Strikes, Spares, and Elections

MANHATTAN, New York,

The sound of laughter and the steady rumble of bowling balls filled the air at lane 10 on Sunday afternoon as my family gathered to celebrate my cousin’s birthday. Bowling balls crashed down the lanes hitting pins, people cheered, and the conversation among the adults shifted from birthday festivities to the upcoming 2024 presidential election. Amidst the cheers for strikes and high-fives for spares, political opinions began to roll just as easily as the bowling balls.

The Parker family, that’s us, like many across the US, is balancing their celebrations with the larger issues facing the country. For this family, the election isn’t just about choosing a leader, it’s about finding solutions that will impact their daily lives from healthcare to the economy and our rights. 

Tiara Joseph, the birthday girl, admitted she’s still undecided. “I haven’t made up my mind yet,” she said while helping her daughter with her bowling shoes. “Healthcare has always been my main concern. My daughter has asthma and is dealing with medical expenses, so I need to know what each candidate will do to address that,” she said.

My 36-year-old cousin, Keri-Ann Mena, housekeeping manager at a Midtown hotel nodded in agreement but added her take. “One of my biggest concerns is finance, being able to live comfortably knowing that I work hard and should be able to enjoy the fruits of my labor,” she said as she prepared to cut the cake.  “It’s like we’re kept where we are. Now, for instance, I’ve gotten two increases in the last two years, and I’ve been trying to find an apartment I can afford. At one point I wasn’t making enough to qualify for these lottery apartments, nor did I make too much to qualify for some. And others I still don’t qualify for. How are we supposed to live?” she asked, not expecting an answer.

We watched my son Amir  roll his ball down the lane and score a spare and then my best friend, Perisia Saunders, jumped into the conversation. Perisia, an endoscopy technician supervisor, was more direct: “When it comes to the direction of our country, I’m afraid. This election has been one of the most unprofessional ordeals I have ever witnessed. No one side is better than the other.” 

I could hear disappointment and loss of hope about the election. She continued, “I’m afraid for us as a people as a whole. Families are struggling with a two-parent household, so we can only imagine what a one-parent household is going through.” 

Immigration and benefits that newcomers receive trouble Perisia. “We have people coming from other countries and getting the help that we as Americans are supposed to be getting,” she said. “I’m not saying that they don’t deserve to be helped, but you can’t go to any other country and think that you will get before the people who belong in that country, this is the only country where we cater to others rather than ourselves” 

Perisia has been unable to find an apartment and she sees an unfair disparity between newcomers and New York City residents. “February, I will have spent a year in the shelter system, and nothing has moved for me. Everything has been at a standstill while I have watched dozens of migrant families come in and out of the shelter and be placed in their own homes. How is this fair?”

My mother April Parker, sitting a few seats away, offered a different perspective. Her voice was full of frustration as she said,“Our people don’t get it because of propaganda that we were taught. We were taught to believe certain things. I don’t know how anybody can talk about immigration when everybody here is an immigrant, every family, and the only people that were here in America were the Native Americans. Anybody outside of that is not a true American. They’re an immigrant. The Africans came over here, the Caucasians from Europe. I’m talking about the Africans who came here before slavery, the Caucasians from Europe came here, but they, with their selfishness, wanted everything for themselves, so they annihilated the people who were here, and they brought people to subjugate them. But this is not something that just happens in America. This is something that happens around the world. The subjugation of people, because you got to have an enemy to sell a product of guns, weapons, bombing.” she said.

I leaned back in the chair and I agreed, but offered some optimism. I said, “I’ve witnessed many elections,  and even though it sometimes seems like these candidates can’t get their shit together, I trust that the system will eventually work in our favor,” I said with a smile. “But that doesn’t mean I’m sitting this one out. We all need to vote no matter what!”

The birthday girl returned to her seat and proudly showed off her bowling score and the family gathered around her for another round of birthday cheers.