Nilay Tuncok reflects on her internship with OBV

After your time here, we are not asking, but demanding that you succeed and hope that you will continue to care about issues of social and racial justice,”

Simon Woolley urged on my last day interning at Operation Black Vote. These words from the director reflect the endless support the members of the organisation provide and their dedication to raising awareness on Black Minority Ethnic (BME) issues.

Over the past two months, I’ve had the privilege of interning for this remarkable organisation. It is dedicated to increasing racial justice and minority involvement in politics in the UK through the events it hosts, shadowing schemes it arranges and voter registration campaigns it leads. OBV is able to engage the BME communities in politics and guide them in becoming civic leaders, either as magistrates, councillors, community activists or even MPs.

As an intern, I attended various events pertaining to the BME community and wrote articles on current events and civil rights issues. The political events at the Houses of Parliament were memorable because they helped me understand the shared concerns of legislators and ordinary citizens and discuss how to best resolve the issues. In addition, I am grateful to have met the Guardian journalist Gary Younge and civil rights leader Jesse Jackson and hear their inspirational speeches on continuing to fight for justice.

I appreciate how much the members of OBV trusted me to independently handle projects. Since it is a small team, everyone is reliant on each other. This increased the responsibility and pressure, but challenged me to be creative and learn quickly. The staff welcoming my ideas suggested how much they value everyone’s contribution and are willing to listen.

Although I came from the United States and was new to the environment, I am thankful for everyone being so warm and welcoming from the first day; their friendliness allowed me to adapt quickly and be comfortable. The staff work tirelessly in helping achieve their objectives and always maintain a positive, enthusiastic attitude. The goals of OBV and other non-profits cannot be attained overnight; interning has taught me that perseverance and dedication are vital to forming an effective organisation.

Like the US, the UK is a multicultural country. However, this diversity is not always reflected in the elected officials of the countries. This experience exposed me to the importance of addressing this deficit of BME representatives in Parliament and how non-profit organisations, like OBV, can be the driving forces in making significant changes. Writing articles on a variety of topics allowed me to investigate local issues and discover the different ways people participate in local politics and strive to build better communities. Speaking to many activists reiterated my passion to report on and raise awareness on civil and human rights issues.

Through frequent conversations with past graduates of the programmes, it is clear how much OBV has created opportunities in their lives; they appreciate its guidance in their path to becoming civic leaders. I am thankful to have interned for such a meaningful organisation and to be mentored by people who are so dedicated to working towards better representation for minorities.

Nilay Tuncok

Picture: Nilay Tuncok, Rev Jesse Jackson and OBV intern Mohamed Ali