Arab Radio: Trump and the post Obama presidency
Arab Radio discussion of the impact of President Barack Obama and his legacy, and the reality of the presidency of Donald J. Trump on Arab Radio in Detroit on Friday Jan. 13, 2017 with host Ray Hanania and guests Sahar Khamis and David Alexander Bullock. They also discuss how Trump has energized the sleeping American Arab community, but at what price, and the impact of Trump on African Americans
By Ray Hanania
I was able to host Radio Baladi this morning on WNZK AM 690 radio which is based in Detroit, Michigan with two great guests talking about the legacy of President Barack Obama and what we can expect from the presidency of Donald J. Trump.
We talked about the fact that the election represents different things for different ethnic and minority communities, that the impact on African Americans is different than the impact on American Arabs. For Arabs, I argued, Trump is a wake-up call to action and his presidency will energize us to get off our lazy ineffective asses and do something.
I compared it to the analogy often used by former Vice President Al Gore who explained the theory of the frog in boiling water. When the frog enters the water it is warm and acceptable but it slowly boils and the frog doesn’t realize it is dying as the water temperatures increase to scalding temperatures. The frog represents the Arab community which accepts the reality of the racist and discriminatory life in America and really does nothing about it, believing they can be saved by a President like Barack Obama who offers soothing words and pleasantly acceptable rhetoric.
But Donald Trump is just the opposite for American Arabs. He is like throwing the frog into the sizzling frying pan and we feel the change immediately. His rhetoric has awakened us. Will we be awakened?
Sahar Khamis and David Alexander Bullock help me explore those issues in this one hour show, one of the few Arab radio shows in America.
Dr. Khamis is an associate professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Maryland and an expert on Arab and Muslim Media. She is a media communicator, a public speaker, a human rights commissioner, and a radio host.
David Alexander Bullock is a graduate of Morehouse College. He received a Masters of Arts in Philosophy from Wayne State University in 2003. He has served as an adjunct college professor in Michigan and Illinois. He is the past President of the Highland Park NAACP. He is a past President of the Detroit Chapter of the Operation Rainbow Push and the state of Michigan Coordinator. He is nationally recognized as a key organizer of the successful campaign to repeal the Controversial Emergency Manager Law PA4. He is currently the Pastor of the Greater St. Matthew Baptist Church in Highland Park, Michigan.
In 2012, David Alexander Bullock founded the Change Agent Consortium, A National Coalition of Faith, Labor, Civil Rights and the Active Citizens. David Alexander Bullock has appeared on MSNBC’s The Ed Show, The Rachel Maddow Show and Russia Today’s (RT) The Big Picture.
We also discuss the news media and how they have done more to promote and fuel racism, bigotry and hate more than anyone including Donald Trump.
I hope you get a chance to listen to the show’s podcast below.
You can click this link to listen to the podcast or use the widget below:
(Ray Hanania is an award winning former Chicago City Hall reporter and now political columnist for the Southwest Newspaper group. He also writes a weekly column for the Arab News Newspaper in Saudi Arabia at ArabNews.com. Visit his personal website at TheDailyHookah.com or email him at [email protected].)
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Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.
Email Ray Hanania at [email protected].
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