News Americas, WASHINGTON, D.C., Weds. Feb. 13, 2013: Few people are lucky enough to get a Presidential spotlight cast on them and on Tuesday night, during his State of the Union, President Obama took time out to pay tribute to a lucky few, including a 102-year-old Caribbean migrant.
Desiline Victor, a Haitian migrant, took the spotlight as many strained to see her sitting in the audience after President Obama told the world of her three hour wait in line to vote last November.
Victor, a former farm worker who only became a U.S. citizen in 2005 and cast her first vote in the 2008 Presidential election, waited for hours to cast her ballot on Oct. 28 at a public library in Miami-Dade county for the 2012 Presidential election.
“I’m very happy, very proud,” she said of her moment in the spotlight.
On Tuesday night, the President said the country should follow the example of this Caribbean immigrant turned naturalized U.S. citizen and voter.
“We should follow the example of a North Miami woman named Desiline Victor,” said the President. “When she arrived at her polling place, she was told the wait to vote might be six hours. And as time ticked by, her concern was not with her tired body or aching feet, but whether folks like her would get to have their say. Hour after hour, a throng of people stayed in line in support of her. Because Desiline is 102 years old. And they erupted in cheers when she finally put on a sticker that read, ‘I Voted.’”
