On AMT’s Qualified
Endorsement
By Abdus Sattar
Ghazali
CA
After weeks of confusion,
a split in its ranks and an intensive pressure from
the Muslim community, the American Muslim Taskforce
on Civil Rights and Elections - Political Action
Committee (AMT-PAC) October 21 called on Muslims
nationwide to vote for Sen. John Kerry. However
it called its move as a ‘protest vote’ to safeguard
civil rights of the Muslim community.
An AMT-PAC statement
issued in Washington stressed that “because pluralism
is based on partial agreements, support for Sen.
Kerry is premised on our overall effort to help
restore liberty and justice for all.”
The AMT pointed out
that despite disagreements with Sen. Kerry on some
domestic and international issues, including the
war in Iraq, it is willing to work with him to help
restore due process and equal justice in accordance
with the US Constitution.
The AMT acknowledged
the considerable outreach to the Muslim community
by Sen. Kerry’s campaign, particularly by his campaign
co-chair Sen. Edward Kennedy and appreciated the
ongoing dialogue with Muslim leaders about problems
posed by the USA PATRIOT Act.
The AMT’s belated endorsement
is a welcome development because it responded to
the aspirations of the Muslim community. However,
the question remains: how the qualified endorsement
of AMT is going to affect the Muslim voters, majority
of whom have already made up their mind to support
Kerry? Michael Meehan, a Kerry campaign spokesman,
has made this point very clear when he said endorsements
were helpful, but “at this late point in the election
cycle, we are trying to turn supporters into voters
and recent polling shows we have support among American
Muslims 10-to-1.”The AMT endorsement came after
a major split in its ranks when the Muslim Public
Affairs Council (MPAC) a major component of the
AMT quit the coalition quietly after it refused
to support endorsement to any presidential candidate.
MPAC was one of the three organizations that envisaged,
at the ISNA convention of 2003, the establishment
of AMT as a successor to the American Muslim Political
Coordination Council (AMPCC) that announced its
support to Bush in 2000 elections. The other two
groups were American Muslim Alliance (AMA) and Council
on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
Apparently, a unanimous
AMT decision was not possible in the presence of
MPAC, hence it was forced to leave the coalition.
Only one day before the AMT endorsement, the MPAC
issued a long statement about its decision of not
endorsing any presidential candidate saying: “An
endorsement is far too important to give away without
delivering solid promises to the community that
their interests will be of paramount importance
to the next President. Leaders of other religious
and ethnic communities throughout our country do
not endorse unless they receive such promises. We
should not be any different.”
Alluding to the many
opinion polls and persistent media reports, the
MAPC statement acknowledged that it trusts the political
judgment and maturity of American Muslim voters
and added: “In this election, Muslim voters must
vote their conscience based on what is best for
themselves, their communities and their country.
Our decision not to endorse a candidate in the 2004
Presidential election must not be viewed as a directive
for American Muslims to reconsider their decision.
Rather it is a reminder that although candidates
are willing to take our votes, they are not yet
willing to announce such to the country.”
Despite MPAC’s departure,
the AMT still maintains 10 members as a marginal
group, Muslim Ummah of North America (MUNA), was
quietly inducted to fill the MAPC slot. AMT includes:
American Muslim Alliance (AMA), Council on American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR), Islamic Circle of North America
(ICNA), Islamic Society of North America (ISNA),
Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA), Muslim
American Society (MAS), Muslim Ummah of North America
(MUNA), Muslim Student Association-National (MSA-N),
Project Islamic Hope (PIH), and United Muslims of
America (UMA).
The AMT-PAC is an affiliated
political action committee of the American Muslim
Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections (AMT).
(Abdus Sattar Ghazali
is the Executive Editor of the online magazine American
Muslim Perspective: www.amperspective.com)
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