Muslims Ready Themselves as a Voting force in the US

[Dreadsox]

[Q](AP) National Muslim leaders at their largest convention of the year announced plans to register 1 million Muslim voters and make civil rights a top issue in any endorsement of a presidential candidate.

Upset by government scrutiny of their community in the domestic hunt for terrorists, they are mobilizing to express their anger at the polls.

"A defining moment of Islam in America is approaching," said Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a civil rights group based in Washington. "We cannot surrender our future and our destiny to hate in this country."

Agha Saeed, head of the Muslim American Congress, led the crowd in a chant. "I am an American, I am a Muslim and I vote," he said, joined by thousands gathered for the Islamic Society of North America meeting, which ends Monday.

Muslim leaders made their first unified endorsement in a presidential race in 2000, backing George W. Bush. Many thought he would take a harder line against Israel, and, based on statements he made while campaigning, would protect the rights of immigrants facing deportation.

Muslims say they have been bitterly disappointed on both counts.

After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, President Bush won points with American Muslims by visiting a mosque and declaring Islam a peaceful religion.

But since then, the federal government has detained hundreds of immigrants, shut down U.S. Muslim charities suspected of terrorist ties and gained broad new powers to monitor citizens under the USA Patriot Act. [/Q]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/09/01/politics/main570969.shtml

 

[TylerDurden]

Are there certain elections in history known for breaking records in regards to how many people actually showed up to vote? I'd bet this next election will be one of them.

 

[verte76]

Considering the fact that barely half of U.S. citizens even bother to vote in elections I'm always happy to hear about people who are going to do their damnedest to get people out to vote. The politicians need to wake up and realize that yes, they have Moslem constituents who have certain rights like everyone else. I'm glad they are going to have voting campaigns in their communities. U.S. citizens should vote, dammit. I detest apathy.

 

[Scarletwine]

I think that is wonderful! All citizens should exorcise thier right to vote.
edited:

Whoops that was Freudian, I meant exercise (maybe Bush is an evil spirit or part of the axis of evil, lol).

 

[deep]

It is reasonable to conclude that without the American Muslim vote in 2000 Bush would not be in the Whitehouse.


If we are lucky, maybe they will be the difference this time too.

and save the republic for hard working, god-fearing decent folk.

 

[verte76]

Well, gosh, from the Moslems I know it's no sure thing that Bush is going to get their support. I know at least one who is supporting Kucinich. He was very anti-war and likes Kucinich's position on Arab issues.

 

[nbcrusader]

I'm not sure any of us are in a position to say how a Muslim would vote

 

[verte76]

I'm not sure any of us are in a position to say how a Muslim would vote

Oh, we're definitely not. I know another Moslem at Auburn University who's campaigning for General Clark. His parents came here from Jordan. I know some who like Bush because they are conservative socially.

 

[megadrum2002]

oh my gosh all the muslims are voting for the rest of the their muslims at home.. hence all the muslims are going to vote the candidate that will stop war and stop all their efforts in killing all the humas members.

 

[nbcrusader]

I'm not sure this is entirely true. There were many Muslims who supported the war with Iraq and disavow the vile actions of Hamas.

 

[verte76]

I found this on an Islamic site.

CHICAGO, September 2 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Leaders of the U.S. Muslim community intend to deliver a bloc vote in next year's presidential elections, one that will go against the candidate they endorsed last time - President George W. Bush.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the American Muslim Council, the American Muslim Alliance, and the Muslim Public Affairs Council agreed this weekend to cooperate on a voter registration drive that they hope will send one million Muslims to say "No" to Bush's 2004 re-election bid.

Representatives of the four leading U.S. Muslim advocacy groups have begun voter registration drives at mosques and Islamic centers across the nation in hopes of ensuring a strong turnout in the 2004 presidential elections.

The message is to reflect widespread "dissatisfaction" in the Muslim American community with the Bush administration's treatment of Arab and Muslim Americans since the September 11 attacks, Nihad Awad, CAIR Executive Director was quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP) as saying.

"Feelings are running strongly against Bush in the community ? We feel that civil liberties have deteriorated in this country," he stressed.

Among the policies that have alienated Muslims are those allowing racial profiling of Arab and Muslim men, the use of secret evidence in cases said to touch on national security, and the detention and deportation of many Arab and Muslim nationals without the right to legal representation.

Further to their outrage, Bush appointed in August Daniel Pipes, an outspoken anti-Muslim scholar, to the board of the government-funded U.S. Institute of Peace.

"Such an appointment, along with other actions helping discrimination against Muslim and Arab Americans could lead Bush to lose that support base in the coming presidential elections," Laila Al-Qatami of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) told ISlamOnline.net.

She warned that unlike the 2000 elections in which Arabs and Muslim Americans voted overwhelmingly for Bush, things could not stand a repeat in the 2004 presidential elections.

"Bush should realize that such rising racism and bigotry against Arab and Muslims here would have ramifications for him."

Better Job

Awad declined to say the Democratic candidate, if any, the Muslims coalition would endorse.

"We will try to do a better job than we did in 2000," he said, asserting that "no decision has been made."

"Muslims are eager to vote in defense of their liberties and in defense of their future," said Awad, who heads up the best-known of the four groups.

"We want equal respect and equal treatment under the law."

Community leaders say a rash of hate attacks on Muslims and Arabs and verbal assaults on Islam by leading evangelical preachers have increased the community's sense of isolation.

"The (9/11) hijack attacks gave a big push for those launching campaigns against Islam and Muslims in America, as people accept attacks against Islam more," Ibrahim Hooper of CAIR told IOL.

The CAIR had said in a report released on July 15, that anti-Muslim violence, harassment and discrimination have surged by 15 percent in the U.S. over the past year in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

Another report by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released last year found that anti-Islamic hate crimes also increased by 1,600 percent in the U.S. last year.

 

[nbcrusader]

Interesting. I wonder what this group could do if they mobilized against the extremists in their own community?

 

[BVS]

Interesting. I wonder what this group could do if they mobilized against the extremists in their own community?

Well I think voting and going up against extremists with guns and bombs are a little different.

 

[nbcrusader]

The pen is mightier than the sword. It is all about the voice.

Besides, my guess is that extremists develop over time, they are not born with a gun or bomb in hand.

 

[verte76]

Every group on the planet has extremists. Believe me, I hear *alot* of complaints from Moslems about terrorists. They do not like people who use violence and complain that the terrorists are "hijacking" their religion. They were very angry and upset about 9/11. Some of them are still depressed big time about the attack. It absolutely kills them that other Moslems or other Arabs could do such a thing. It's a big time emotional burden for many Moslems both in the U.S. and the ones in the old countries. I don't think they quite know what to do about the extremists, but I can tell you they do not like them anymore than I like the Ku Klux Klan. They think people like bin Laden are complete scum. Of course they are right. They are liking the Democrats this time, generally speaking. Some like Kucinich's position on Arab issues. Some of them like Clark. While they can be quite conservative on particular issues they are *leaning* towards the Democrats right now. It's fallout from the emotional trauma of 9/11.

 

[BVS]

The pen is mightier than the sword. It is all about the voice.

Besides, my guess is that extremists develop over time, they are not born with a gun or bomb in hand.

True the pen can be mightier than the sword. But there will always be extremists. These are people that don't deal by logic, as long as there is hate and ignorance in the world we'll have these extremists.