As part of our two-week long #ChaloLetsVote campaign with the creative duo behind Words In Urdu, APF’s Get Out the Vote team spotlighted six personal narratives on Pakistani-American identity and exercising our right to vote.

In recent years, South Asian activism in America has seen an unprecedented rise, with greatly increased representation and participation in American political life. As members of the South Asian diaspora in America, we inherit a rich history of political activism and mobilization.

And as a subset of South Asian Americans, Pakistanis in America cover a broad range of immigration and generational experiences. Below, we explore what our right and ability to vote means to us:

Zehra Ansari

“When America keeps her promise to generations of Americans old and new — as she did for my uncle and my father — it reflects her deepest strength.”

“My dad had opened Caffe Vivaldi in the West Village a few years earlier. My uncle Khalid (far left) was the first in my family to emigrate to the United States. My uncle first visited America in 1960 as an employee of Italy’s flag carrier Alitalia, on the airline’s inaugural flight from Karachi to New York. His first impression of America was disheartening — he could not make sense of a nation that normalized discrimination against its own people. Ten years later, a work transfer brought him to New York permanently. 

What changed since 1960? A social transformation had occurred with the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1965. Having traveled across the world, my uncle says if he knew anything in 1970, it was that he could settle down in America and contribute to American society with more welcome and more ease than in any other corner of the world. 

America, he says, was his first experience of real freedom and open democracy. America was where he learned how to question authority. And in November 1972, two years after emigrating, my uncle would cast his vote as an American citizen for the first time. He has voted in every election since. When America keeps her promise to generations of Americans old and new — as she did for my uncle and my father — it reflects her deepest strength.”

Wasay Rasool

“When this country remembers it’s promise of opportunity for all, everyone is better off.”

“First high school graduation. Growing up with several older siblings can feel like you have many parents around. At times they are your best friend and at others, your sworn enemy. Over time, I’ve come to appreciate the profound ways in which my siblings stepped up after arriving in the US, filled in the gaps, and enabled me to be better. All the while, they pursued every available opportunity for themselves. Here we celebrated the realization of the first of many opportunities. When this country remembers it’s promise of opportunity for all, everyone is better off. When it forgets, we have a responsibility to remind those in power using our voices, our dollars, and our votes.”

Shamila N. Chaudhary

“The vastness of our new home pushed us out into the world, compelling us to make the connections and build the relationships that our culture so valued.”

“When we moved to the United States in 1980, we landed in Toledo, Ohio. The wide, open farmland of the midwest looked just like the fields my parents knew in our ancestral village of Jaurah in the plains of Punjab, Pakistan. 

One of my mother's first memories of America: "It looked just like home, but where were all the people?" The hustle and bustle of the Pakistani bazaar was noticeably absent. So were the extended networks of kinship and friendship that rooted our families for generations in the Punjab. 

The vastness of our new home pushed us out into the world, compelling us to make the connections and build the relationships that our culture so valued. Fortunately for us, two of my uncles already lived in the United States. They made our arrival possible; our journey smoother; and our chances of success stronger. 

In this photograph, I'm with my parents and two uncles. The four of them were my first examples of a Pakistani heritage and what it means to be an American. They kept the most important parts of home, while grasping and accepting the possibility of the many changes that came their way as new Americans. 

My vote is my testament to their hard work and their legacy. Every time election day comes around, I think of their journeys, and am grateful that I have the right to vote.”

Mahmood Panjwani

“In over four decades in this country, by and large, I have found America and Americans to be kind, generous, welcoming, compassionate, with a sense of fair play and a ton of creativity and ingenuity.”

“With my older brother, Karim (front, right) and his friends. I was nineteen when this picture was taken, having arrived in Chicago just a few months prior. With little money but with an abundance of hope and with the firm belief that in America, if you work hard and apply yourself, you will succeed. America did not betray my belief in her. In over four decades in this country, by and large, I have found America and Americans to be kind, generous, welcoming, compassionate, with a sense of fair play and a ton of creativity and ingenuity. These traits have been America's guiding values since the formation of the first colonies. Of late, America seems to be OFF track. As an American, It is my fervent hope and prayer that America once again be seen as the beacon of hope and freedom for all.”

Essam Choudhary

“Every vote, every voice, will help the nation chart a course for a better, safer, and more sustainable future.”

“Celebrating the Bulls’ first title! My Dad loved Basketball. From his college championship-playing days in Pakistan to the streets of Chicago, his sense of adventure and both my parent’s determination to give us the best access to education led us to settle stateside. Between the pandemic and the rising tensions in the country, we cannot afford to remain on the sidelines. Every vote, every voice, will help the nation chart a course for a better, safer, and more sustainable future. Regardless of who you vote for, the mere act of voting creates empowerment. Gives our community a voice to ensure that we can impact what happens in our local communities and in the country as a whole. If we don't vote, others can decide our future for us. Vote; it’s not just your right, it’s the way we can keep America free for generations to come.”

Anam Khan

“I am voting in this year’s Presidential Election, so I can have a say in the policies that will lay the foundation for America’s future.”

“Holding my dad’s hand at Disney World. My dad always saw America as the land of opportunity, and a place where I would someday find many educational and professional opportunities. Throughout my life, I was encouraged to build a future for myself in America. Since day one, I was trained to make a life in America my ultimate goal.

I have gone back and forth between America and Pakistan for most of my life. I spent my early childhood years in the states, and then went back to Pakistan for my primary and secondary schooling. Then I came back to the states for college and my masters. Besides spending a brief stint in Pakistan, I have spent a majority of my post-college life living and working in the states. 

While growing up, I came to the states every summer (and sometimes winter). It’s safe to say I have spent half of my life going back-and-forth between two worlds. I feel like I have a home in Pakistan and America. 

I am so grateful for the opportunity to live in America. I am grateful that my family had the freedom to settle here before I was born. It is these freedoms that gave me a chance to spend a big chunk of my life in America. Even though I am not a politician, or in the government, voting is the closest I can get to making an impact in the political process. I am voting in this year’s Presidential Election, so I can have a say in the policies that will lay the foundation for America’s future.”