Muslims, Obama, And The Perils of Victory Ahead
Thoughts on a well-reported piece about the Obama campaign's apparent Islamophobia. The piece resonates with a number of things I've been writing about, right up through yesterday.
I was writing about communities of color expecting a certain kind of "change" in Obama's message, that is, a greater push for racial justice.
Here's Minha Husaini, an Muslim American in her 30s now working in the Obama campaign:
"He gives me hope," Ms. Husaini said in an interview last month, shortly before she joined the campaign on a fellowship. But she sighed when the conversation turned to his denials of being Muslim, "as if it's something bad," she said.
In fact, the article reports, the campaign is even stricter about regulating Obama's appearances -- and even the appearance of subordinates -- at Muslim American events, culminating in last week's resitting of two young women wearing hijabs. Obama himself called the young women to apologize.
Truth be told, for many Muslim American activists and other grassroots progressives, the Obama campaign can be, at best, a big buzzkill machine and, at worst, a wheel-shattering brake on "change" and "hope."
Throughout the primaries, Muslim groups often failed to persuade Mr. Obama's campaign to at least send a surrogate to speak to voters at their events, said Ms. Ghori, of the Muslim Public Affairs Council.Before the Virginia primary in February, some of the nation's leading Muslim organizations nearly canceled an event at a mosque in Sterling because they could not arrange for representatives from any of the major presidential campaigns to attend. At the last minute, they succeeded in wooing surrogates from the Clinton and Obama campaigns by telling each that the other was planning to attend, Mr. Bray said.
The most frustrated surrogate of all is Minnesota Democrat Keith Ellison, the nation's first Muslim congressman, who has seen efforts to bring the Muslim communities in greater contact with Obama stopped dead by the campaign.
It's hard not to notice that this is where the "change" message gets run over by the still largely white mainstream Democratic party operatives who control Obama's campaign. Again, to all those who want to complain about allegedly coalition-fragmenting "identity politics", here are the real identity politics at work.
Muslims, like other communities of color, confront this problem: Do you trust the candidate to do right once elected or do you accede to the reality of the campaign and sit it out?
Which leads to the second thread I've been talking about: the fact of formerly marginalized communities becoming (re)energized in the electoral process over the last 8 years -- whether the young, women, communities of color, or non-Christians.
These minorities are facing the difficulty of moving their vote from emergent to insurgent, from one that can get ignored or vaguely patronized to one that can make things happen.
Here's the article again on the Muslim American vote:
American Muslims have experienced a political awakening in the years since Sept. 11, 2001. Before the attacks, Muslim political leadership in the United States was dominated by well-heeled South Asian and Arab immigrants, whose communities account for a majority of the nation's Muslims. (Another 20 percent are estimated to be African-American.) The number of American Muslims remains in dispute as the Census Bureau does not collect data on religious orientation; most estimates range from 2.35 million to 6 million.A coalition of immigrant Muslim groups endorsed George W. Bush in his 2000 campaign, only to find themselves ignored by Bush administration officials as their communities were rocked by the carrying out of the USA Patriot Act, the detention and deportation of Muslim immigrants and other security measures after Sept. 11.
As a result, Muslim organizations began mobilizing supporters across the country to register to vote and run for local offices, and political action committees started tracking registered Muslim voters. The character of Muslim political organizations also began to change.
"We moved away from political leadership primarily by doctors, lawyers and elite professionals to real savvy grass-roots operatives," said Mahdi Bray, executive director of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation, a political group in Washington. "We went back to the base."
In 2006, the Virginia Muslim Political Action Committee arranged for 53 Muslim cabdrivers to skip their shifts at Dulles International Airport in Northern Virginia to transport voters to the polls for the midterm election. Of an estimated 60,000 registered Muslim voters in the state, 86 percent turned out and voted overwhelmingly for Jim Webb, a Democrat running for the Senate who subsequently won the election, according to data collected by the committee.
By itself, these kinds of elections are transformative. They will help build lines of access to change for the communities. No one who is serious about gaining power can ignore the electoral process.
But what happens when groups turn out, get their candidate elected, but still can't influence the process?
If Obama wins, this is a problem Muslim Americans, communities of color, and all those minorities who took the mantra of "hope" and "change" to heart may find themselves in by the middle of 2009.
That's about when the new majority that the Democrats didn't really want and certainly didn't know how to create starts making its claims.
Originally published at Vibe.com
Follow Jeff Chang on Twitter: www.twitter.com/zentronix
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Obama is in the same boat as moderate Muslims. He has already been smeared as a secret Muslim terrorist. Surely you must know what that is like? So, however much sympathy he may have with you, he can only go so far in your direction. He must walk the razor’s edge.
As much as I am inspired by Obama’s message, I worry about how his story will play out. Hope is one thing and the projections of millions of disillusioned people is another. Obama has stirred the imagination of so many people with so many dreams, that it will be impossible for him to satisfy everyone.
RI, You're almost saying what I want to say. Mr Chang, how long did it take for America's sovereignty, economic strength and prestige in the world to be destroyed by the neo-con, conservative, right-wing and radical forces from within? 30 years! I'd like to take each one of you folks who are treating the Obama movement as if it were a Ben Stiller/Vince Vaugn flick and teach you a little history. Howard Dean said it might take progressives ten years to regain a seat at the table and that was back in 2004. We've come very far in our progress. Band together, trust your instincts about Obama and fight like crazy to get him elected...and for God's sake, stop whining. We are well on the way to a better America where everyone's rights can be restored. And BTW, this isn't a video game..things don't "play out" in real life and especially not in politics otherwise you'd have never seen Richard Nixon emerge as president in 1968. I hate cliches.
TO ADD TO ALL YOU BLOGGERS WHO ARE SCREAMING "WHY AREN"T THE MUSLIMS SPEAKING OUT/CONFRONTING THIS OR THAT ISSUE.
What I have to give you is this case in point. In August of 2006, over 50,000 American Muslims drove, flew, bussed from all over this great nation to march on Washington for PEACE. 50,000 people.
Not one American news agency was there. Not CNN, ABC, NBC, MSNBC, CBS, NYT, Washington Post - NO BODY except for C-Span and the news media from around the world were there. Press kits were sent to every major news outlet in this county - they responded with dead silence.
At best it was disheartening. You don't believe me?? Read this incident - it JUST happened last month.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/evan-derkacz/swiftboating-obama-renown_b_104415.html
Muslim scholars, activists, clergy have made every attempt for 8 YEARS to get ANYONE to listen but we are SHUT DOWN AND SHUT OUT. Because if we ever did make it on the air it would blow a huge hole in the Bush plan of keeping people ignorant and afraid. The MSM also did not want the possibility of being told they were siding with the terrorists.
WHAT DID ANY OF YOU DO WHEN OUR COUNTRY AND CIVIL LIBERTIES WERE BEING TAKEN OVER BY THESE CRIMINALS?? Yet, somehow you think that MUSLIM voices would be heard - thousands tried to no avail. Look at me trying here - to no avail.
all voices will be heard. all votes counted.
Muslims are even makin peace music...who knew?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMf9oBpvI0o
You make a very valid point, but let me ask you this:
Take the 50k Muslims you noted, and add 50k of supportive liberals to the number, and try the same march again; what real difference do you think it would make?
Do you believe the MSM would have paid more attention to the event? If the MSM had covered the hypothetical event, do you think Muslims would be in a better position for their efforts? Do you think such could have offered up an opportunity for the far right to make things worse?
We have a problem at the most fundamental level, and it has no chance of changing until we have new leadership in DC. That's a sad notion, but I believe it to be true.
Don't give us that crap. Don't blame us for what happened. It wasn't Evangelical Christians, Baptists, Hindu's, Orthodox Jews, Coptic Christians or Buddists who were piloting those planes on 9/11.
None of those people are running of to Crusade. I've yet to hear of anyone else blowing themselves up. Haven't seen a Christian, Jew, or Hindu blow himself up. Haven't seen any of them blowing up Mosques.
When you see that or hear about that please let me know. Because as far as I'm concerned this is strictly a problem Islam has with the rest of the world...maybe somewhere in the Koran it has a passage that says to get along with your neigbors instead of trying to kill or convert them...
You are a perfect example of a low-information, unfoundedly biased voter.
This is hate speech. It scares me to see that fear mongering talking points from '01 are still being spewed.
And for the record, kindly look up the death toll in Iraq (and feel free to add the apparently less worthy Iraqi lives to the tally) and tell me that Bush's 'crusade' had nothing to do with the fact that 'God chose him as President'. By the way, didn't he get strong support for the war AND get re-elected largely due to the BIBLE belt?! (gasp)
The idea is NOT to point fingers. Attack the problem, not the people. And for once, ask why this is.
Maybe they'd be happier with McBush, who wants to keep Guan-torture-more bay open, deny habeas corpus to those incarcerated there, and continue to torture them.
Very misguided article. Obama is not a Muslim. Obama is the best thing ANYBODY with civil rights issues has to cling on to. In other words, he is the best thing Muslim Americans have going right now. Obama is NOT anti-muslim. Get over yourself.
EXCUSE ME?! Being ANTI-Muslim is not a privilege in the land of the free, it is a prerequisite! It seems even the best have been brainwashed by the MSM's McCarthyism and Neo-Con Agenda. Just because Obama is not Muslim doesn't mean he does not have a responsibility to give equal attention to the Muslim electorate.
Muslims have endured character assassination since Sept 11 and if anyone needs Hope and Change, it's them. We are not lucky or fortunate to have a candidate like Obama, it is simply 'our time'. He is brimming with potential, and must be held to a high standard accordingly.
Honestly, I think you might be right. The problem is that we don't live in never never land we live in the real world and in the real world being called a muslim as you run for nation office is a game ender. Grow up a little and realize that for every Muslim vote Obama courts he loses 20 white votes. Now fifty years from now that might not mean the same thing it means now but in 2008, if Obama heads into a Mosque he's going to lose millions of votes.
J
Can't see the forest for the trees can ya.
This type of self-indulgent righteous spectacle is the kind of pressure that Obama does not need right now. And considering that he will without a doubt represent your issues like none other, how about cutting him some slack, and shutting the pie hole.
Muslim Americans have got to be politically savvy, or they'll end up acting suicidally by helping to elect McCain. For years, "idealistic" gays did all they could to help their bitterest enemies, the Republicans and Evangelicals, win the White House, year after year. That was just political stupidity on the part of the gays. Let's not have the Muslims shoot themselves in the foot the same way by electing Republicans. Give Obama a break, will you? Of course he is the most tolerant candidate for president we've ever had, and will be the most helpful to the Muslim community, too. But don't do all you can to naively defeat him by helping his enemies smear him with the crazy label of "Muslim" and unAmerican.
All you Muslims, listen!! Obama is the best there is for you guys. Do you want McCain, instead? Don't whine. All Hamas said was they support his presidential run and immediately got flaks from the Republicans. Even Castro is smart enough to not say anything. You must understand there are a third of Americans who are associating Muslims with terrorists. This bunch is so stupid it makes one cried. Obama needs to win and it is between you(Muslims) and the uneducated whites. And seeing that the uneducated is a larger voting block, you need to be understanding and take a step back. Don't give him a hard time, ok?!
Obama has been accused of being a "dangerous covert Muslim" as well as dangerous because he's NOT a Muslim.
It's pathetic, but he is damned if he does, and damned if he doesn't...on nearly ever topic.
You would think these Muslims who I believe sincerely need a champion would get this.
I think they're just sick of being told they should only expect the lowest common denominator in rights and freedoms.
The choice doesn't have to be between being a Muslim and being Anti-Muslim...whatever happened to being respectful?
Or does the fact that this nation always needs an enemy to win an election mean that Muslims should just take the hate for just a little while longer...you know, until he wins and it's all gravy. I sincerely hope so.
Amen.
It's because in attempting to win as opposed to making a stand against injustice they need to pander to the now significantly large population of ignoramuses who believe a third of the world is wholeheartedly dedicated to the destruction of everything they stand for.
Not even when the phantom enemy is not intimately directed at themselves are the Democrats able to fight back the lies and spin. What is wrong with them?
The problem with communities of color is that they don't stand up and yell loud enough to be heard. We have to get out and vote. BUT, we can't just vote and then expect the president or other politicians to come knocking at our doors asking us what we want. We have to be proactive and go get what our communities need.
In addition, these communities of color need to stand TOGETHER and fight. It boggled my mind when I heard that Hispanics may not vote for a Black person when both groups have been ill-treated (an understatement) in this country.
"Communities of color"
Patronize much?
not at all I think it is a great phrase
You might not like the phrase-but the poster is absolutely right-divide and conquer has worked as a political strategy for as long as I can remember. And we should be vocal about what we want. The squeaky wheel gets the oil.
america makes a huge blunder when it calls muslims islamic facists. no one called hitler a christian nazi, no one i know called stalin a christian communist or mussalini a christian fascist.. i believe 16 of the terrorists were saudis and should be described as such. did any one attack the religion of timothy mcveigh ? the answer is no and they shouldn't. until george bush we were a great, compassionate nation. with help from the media, we have become anti muslim, anti mexican, anti black and if your right of center, anti every thing non europian. the fact that obama needs to constantly assure voters he is not muslim is personally embarassing to witness. i thought our country was beyond gentlemens agreement, come see the paradise and having our say, three sad parts of our history..we have become so hateful many americans deeply resent any kind of reparations to our native americans and i sadly say some of that resentment comes from my own family who like most americans are immigrants.
Finally...someone who gets it.
Interesting... but America didn't just become anti anything... ask the Japanese-Americans in wwii, the us put them in "detention" centers, I call them concentration camps. America hasn't been a warm an fuzzy place for people of color... ever. But there has been a shift, and there has been a growth that has taken over the younger generations. There is a reason the divide between hillary and obama was about 45. It is the shift from baby boom (segregation babies) to generation X grew up watching NBA basketball, and black quarterbacks, and listening to rap music and watching MTV and the Cosby show. What I'm saying is that this age group views race differently, and the younger generation the y2k's have even more progressive racial belief systems. Enough of the boomers will vote dem to make this a landslide if the dems are careful. We have a chance to change the world lets not screw it up.
J
Only if the adolescents show up to vote. What is clear is that the over-45 crowd always will. From generation to generation this has played out. Gen-xers over time will join the ranks of the pragamatists as they age and will vote,largely, their own middle-class self-interests. Youthful naivete creates romantic if ill-informed zeal and fatally flawed candidates who believe in their own adoring press and feel they can get away with anything. . . Such misguided romantic breathlessness gave us McGovern, Anderson, Dean, McCarthy to name a few. Let's hold hands here and sing: "Kumbaya and Gary Hart may be cool but just ain't smart" You want to change the world? Start by holding hypocrite Obama's feet to the fire on promises already broken on FISA, NAFTA, Israel, Campaign Finance. You give him a pass on these and you send a signal that winning at all cost continues trumps the truth. "Change" my tuchas!!
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