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Arab Americans Delegates Represent Community Concerns at DNC Convention

Posted on Thursday July 22, 2004

Washington- Forty-three delegates from twenty-five states will gather in Boston July 26-29 to represent their home states and the Arab American community at the DNC Convention. A recent poll of Arab American voters in the battleground states of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida reveals that while issues which concern all Americans (economy, health care, education) top the list for Arab Americans, foreign policy and civil liberties concerns rank significantly high as well. When asked to rank issues as “very important” in determining their vote, respondents included the following issues: terrorism/national security (82%), foreign policy (74%), Iraq (73%), Israel-Palestine (72%), and the Patriot Act/ civil liberties (61%).

To debate these important issues, the Arab American Institute (AAI) and American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) will host “Reclaiming America: Liberty and Global Responsibility.” The panel includes Senate Judiciary Committee Member Senator Dick Durbin, ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee Congressman John Conyers, Ambassador Joe Wilson, African American Leadership Institute Director Dr. Ron Walters, Bob Borosage of the Campaign for America’s Future and pollster John Zogby of Zogby International (ZI).

Arab American delegates range from Democratic Party leaders to grassroots activists hailing from states such as California, Iowa and Vermont. The Arab American delegation includes former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, Maine Governor John Baldacci, Congressmen Nick Rahall and Chris John, Kerry’s New Hampshire campaign chair Judge William Shaheen, and James Shaer, former senior advisor to the Senator.

The diversity of the Arab American delegation extends to the many Arab countries from which delegates trace their heritage including Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, and Libya. First-time Arab American delegates Ferial Masry (CA) and Khadija Qadri (CO) were both born in Saudi Arabia. Masry won her party’s nomination for State Assembly after receiving over 3,000 write-in votes at the primary.

In the battleground states, Arab Americans continue to mobilize their communities. Arab American Leadership Council (ALC) members in Orlando organized buses to transport voters to their district caucus resulting in over one hundred Arab American voters and the election of Taleb Salhab, Janan Smither, Neal Abid, and Carol Mansour as Florida delegates. Michigan, whose six delegates constitute the largest state delegation, includes veteran party activists such as Ismael Ahmed, Executive Director of the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS), the largest Arab American social services organization in the country. Pennsylvania delegates include State Representative Camille “Bud” George, PA AFL-CIO President Bill George, State Central Committee members Jack Hanna and National Education Association member David Farris.

While the eyes of the nation may have turned away from Iowa after that state’s caucus, Newman Abuissa continued his grassroots work to win his position as a delegate. Abuissa, who brought his two young sons to the caucus and hosted community meetings in his Cedar Rapids home, said of the process, “[it] transformed me from feeling like a foreigner to an elected delegate with the vote of trust by more than half of the rest of the Democratic leaders in Iowa…I recognize that this achievement is by and for the Arab Americans in Iowa.”

Young Arab Americans are making a difference and getting involved in the political process as well. Sam Jammal (CA) is a member of California Young Democrats and heads Students for Kerry. Jammal, whose heritage is both Arab and Latino, has been volunteering for the campaign since October and is involved in outreach to both communities.

Super-delegate Dr. James Zogby is a member of the DNC Executive Committee as co-convener of the National Democratic Ethnic Coordinating Committee (NDECC), an umbrella organization of Democratic Party leaders of European and Mediterranean descent. Zogby will be joined by his daughter, Elizabeth, who is a delegate from Maryland and his young granddaughter, Cecilia, marking three generations attending the convention.

Media interested in contacting delegates, please call Rebecca Abou-Chedid, (202) 256-4096 or Jennifer Salan, (202) 494-9857.