A little later, while we were filling out the registration form, he mentioned something that stuck with me. He said his mom had always told him that no matter what happened in life, voting was important. Listening to him say that made me think about the version of Jermaine his mother must have seen when he was a kid. At some point he had just been her little boy, someone she was raising in this country and hoping would grow up to take part in it, to have a voice in it. Whatever else had happened in his life since then, that was still part of him.

Ali Sabir receives John Lewis Youth Leadership Award from New Jersey’s Lt Governor Tahesha Way.

I remember the first time I heard someone suggest that people are looking for outrage…It’s hurting us. It’s burning bridges, closing doors, and normalizing hate. It’s diminishing our chances of finding common ground, while it’s right there in front of us, if we just put down our swords.

You know the saying “If you don’t vote, you can’t complain?” It’s not true.

People can - and do - always have the right to complain. That’s one of the things that makes a democracy a democracy. But if you don’t vote and your preferred candidate doesn’t win, you may spend the next four years of your life extremely frustrated.