Editor’s note: Steve S. Rao is a Council Member and Former Mayor Pro Tem for the Town of Morrisville and served as a Board Member for the New American Economy, now the American Immigration Council. He also serves on the NC League of Municipalities Race and Equity Task Force. Steve is a regular contributor to WRAL TechWire.
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CARRBORO – As a 9-year-old boy, Eliazar Posada woke up at 4:30am every morning to help his mother prepare food. Eliazar was too young to use a knife, so he’d scrub potatoes and crack eggs while his mother made burritos that she’d sell before heading off to an office job. After school, Eliazar’s mom would pick him up then drive 40 minutes to a restaurant where he’d wait quietly while she worked a third job cooking and waiting tables.
This week, aged just 29, Eliazar was elected to serve on Carrboro Town Council; next month, when he’s sworn in, he’ll become the first openly gay Latino official in North Carolina.
Eliazar’s success story — not just his election victory, but his broader journey from poverty to opportunity — warms my heart, because it speaks volumes about the power of the American Dream. I myself was the first Asian-American to win election in North Carolina, and I know how important it is to celebrate these breakthroughs, and remember that even in times of struggle and division, our state is a place where people from all backgrounds can overcome adversity and rise into positions of service and leadership.
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Facing and overcoming challenges
Certainly, Eliazar has faced challenges over the years. His parents, migrant farmworkers from Mexico, had him while working on a Florida vegetable farm. When he was in 4th grade, he came home from school one day to find all his belongings outside in the dirt. His parents had split up, and his father had sold their mobile home out from under them, leaving his mom to work three jobs to support the family.
“I learned the real meaning of a dollar bill from an early age,” Eliazar says. “I saw my mom working, and I knew everything we had was because of her sacrifices.”
That inspired Eliazar to study hard and strive for a better future. He came to North Carolina to study at Campbell University, a historically Baptist institution, where he fought to win acceptance as an LGBTQ man. He wound up winning over student and faculty leaders to create the college’s first LGBTQ student union, working within the system to give young people an important support network.
Eliazar had once planned to become a lawyer, but after graduating he volunteered with El Centro Hispano, and realized that helping others was his true calling. He rose to become the charity’s youngest-ever CEO, and spent the pandemic helping low-income North Carolinians to get vaccinated, access public services, and cope with financial challenges.
Validation of U.S. ideals
Now, Eliazar wants to use his position on the Carrboro Town Council to make his community more welcoming and supportive for people from all backgrounds. “Since running for council, so many people have shared their stories with me,” he says. “Low-income residents and people of color know they can reach out, and that I’ll understand where they’re coming from.”
It shouldn’t surprise us that Eliazar wants to make Carrboro’s government more inclusive. The reality is that our communities are growing ever more diverse, and it’s by bringing people into the democratic process, rather than shutting them out, that we can affirm our shared sense of what it means to be American.
Here in North Carolina, according to the American Immigration Council, there are now one-third of a million immigrants who have earned the right to vote, including over 93,000 just in the Raleigh-Durham area. Every one of those immigrants has made the choice to embrace American citizenship and make the ultimate commitment to our nation, and that’s an enormous validation of everything our country stands for.
It’s also a sign of our strength that American politics is full of people like Eliazar. In Congress, at least 14% of lawmakers are immigrants or children of immigrants. (That includes Rep. G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina’s first district, whose father immigrated from Bermuda.)
Today, immigrants and their children serve all across our government, from Cuban-born DHS chief Alejandro Mayorkas to Vice President Kamala Harris, whose parents came from Jamaica and India.
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My story
My own story is much the same. My parents came from India in search of a better life, and my father secured our future by working as a doctor in rural hospitals. Like Eliazar, I grew up knowing how lucky I was to be American, and determined to give something back. Like Eliazar, I was inspired to seek public office, serving as councilmember and Mayor Pro Tem of Morrisville.
I am also inspired by the great work of my colleague Satish Garimella, an immigrant from Mumbai, whose intellect and strategic mind have made him a very effective member of our Council, along with Charlotte Council Member, Dimple Ajmera, an immigrant from India, who is leaving her mark on Charlotte, and just won a third term on Charlotte City Council! Finally, there is Cary Council Member Ya Liu, now on her way to becoming the first Asian American woman to serve in the North Carolina General Assembly.
Stories like ours are reminders that our nation’s true greatness lies in creating opportunities for people from all backgrounds to achieve their God-given potential. Families like mine and Eliazar’s might originally have come from faraway places, but we all share the same core values and belief in the American project. Every success story like Eliazar’s, and every barrier that gets broken down along the way, is an affirmation of those values — and of the enduring power of the American Dream.
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