Latino-Muslim Coalition
Supports McCloskey’s Campaign for Congress
By Hazem Kira
Newark, CA: Announcing a common
stand on civil liberties and immigration, representatives
of the American Muslim Alliance (AMA), a civic education
organization with 101 chapters, and the Mexican American
Political Association (MAPA), the largest grassroots organization
of Latino-Americans in the United States, joined hands in
opposing HR 4437 and supporting Pete McCloskey, a candidate
“who supports civil liberties and a humane immigration
policy.”
The May 28 coalition meeting, attended by sixty activists
from many cities including Morgan Hill, Lodi, Tracy, Dublin,
Danville, San Ramon, and adjacent cities, was organized
by Raana Faiz, Tashie Zaheer, Adnan Rasheed, Sagir Ahmed,
and Irshad Rana with support from Dr. Waheed Siddiqi, Waseem
Sufi, Rahman Soomro, Athar Siddiqi and Dr. Ali Zaki.
AGHA SAEED
WITH MC CLOSKEY |
Speaking on behalf of MAPA,
Juan Castro told the audience, “I am here to represent
MAPA’s national president Nativo Lopez. We are delighted
to work with our Muslim brothers and sisters in getting
Mr. McCloskey elected. We believe that minorities can only
succeed by participating in the political process and by
exercising their priceless privilege of voting in the elections.
Working hand in hand with the American Muslim Alliance,
we plan to turn out the largest number of Latino, Arab and
Muslim voters. Richard Pombo has an atrocious voting record
on almost every important issue ranging from civil liberties
to immigration and from environment to economy. Therefore,
we need to bring honest and efficient people like McCloskey
in the Congress.”
Mr. McCloskey, a decorated war-veteran-turned-peace-activist,
said, “I was the first Republican to call for the
impeachment of Richard Nixon, I campaigned throughout the
United States against the Vietnam War, I stood for a fair
and even-handed policy toward the Middle East, and I have
always supported a independent Palestinian state.
“Today”, he said, “the Republican Party
has lost is character because as Lord Action has correctly
said, ‘Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts
absolutely.’ My party has been in power for twelve
years and its officials have become arrogant and corrupt.
I am running to help restore honesty in the Party and the
Government.”
Later, answering a question Mr. McCloskey said, “History
is replete with stories of empires like Athenian, Roman,
Egyptian, and Persian that collapsed having overextended
themselves. Today the US is at risk of going the same route.”
Prof. Agha Saeed said, “Latino-Americans and Muslim-Americans
are natural allies because, historically, in the United
States any attack on civil liberties has invariably been
accompanied by attack on immigration of Third World people.
The draconian National Security Act of 1950, introduced
by Sen. McCarran, led in 1952 to the Eurocentric and anti-Third
World McCarran-Walter Immigration Act. On the other hand,
passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 led to first non-racist
immigration act of 1965. The passage of the USA PATRIOT
ACT is now accompanied by HR 4437, which seeks to criminalize
11 million undocumented workers and implicate priests, teachers
and social workers who may try to help them exactly the
same way as those helping run-away slaves.”
The coalition meeting was organized to mobilize Latino and
Muslim communities in support of congressional candidate
Paul “Pete” McCloskey. Mr. McCloskey was elected
to the House of Representatives in a special election in
1967 and was re-elected seven times representing the San
Francisco Peninsula area. He initiated the effort to repeal
the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in 1969, and made the first
House speech suggesting the impeachment of Richard Nixon
for obstruction of justice in June, 1973.
Mr. McCloskey has been endorsed by many groups and organizations
including the Los Angles Times, which has editorialized:
Pete McCloskey is “the best thing that could happen
for the district, the state, the nation and possibly the
Republican Party.”
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