Press Room

AAI in the News

Arab Americans Raise Political Profile

By James Q. Lynch
The Cedar Rapids Gazette
Posted on Saturday August 16, 2003

It hasn’t always been easy for Arab Americans to make their voices heard in Iowa, but they intend to be a force to be reckoned with in 2004.

“If the candidates don’t know who we are, they will,” said former Cedar Rapids school board member Linda Nassif, a Republican Catholic of Lebanese ancestry, Friday at the kick-off of Yalla Vote 2004, an effort by the Arab American Leadership Council to register voters and get its community fully engaged in the political process.

Loosely translated, Yalla means “let’s go,” according to Valerie Smith, the group’s Iowa organizer.

Richard Fawal, national political director for the Arab American Leadership Council, described Arab Americans’ involvement in the Iowa political scene as being a 4 on a 10-point scale.

“But we’re going to raise that one point for each of the next six months” by encouraging the participation of Arab Americans American-born and immigrant, Democrat and Republican, Christian and Muslim—in the political system.

In 2004, the goal is to meet with all the candidates to make them aware of the concerns the community has both on the issues where most Arab Americans agree, such as Middle East peace and civil liberties, as well as issues where there is more diversity of opinions, he said.

“We want to use our votes to elect candidates who will strengthen national security without weakening civil liberties,” said Laila Aossey of Cedar Rapids, a Muslim Democrat of Syrian descent.

The community’s priorities also include eliminating racial profiling and secret detention, limiting the use of information databases to monitor citizens and supporting community policing as the most effective tool in promoting security, Aossey said.

Fawal described the Arab American community as about 30,000 strong in Iowa. It’s “fairly evenly” divided among Muslims and Christians and Democrats and Republicans, he said.