The Intercept: Bernie Sanders Won America's Largest Arab Community By Being Open to Them

[Mufaddal]

“Believing in something unpopular and fighting for those things is true courage and bravery. I feel personally connected to his message of humanism and peace,” Mason Hinawi, a high school student and first-time Dearborn Heights voter, told The Intercept about his support for Sanders. “I know a lot of Muslim people my age also taken by his message of peace and his welcoming tone.”

“His whole campaign and his whole demeanor and his whole sort of discourse fits much more into the Arab American community and our discourse,” said Amer Zahr, who lives in Dearborn and teaches at the University of Detroit. Zahr met with Sanders at a private event last week.

For Asha Mohamood Noor, a Muslim American voter registration activist who lives in the Dearborn area, Sanders’s Jewish background was a plus. “I think that one really key element of that is that Bernie often discusses, often talks about, the oppression faced by the Jewish people in Europe,” she said in an interview. “Definitely, I think it appeals to [Muslim American] emotions because they’re feeling a lot of backlash in America and around the world, and he often draws a parallel between the Jewish struggle and the Arab and Muslim struggle in a way that is very genuine and very true.”

She also pointed to Sanders ultimately gaining ground in the community for the same reasons he is attracting support from many others. “I know people want to run with the narrative of Arabs and Muslims voting for a Jew, but I think it all boils down to socioeconomic status, unions, fair wages, labor reform….his religion almost never came up [among voters], it was his vision for restoring a middle class, and uplifting folks out of poverty.”

Full article: https://theintercept.com/2016/03/09/bernie-sanders-won-americas-largest-arab-community-by-being-open-to-them/

[Cheese Sandwich]

1. That video gets me every time

[Mufaddal]

3. They actually have additional interview footage with her (Remaz Abdelgader)

[myrna minx]

6. Those young women are inspiring!

Thanks for posting.

[MisterP]

2. as opposed to "I'm so glad so many of you turned out to vote for me here today"

[democrank]

4. The beautiful, uplifting videos here make me think....

What if? What if?


Bless Bernie Sanders and his message of standing together.

[Uncle Joe]

5. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Mufaddal.