 20 years,鈥� says Omar, sinking his teeth into fresh-cut fries at an In & Out Burger just off the eucalyptus-lined campus of the University of California, Irvine (UCI), where he鈥檚 a student. Omar has come to love much about America after leading a hopscotch life from New York to New Jersey to Tennessee to Mississippi and now to California, where his family鈥檚 two-story suburban house in Irvine 鈥減retty much fits the 鈥楤rady Bunch鈥� mold.鈥�

Except for summers in Syria, where he hung out with extended family and worked at his uncle鈥檚 package delivery business, Omar says he had a conventional American upbringing, with 10 years playing in the American Youth Soccer Organization to prove it.
His first memory of a US presidential election was Dole versus Clinton versus Perot in 1996, when he was a freckle-faced fourth-grader living in Mississippi.

鈥淚t stood out to me that here was this Texas billionaire who funded his own campaign and got a significant following,鈥� says Omar. He contrasted that with what he鈥檇 seen of elections in Syria, where 鈥渁 president is elected for life and then his son takes over.鈥�

鈥淲hen I was younger, I watched as President [Hafez] Assad won with something like 98 percent of the vote and I said, 鈥榃ow, this guy must be really popular,鈥� and my dad said the numbers were just 鈥榝ake.鈥� 鈥� As the years went by, Omar says, he grew to understand the 鈥渇arce鈥� that elections are in his birth country. 鈥淚t鈥檚 laughable that they called the whole thing an election,鈥� he adds.

By the time he was 15, his parents decided that US citizenship was in order. He, his older sister, and their parents had in the mid-1990s received the green cards so coveted by immigrants, expedited by the fact that his father had agreed, through a government program, to move to Mississippi to work in an area underserved by endocrinologists. By then, a younger brother and two younger sisters were already US citizens, having been born in America.

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Now a history/international relations major in his last quarter, Omar is active in three student organizations at UCI: the Muslim Students鈥� Association, the Worker-Student Alliance, and Students for Peace and Justice. He also spends 18 hours a week as an unpaid intern for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. He sees that work as crucial to countering bias and hate crimes against Arab-Americans, which since 9/11 have 鈥渋ncreased dramatically.鈥�

Omar has devoted so much time to the student groups 鈥� organizing speaking events and protests 鈥� that he鈥檚 had little time for intramural football and no time for parties. He took part, for instance, in a campaign for better wages and health benefits for university food, landscaping, and dining workers. He didn鈥檛 consider it fair that those workers earned minimum wage while the president of UCI Medical Center was drawing a $600,000 salary. The campaign won wage hikes for the UCI workers, and the same issue is now percolating across other UC campuses.

A nondrinker and nonsmoker, Omar finds no allure in the college party scene. In fact, he鈥檚 never been to one. 鈥淚f you are an activist, you have to be a social square,鈥� he says. 鈥淭here鈥檚 just not enough time for both.鈥�

The issue is broader than how one spends one鈥檚 own free time, he says. Dedicated political activists can鈥檛 be too careful, he argues, asserting that US government informants have in the past infiltrated antiwar and civil rights groups and used women and drugs to distract and entrap activists.

Omar鈥檚 longtime best friend, Egyptian-American Yasser Ahmed, confirmed in a phone interview that he鈥檚 never known Omar to attend a party in high school or college. 鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to believe, but it鈥檚 true. He鈥檚 way too serious,鈥� says Yasser, who graduated from UCI two years ago and runs his own Internet publishing firm.

Omar aspires to be a lawyer 鈥� maybe international law 鈥� and is already studying to take the LSATs. Yasser, though, sees 鈥渟erious, beloved professor鈥� in Omar鈥檚 future. 鈥淗e has always been more mature than the rest of those his age,鈥� says Yasser. 鈥淚ntellectually, he really stands out.鈥�

All the work for the student activist groups has also cut into time for academics, Omar allows. 鈥淏ut it was worth it,鈥� he says, 鈥渂ecause these groups helped shape my college experience and made me more active in politics.鈥�

Omar, Yasser, and others have started an informal club of like-minded activists who intend to keep exchanging information about issues they care about.

鈥淚 just think a citizen has to do more than just vote,鈥� says Omar. 鈥淥ne has to continue to struggle to create the fundamental change that鈥檚 needed. Most Americans just cast their ballot and then forget about it.鈥�

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Although Omar always knew he wanted to vote, he didn鈥檛 get around to doing anything about it until a paid signature-gatherer for a ballot initiative approached him at a supermarket in May 2007. He was supposed to get confirmation by mail that he鈥檇 been registered, but it never came. So one day Omar stopped into the local Department of Motor Vehicles office, where voter-motor needs are met, and filled out the necessary forms.

Like most students his age, Omar is following the presidential election in part through Comedy Central鈥檚 Jon Stewart of 鈥�The Daily Show鈥� and Stephen Colbert of 鈥�The Colbert Report.鈥� 鈥淭hese guys are comedians but you still get a lot of legitimate news,鈥� says Omar. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know what they鈥檙e going to do without [George W.] Bush for laughs.鈥�

But he鈥檚 also a self-described news junkie, getting his daily news from CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, Al Jazeera, and the Internet. He blames the media in large part for what he sees as Americans鈥� 鈥渋gnorance鈥� and lack of sophistication about world issues.

鈥淎merican politics seems obsessed by minor details that don鈥檛 have anything to do with anything but dominate the discussion,鈥� he says. 鈥淟ike whether or not [Barack] Obama wears a [flag] lapel pin.鈥�

Omar doesn鈥檛 see a meaningful difference between Senator Obama and Sen. John McCain, especially on foreign policy. 鈥淭here鈥檚 certainly not substantial disagreement over foreign policy or the war in Iraq. The differences between McCain and Obama seem more tactical,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he fact that it was an illegal war leading to a bloody occupation seems to get swept under the carpet.鈥�

On Election Day, he is going with a third-party candidate 颅鈥� either Ralph Nader or Green Party nominee Cynthia McKinney.

The historic 2008 political season has seen a surge of new voters. This occasional series profiles Americans who registered or cast a ballot for the first time this year.