Election: A Moral Dilemma For Arabs, Muslims
By Jon Mroz
Last night an undecided Muslim-American woman, Gorba Hamid, asked Donald Trump what he would do to fight Islamaphobia. With all the venom, prejudice and xenophobia flung at the Muslim and Arab communities from the far Right, you may wonder how Ms. Hamid c
ould possibly be undecided? It’s a simple answer. Muslims and Arabs are the moderates of this election.
We are social conservatives and political liberals unwillingly caught in the crossfire of the greatest socio-political divide this country has seen in over a century, maybe two.
Many Muslims and Arabs believe faith, family, modesty and tradition are sacred. Social welfare through religious charity, belief in the sanctity of life and many other conservative values are deeply engrained in Muslim and Arab ethics and beliefs.
Ironically, conservative politicians invoke a painful desire for inclusion when they talk about these issues. Arabs and Muslims by and large, have more in common with those who see them as enemies than those who don’t. Sadly, Liberals at their core aren’t as good of a choice as they’d appear.
Trump and Clinton’s pandering didn’t conceal their nearly identical answer to Ms. Hamid’s question. “Prove your loyalty by reporting security threats from within your community and the rest of America will love you.” Clinton’s softer “we need your help” approach didn’t change that answer.
The candidates knew that Americans on both the Left and the Right will continue to justify discrimination against all Muslims and Arabs through the prism of life or death. Placing responsibility for changing that view on our shoulders was a safe answer.
In response to Ms. Hamid, Hillary Clinton also proudly announced that America is not at war with Islam. What she did not (and could not) say was that some Americans believe they are at war with Muslims and Arabs. Many on the left see us as a political liability despite common ground we share on foreign policy, immigration and similar issues.
Plenty of Democrats openly discriminate against Arabs and Muslims. We deserve more than a condescending nod of acceptance from liberals and we shouldn’t drink the Kool-Aid.
As for the Republicans, Arabs and Muslims would be more than happy to vote on our values but we are afraid. It’s tough to support a party whose officials shrug off murders, pig heads thrown into mosques, beatings and institutionalized discrimination.
Our communities deserve more from conservative leadership and it’s a shame that building ties between Muslim and Christian conservatives is not a national security priority.
So for the time being, Arabs and Muslims will continue to be unwilling moderates weighing out the impossible choice of voting with Republicans to advance our values vs. voting with Democrats to advance our dignity. And we know that after we fulfill this crucial service to our country, we’ll still be expected to prove our loyalty.
It’s no surprise that Ms. Hamid is undecided.
(Jon Mroz is a commentator and marketing executive at ElementOne, a full service digital marketing agency. Jon formerly served as a policy analyst and consultant contributing expertise to think tanks, government agencies and humanitarian non-profits. Click here for his Facebook Page.)
Ray Hanania is an award winning political and humor columnist who analyzes American and Middle East politics, and life in general. He is an author of several books.
Hanania covered Chicago Politics and Chicago City Hall from 1976 through 1992 at the Daily Southtown and the Chicago Sun-Times. He began writing in 1975 publishing The Middle Eastern Voice newspaper in Chicago (1975-1977). He later published “The National Arab American Times” newspaper (2004-2007).
Hanania writes weekly columns on Middle East and American Arab issues as Special US Correspondent for the Arab News ArabNews.com, at TheArabDailyNews.com, and at SuburbanChicagoland.com. He has published weekly columns in the Jerusalem Post newspaper, YNetNews.com, Newsday, the Orlando Sentinel, Houston Chronical, and Arlington Heights Daily Herald.
Hanania is the recipient of four (4) Chicago Headline Club “Peter Lisagor Awards” for Column writing. In November 2006, he was named “Best Ethnic American Columnist” by the New American Media. In 2009, Hanania received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. He is the recipient of the MT Mehdi Courage in Journalism Award. He was honored for his writing skills with two (2) Chicago Stick-o-Type awards from the Chicago Newspaper Guild. In 1990, Hanania was nominated by the Chicago Sun-Times editors for a Pulitzer Prize for his four-part series on the Palestinian Intifada.
His writings have also been honored by two national Awards from ADC for his writing, and from the National Arab American Journalists Association.
Hanania is the US Special Correspondent for the Arab News Newspaper, covering Middle East and Arab American issues. He writes for the Southwest News newspaper group writing on mainstream American issues.
Click here to send Ray Hanania email.
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