With Friends & Family: The Lanfair Family

By Jameela and Jordan Lanfair
Jordan is an Educator Ambassador and The Institute for CP and Team WI Lead

Helping People Learn About Voting With My Dad by Jameela Lanfair (Transcribed by her Dad Jordan Lanfair)

When we went to Virginia to help people learn about voting I was happy. I was excited about voting because voting is all about using your voice. When we were canvassing, we would go knock on people’s doors and tell them about the election and who they could vote for. We went together and it was fun. We got to play, meet people, have snacks, and see new places. People were nice and wanted to talk to us. I want to go canvassing again because it was fun the last time we went and voting is important. People should vote because if you don’t use your voice people may not understand you or know how you feel about things. I’m happy I got to help. 

Helping People Learn About Voting with My Daughter by Jordan Lanfair (Supervised by his daughter Jameela Lanfair)

Getting to go to Virginia with Common Power was one of the best experiences of my life. It wasn’t just that we got to be a part of a vibrant community, or that we got to see how New Virginia Majority and other partners think about political strategy, it was that I got to show my daughter how showing up for people and elections matter.

Everyday, we’d wake up, have breakfast, and then engage in conversations with volunteers from all over before setting out to knock on doors. The kids became pros at hanging literature and using different doorbells and over the course of traveling it became clearer that we do this because the best way to change things is to meet each other.

We were also honored to meet amazing women that she could learn from and ask questions like Celestria, Victoria, Larcy, and Dr. Geary, and Dr. Scott of CP, as well as Tram Nguyen of New Virginia Majority. It’s one thing to tell her that she can be and do anything she sets her heart to, it's another for her to walk alongside people who are actually doing it. 

We’ll be heading to Wisconsin in the coming weeks to do the same and I continue to hope that we will see more families and parents out together. The best way I know to show my daughter what matters to me is by bringing her along and engaging her in the act. Every election she goes to vote with me, but these trips have been about how we help others engage in the process of using their voice and showing everyone what is most important to them. There are a lot of political issues that she is still asking me about and trying to wrap her mind around, but at the most basic level, we love getting to canvas because action is the gift we can give to our community. It’s a gift I’m proud to give to places with my favorite person ever and i hope we get to see you all out there as well.