A sample of the official letter requesting endorsement Re; Endorse the creation of the Arab Heritage Commission in NJ Dear friend: The American Arab Forum requests your endorsement of its campaign to urge Jon Corzine, the Governor-Elect of New Jersey to sanction into law the creation of the Arab Heritage Commission. We believe the time is ripe to have a positive say in what is being taught in our public schools about Arab and Muslim history, culture and contributions. Additionally, we envision the Commission to lead the statewide efforts to position our heritage center stage and merge it with the ethnic and cultural mosaic of our diverse state. The Commission will be comprised o leading intellectuals, educators and community leaders whose main objective is to ensure accuracy and a more encompassing learning experience which we hope to result in a more educated and tolerant future leaders. While we could have easily established a private commission, our hope is to crate it as an organ of the Department of Education giving it more legitimacy, authority and mandate. If successful, we may become the first such commission in the nation and thus our experience may help other Arab-American communities to achieve the same. We invite you to learn more about the Commission, its mission, By-laws and media coverage by visiting our website, www.americanarabforum.org. The process of raising public awareness, official interest and behind the scene preparation has been a rewarding effort. We are now on the Governor’s agenda as he assumes official duties in January. Your public endorsement of the Commission will greatly solidify our position. We sincerely hope you will issue a formal letter, which we will present to the Governor when we meet with him soon. Alternatively, if you wish, you may simply advise us of our intent to support the Commission and we shall add your name to our list endorsing organizations. Should you desire further information, please do call me at 973-960-2673. I look forward to your positive response. Respectfully,
Aref Assaf, PhD President American Arab Forum |