MI: Obama Campaign Taps New Arab Outreach Director
A few weeks after Barack Obama’s first Arab-American outreach person resigned amid controversy over past connections to an imam, the campaign has tapped attorney Rashida Tlaib to be its outreach director in Michigan, where Tlaib just won a state primary, the Forward has learned. Ben LaBolt, an Obama campaign spokesman, confirmed the appointment for a […]
Is Fear of Muslims a Cover for Racism?
It made me think of my own family. Having coined “O’Bama” for the Irish working-class values that Joe Biden brings to the Democratic ticket, MSNBC motormouth Chris Matthews called his family in Pennsylvania — where Scranton-born Biden is known as the state’s “third senator” in some quarters — to ask whether now they’d be voting […]
The First Ever Muslim Democratic Caucus Meeting
The last seven years have been strange ones for American Muslims in politics. That much was evident at this morning’s first ever Muslim Democratic Caucus meeting. Aftab Siddiqui, a member of the Texas Democratic Muslim Caucus, walked me through the recent history. Prior to 2000, Muslims hadn’t been, as a group, particularly active in national […]
OH: Islamic School Plans for Expansion
Sunrise Academy, the private K-8 Islamic school located in Hilliard, is filled to capacity this school year and looking to expand. “We are in the process of looking for two buildings: one for a high school and one to purchase on the East Side to start an elementary over there,” said Director Leah Mohiuddin. “That […]
Muslim Outreach Proves a Tricky Issue for Obama Campaign
Inayal Lalani, an activist with the American Muslim Democratic Caucus, didn’t wait for the question to be raised. He volunteered that, despite some rumors, Barack Obama’s campaign was not “shunning” the Muslim community. The same point was made repeatedly at the caucus’ Democratic National Convention luncheon in Denver on Monday by Reps. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., […]
Book: What It’s Like to be America’s New ‘Problem’
The question posed by W.E.B. DuBois in his classic “The Souls of Black Folk” cut to the marrow of what it was like to be black under Jim Crow. Now, more than a century after DuBois penned his query, Moustafa Bayoumi thinks it is appropriate to ask it again. The associate professor of English at […]
Video: CAIR-NY Encourages Muslim Voters
An Islamic group is trying to encourage Queens Muslims to go to the polls in November.The New York chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations hosted a voter drive in Jamaica Friday.The group says it has been speaking at mosques and community centers around the city and hosting candidate forums to tell people why […]
Video: CAIR-OH Organizes Voter Registration Drives
This November’s election promises to have the most participation ever, and local Muslims are doing their part to get voters registered.In Clifton this Friday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) was handing out information to encourage people to register.“I think it is an election year when the Muslim community really is beginning to understand the […]
CA: Muslims Work Around Prejudice in Politics
Shahed Amanullah registered the domain name for MuslimsForObama.com more than a year ago. But he has waited to develop it as he saw Muslim identity being smeared, his belief system used for political attack. Some prominent preachers, pundits and others involved in the election, particularly Republican supporters of Sen. John McCain, have declared Islam “an […]
So What if Obama Were Muslim? (Newsweek)
Once Barack Obama emerged as the Democratic candidate, it was clear the presidential contest would become a referendum on race. It was not, however, supposed to be a journey into the terrain of religious fears and prejudice. But because many Americans think Obama is not what he actually is, it has become that. Beneath the […]