Arab and Muslim Americans, and about 60% of all Americans, have for months wanted US President Joe Biden to pressure Israel to accept an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza war. The White House largely ignored them.
Arab Americans and Muslim Americans have therefore decided to exercise their political power by exercising their right to vote in key battleground states in this year's presidential election. In December, local leaders from nine potential battleground states gathered in Dearborn, Michigan, under the slogan “Dump Biden, Cease Fire Now.” They believe that unless Mr. Biden changes the policies that enabled Israel's genocidal attack on Gaza, deprived Palestinians of decent living conditions, and largely ignored the opinions of important minority communities in the United States, He vowed not to vote for Biden at the polls.
The campaign quickly gained support in Michigan and other states with large Arab-American communities, but the campaign's pressure on the president inadvertently ensured Donald Trump's victory. There was also criticism from Biden supporters who were concerned that this would be the case.
Arab and Muslim Americans intensified their campaign in February, with degrading stories in mainstream media helping to mobilize even more community members.
On February 2nd, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) published an op-ed by Stephen Stalinsky entitled “Welcome to Dearborn, America's Jihad Capital,” which stated, “Michigan City Imams and Politicians Are Israeli “We sided with Hamas against Iran, and we sided with the United States against Iran.” ” The article denounced the entire community as dangerous extremists.
The same day, a New York Times op-ed by Thomas Friedman metaphorically compared Middle Eastern countries and political actors to jungle animals such as trapdoor spiders and wasps.
Whatever the purpose of these and other offensive articles and cartoons, they inadvertently encouraged Arab American involvement in high-stakes electoral politics. Dearborn, Michigan, the city named and vilified in the WSJ article, was ground zero for this effort.
The Michigan community is working to mobilize other marginalized communities nationwide that the White House has often ignored, especially African Americans, Hispanics, progressive Jews, workers, women, and college students. I held out. They joined forces because they share concerns not only about foreign policy but also about the White House's domestic priorities and opportunistic, self-interested public engagement.
Activists are demanding an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the implementation of current legal restrictions on unconditional aid and weapons that the United States has provided to Israel for decades. They are tired of being ignored by a White House that takes their votes for granted and by a Democratic Party that has supported them through voter registration efforts since the mid-1980s. They are also very frustrated with the mainstream, often racist media that misrepresents, degrades, and ignores them.
I asked Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud this week why his city joins forces with other disaffected American communities to influence national and foreign policy at the highest levels. He said: “This is all about trust and respect between authorities and the public. We must eliminate the contradictions we see today between elected officials and the values of the people. There is no justification or entitlement to justify such massive genocide and killing of infants and civilians. Absolutely not.”
In our conversation and in public statements, Mr. Hammoud detailed how U.S. foreign policy and media coverage directly impacts ordinary citizens.
“This is personal for us because some of our family members have lived through the Israeli occupation and war, and have volunteered in refugee camps,” he said. “When foreign policy decisions directly impact the well-being of Dearborn residents, it is irresponsible to back away from difficult policy discussions that could lead to saving the lives of innocent men, women, and children.”
Hammoud was clear about the community's demands: “We want action, not words.”
But so far, Arab Americans and Muslim Americans have mostly gotten the word. Concerned about the “Forsake Biden'' campaign, the president's campaign asked to meet with local leaders, but was refused. They insisted they want to talk to White House policymakers. And it worked.
Biden immediately dispatched several staffers to Michigan, including John Finer, his chief national security adviser. Tom Perez, Senior Advisor to the President and Director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs; Samantha Power, Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
However, once the meeting was over, nothing changed. The Arab American and Muslim American communities received even more positive words but no action.
So while Mr. Biden keeps arms and money flowing for Israel's attack on Gaza, regional leaders, including U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, have decided to raise the stakes. They have launched a “Hear Michigan Voices” campaign asking “people of conscience” to identify themselves as “uncommitted” in the presidential primary on Tuesday, February 27th. This is a signal to Biden and his party that they must listen to citizens' concerns, and if they don't win the votes, they risk losing state elections and the presidential election.
Community leaders and activists took this action because of the size and size of Arab-American and Muslim-American voters in swing states like Michigan, where elections are highly contested. Because it enjoys unprecedented influence from its distribution. Michigan is home to more than 300,000 Arab Americans. In 2016, Mr. Trump won the state by less than 11,000 votes, but in 2020, Mr. Biden won the state by a margin of 154,000 votes, including a large number of votes from Arab Americans. I won. Biden also won Arizona, home to 60,000 Arab Americans, by 10,500 votes, and Georgia, home to 57,000 Arab Americans, by 11,800 votes.
James Zogby, a veteran Arab American activist and co-founder and president of the Arab American Association, said this explosive action builds on 40 years of community capacity building across the United States. He said that he was suffering. The work captures the mindset of Arab Americans who are “moving from the paralysis and despair of the early 1980s to a sense of control over their destiny today.”
Other partners in the informal coalition seeking to change U.S. policy are also gaining influence. The large United Auto Workers union in Michigan called for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, remembering that it had also opposed apartheid in South Africa. The African Methodist Episcopal Church also called for an immediate ceasefire and called the attack on Gaza a “genocide.”
Progressive groups such as U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders' Our Revolution have also joined the “Hear Michigan” campaign.
Mayor Hammoud told me that coalitions of ethnic minority communities have always worked together towards a common goal at the local level. But he added, “We have never seen a paradigm shift on the Palestinian issue like we see today, where up to 80 percent of Democrats and 50 percent of young people support the ceasefire we are calling for.”
One Arab-American who has advised the White House in recent years also told me that the community's newfound political influence is “unexpected, unfamiliar, and unprecedented.”
That's certainly true, and Tuesday's Michigan primary will show just how much influence that can have, and how seriously the country's system of governance is based on the “consent of the governed.” It should reveal exactly whether recognizing American nationals in the U.S. can moderate U.S. war efforts abroad. .
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of Al Jazeera.
