This morning, watching dawn break over New Haven, I see the faces of the young people I’ve met these many weeks during election season.

In Philadelphia, college students struggling to walk the path of social justice in tough economic times, In Los Angeles, interfaith students figuring out how to answer their calling. In Washington, DC, Sikh Americans aching to serve their community in response to a rising tide of hate. And in my neighborhood in New Haven, young people of color coping with the sound of gunshots in the streets, and still making it to school each day.

For all these young people – their struggles, hopes, dreams – I say a prayer today for our democracy. I pray that the polls remain open for every person in line to vote, that the flood of corporate and special interest money this election has not polluted our ability to make reasoned choices, that people of color will not be intimidated or turned away from the polls, that provisional and absentee ballots will not be thrown out for the wrong reasons, that young people will be able to feel the power of casting their vote, that our democracy will hold as a democracy today, and that “America be America again – the land that never has been yet – and yet must be.” – Langston Hughes: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15609

When you head to the polls today, hold on to 866-OUR-VOTE for election protection: www.866ourvote.org