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Remziya Suleyman
For the last few weeks, we’ve been bringing you stories recorded in Middle Tennessee, during StoryCorps’ recent visit to Nashville. Today, we close out the series with the story of Remziya Sulyeman. She cast her first vote in America, in 2005. But it wasn’t on a US ballot.
Sulyeman is one of the large number Kurds living in Nashville, who took part in the first Iraqi elections after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Thousands stood in line for hours at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds, to dip their index finger in purple ink and cast a ballot. Kurds had been persecuted under Saddam Hussein’s regime. Sulyeman says many had never voted before, including her.
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