Michelle Obama will be sitting with a few special guests at President Obama’s State of the Union Address tonight.
One of them, a Florida centenarian made two determined trips and waited several hours to vote for President Obama last fall. Desiline Victor of Miami, Florida, has now been invited to sit with first lady Michelle Obama during Tuesday’s State of the Union Address. The 102-year-old’s resolve became a symbol of determination.
When Victor made her way to Northern Florida to cast her vote for US President in 2012, she didn’t know she would be going all the way to the White House.
According to the Huffington Post , Desiline Victor called the invitation to sit with the first lady “a beautiful thing.”
The Haitian immigrant added through a translator because Victor speaks only Haitian Creole:
“I’m very happy, very proud.”
The translator is Mathieu Pierre Louis, whom Victor raised as her own. According to the Washington Post , she came to the United States in the late 80’s and became a naturalized citizen in 2005.
Judith Browne Dianis, co-director of the Advancement Project civil rights group, said:
“She’s the American voter story of 2012. She had the tenacity and the commitment to stay in line, but we know there were tens of thousands of others who didn’t get to vote.”
President Obama is expected to touch on voting rights issues in his State of the Union Address . He did so previously on election night and his inaugural address:
“Our journey is not complete until no citizen is forced to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote.”
Others invited to sit with Michelle Obama for the State of the Union Address include Hadiya Pendleton’s parents, Haile Thomas, Alan Aleman, Mayor Marie Lopez Rogers, and Sergeant Carlos Evans.
Beautiful story: 102-yr-old Desiline Victor will be guest of First Lady at SOTU – waited in line for 3 hours to vote washingtonpost.com/politics/state…
— TheObamaDiary.com (@TheObamaDiary) February 12, 2013
