On Our Political Sophistication
By Azher Quader
Chicago, IL
Professor Omer Mozaffar writes an interesting monthly letter addressed to his student wards at Loyola University.. He clearly is trying to stimulate some good reflective thinking in a youthful crowd, where often emotions and passions claim larger adherents. He obviously has the wisdom and the expression to reach these fertile minds and inspire a much needed culture of change. We hope the students are benefiting from his posts and enjoying them as much as some of us non-students, who are fortunate to be on his mailing list.
This particular letter deals with the current political season, so gave reason for us to chime in.
Here is what he wrote:
“……. in watching our discourse around the candidates in this current presidential campaign, a few points are worth mentioning.
First, there is a complete lack of sophistication when it comes to politics.
Rather, we have been praising particular candidates for particular sentences, for example, Senator Sanders’ comments about Palestinians in the last debate. His refusal to attend AIPAC’s convention was far more noteworthy, by the way, in addition to the fact that AIPAC invited Mr Trump. But politics is all about negotiation, rather than idealism. Even in his second book, President Obama spoke of the “Audacity of Hope” as the boldness to think we can fulfill our ideals through the complicated world of politics.
Second, in positioning ourselves as an entire community to the Left, we ignore something most relevant in national elections, that the centrist wins, the extremist does not. The last three presidents each positioned themselves in their original campaigns as centrists.
But, deeper than all this, we forget that in living in a democracy, we are signing on to responsibilities that begin on our streets. So, ask yourself. Can you name the people who are your public servants in your neighborhood, ward, district, or region?”
At Community Builders Council (CBC) we have argued for many years now that there is a need for the community to seriously invest in building institutions beyond just mosques and schools if we are to become a strong and empowered community. Such institutions should be built to meet the demands of not only our people but of the larger society as well. Some such areas of need would be health care, education, violence prevention, refugee resettlement and family preservation to name just a few.
All these, areas in order to be served well, require political advocacy and support. We cannot ignore the crucial role that politics plays in the lives of all individuals in a democracy. When we decide to stay uninvolved we risk getting marginalized and victimized as a group not withstanding our individual successes. The record of the past many years speaks sadly to our nonchalant behavior in remaining ineffective in finding the will to get organized. Prof. Omer’s comment that “there is a complete lack of sophistication when it comes to politics,” drives home the challenge we face not only among the rank and file, but we dare say, even among those we seek to follow.
A generation of pioneering immigrant Muslims who came from non-democratic communities or corrupt democracies can be excused for their lack of ‘sophistication’ because for them this experience is new and perhaps too difficult to understand. But Prof. Omer’s lament is significantly aimed at the generation that has lived in American democracy since their birth and remained largely uninvolved and unorganized. That in our opinion is a greater concern and bodes ill for our community’s future.
So here are the baby steps to take if we wish to find a place at the table soon and not remain the menu on the table, which we have become in this political season.
First: Know your local politician: councilman/alderman, state representative/state senator, US congressman or woman, US senators. This is where it all begins. If you need some help finding who your locals are, click on the link: http://hq-salsa.wiredforchange.com
Second: Communicate with your local politicians by attending their town hall meetings, sending them an email or a post card showing support or opposition to issues you feel strongly about.
Here is a link that can help with sending an email: https://democracy.io However, the best way to communicate with politicians is by postcards.
Third: Register to vote or volunteer to help with CBC-sponsored voter registration drives at Jumah gatherings of your mosque. Email or call CBC: mycommunitybuilders@gmail.com ,
773 770-6166
Fourth: Get educated! Understand the progressive/ liberal and the conservative points of view on the hot button issues of the day: race relations, criminal justice, campaign finance, immigration, minimum wage, worker rights, gun control, health care, climate change, Islamophobia, ISIS, Israel, Palestine etc.
A good place to learn in our opinion, are the daily talk shows. We suggest Tom Hartman for the Progressive side and Michael Medved for the Conservative side. In Chicago they are heard on AM 820 for Hartman 11am-2pm and AM 560 for Medved 9pm-12am, weekdays. For more details click the links below for other shows:
Progressive Talk Radio
http://tunein.com/radio/Progressive-Talk
Conservative Talk Radio
http://tunein.com/radio/Conservative-Talk
Fifth: Volunteer for phone banking. This is easy to do and when done in a group setting is always lot of fun. The best part is it builds political savvy and important relationship with the relevant campaign or organization.
As the political season heats up we hope our community warms up to meeting the challenge for political engagement. We have generally cast a negative vote, whenever we did vote, against a candidate we did not like, rather than for a candidate we liked. If Donald Trump becomes the nominee it will certainly hasten our awakening. Let us hope once awakened we will rapidly become ‘sophisticated’ in negotiating American politics, moving forward.
May He help us in our awakening.
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