Arab American Democratic Club urges NO VOTE on Gov. J.B. Pritzker re-election bid

Arab American Democratic Club (AADC) urges the state’s more than 110,000 Arab American and 250,000 Muslim voters to vote NO on the re-election bid of Gov. J.B. Pritzker. Pritzker has marginalized the needs of Arab Americans and Muslim Americans, failing to name Arabs and Muslims to the hundreds of vacancies on the state’s commissions and boards, and has refused to apologize for calling Arabs and Muslims “terrorists” during his failed 1998 bid for Congress in the 9th Congressional District. Arab and Muslim voters are urged to “pass” on governor’s race or vote for the alternative candidates including Darren Bailey

The Arab American Democratic Club, one of the largest grassroots organizations in the Chicagoland region, today Wednesday Nov. 2, 2022 urged Arab American voters and ASDC members to vote NO on the re-election bid of Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

AADC leaders and members have accused Pritzker of marginalizing the Arab American and Muslim American vote in Illinois and deficient by refusing to publicly apologize for calling Arabs and Muslims “terrorists” when he ran for Congress in 1998.

Although the ‘terrorist” name calling occurred during an election for congress in the 9th District more than 24 years ago, Pritzker has shown that time does not matter when he criticizes foes demanding they apologize for past indiscretions.

“The fact that 24 years have passed since Pritzker accused Arabs and Muslims of being ‘terrorists’ in the 1998 congressional election, that he lost, is irrelevant because Pritzker has made the issue of time irrelevant in his own campaign in attacking other candidates,” said AADC President Samir Khalil.

 

 

“We asked respectfully and politely to walk back his terrible stereotype that has plagued many Arab and Muslims int his country before and after the horrific terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and he has continued to refuse to do so. In contrast, Pritzker has been extremely vocal in press conferences and in his numerous mailings demanding that his rival Darren Bailey apologize for comparing the loss of innocent pre-natal lives through abortion and the loss of lives during the Holocaust more than five years ago. Are we not important in his eyes?”

 

Khalil said that AADC is urging the more than 110,000 Arab American voters and more than 250,000 Muslim American voters in Illinois to demand respect and either withhold a vote for Pritzker in the governor’s race or vote against Pritzker by supporting one of the two other candidates, including Darren Bailey.

AADC Media consultant and award winning political columnist Ray Hanania said that the issue is of utmost importance to Arab Americans and to Muslim Americans.

“Being called a terrorist because we are Arab or Muslim is so harmful because it happens so much and refusing to apologize and clearly state that Arabs and Muslims are not terrorists is harmful to our community,” Hanania said.

“Pritzker’s refusal to utter a simple few words to the Arab and Muslim community in a public way raises questions about his sincerity and commitment to serve all of the people of Illinois.”

Hanania added that Pritzker had promised to hire Arab and Muslim Americans to fill vacancies on the hundreds of state commissions and boards but he has failed to appoint more than a few.

“The fact that his spokesperson Jordan Abudayyeh is Arab American is irrelevant to this issue,” Hanania said, noting the governor has failed to provide grants or state financial support to our many organizations and chamber of commerce as he does to other ethnic, religious and national communities.

“You can’t call Arabs and Muslims terrorists and then say ‘I hired an Arab American as my spokesperson.’ One doesn’t excuse the other. Governor Pritzker has been hostile to our community by his policies of marginalizing Arabs and Muslims and we should not be silent and simply give him our vote. We the public and taxpayers do not work for Pritzker. Pritzker is supposed to work for us.”

Hanania said that in the face of Pritzker’s rejection of the Arab and Muslim community, supporting Bailey would be a better alternative and open doors to giving Arabs and Muslims the respect they deserve.