Vote on November 4th, 2008

Aref Assaf

We remain fully engaged in the Imam Qatanani's fight to stay in the United States. The appeal process make take four to six months to complete and much of our work is behind the scene. A sign of the growing acceptance and recognition of our political currency is to be found in a recent  editorial by the Bergen Record endorsing Congressman Bill Pascrell (D8-NJ) for, among other reasons, his vocal support for our beloved Imam Qatanani.  As Br. Mustafa Salah argued in a recent communication, such a mention (supporting a Muslim Imam)would have condemned the candidate to oblivion. Nationally, of course, we continue to suffer the deliberate denigration  onslaught by political rivals vying for the White House. We also worked with a reporter for Al Hayat newspaper  (Lebanon) on a piece on Arab and Muslim Americans. Recently, we worked with Habib Battah who wrote a piece on the role (or lack thereof) of our community in the upcoming elections. On his national tour, we recently sat along with a few people for an interview with Dr. Akbar Ahmed from  the American University. Dr. Ahmed is touring the US talking to Muslims about their faith and their America. A book is expected next  year. To learn more about the endeavor, please click here.   I have also fielded quite lengthy media inquires on the upcoming elections, on the DVD 'Obsession", on the Arab Heritage Commission, and I elaborated on the recent FBI report on underreported hate crime statistics against our community. I will be attending several meetings, panel discussions over the next month  or so and will report my thoughts. Please cast your vote on Tuesday because your votes counts.