Tue 13 May 2008
Populism in Lane County: A resurgence of hope with Rob Handy?
Posted by Rose Wilde under Random Bus Stops , Economy , EventsMay 10, 2008 – After another long day of beating the pavement for Rob Handy in Bethel, I am reflecting on why it is that Bethel voters seem so ready for change at home, not just the White House.
Walking around Bethel near Willamette High School and Petersen Barn, I rarely met anyone who has the same radical lefty politics as me. Instead I met Cindy, Jim, and Larry.
Cindy first wanted me off her doorstep – fearful of yet another pushy pollster – but once I said I volunteering for Rob Handy, she smiled and said, “Already voted for him, dear. Do you know he stood here for 20 minutes and just listened to my opinion? What a sweetheart!” Refreshed, I bounced through the next several blocks, barely noticing the mean dogs and door slams.
Jim I met while working in his yard with his teenage son, right next to the High School. I almost left without knocking because I had the wrong the address, and Jim was not on my list of targeted voters. But Jim walked out of his gate, catching me with brochure outstretched.
“Have you voted already sir? I’m here to help elect Rob Handy.” (It is important to be respectful at the doorstep – some people just love a smiling friendly face and will pause to hear me out just for that.)
“Is he the incumbent?”
“Oh, no, sir, he is trying to replace the incumbent, because Rob thinks the people of this district, his neighborhood, deserve a voice in Lane County.”
“I’ll vote for anyone trying to replace that guy – I can’t believe he tried to tax us after we just said, ‘no.”
“Thank you sir, remember to vote for Rob Handy, though.”
The best was Larry, who had already voted for Rob Handy and wanted to get signs for his home and business. “You can’t believe how nice that is to hear after a long day of this.”
Really? People aren’t nice to you with all that is happening? You’d think they’d be grateful to have an option. Don’t they know what is going on in Lane County and Eugene?
We happily chatted about our shared vision for a better community led by progressive leaders accountable to the little people – us regular, working folks.
At home I considered the question posed by another young activist: Why do the progressives seem so lined up against Green? But, what I really wanted to know is why did the moderate people of Bethel seem so ready for a listener like Rob Handy?
Even though I am clearly far left of most of the people I met (and way more radical than Mr. Handy, though I still prefer him), I started to get it. Progressives need a populist to win Bethel. Populism can be many things, but I found the definition that most appealed to me Lawrence Goodwyn’s Democratic Promise: The Populist Movement in America. Goodwyn said populism is founded on the act of “organizing for popular empowerment or civic agency — [believing in] the capacities of ordinary people to be architects and agents of their lives, shapers of their communities and the larger world, and collaborators with others from diverse backgrounds on common challenges.”
Now, this is a philosophy I can get behind (and I imagine the Obama campaign is well aware of).
Lane County is on the verge of financial crisis, yet the voters’ rejection of any attempt at new taxes in spite of our extremely low tax base speaks a fundamental truth – Lane County voters are compassionate, but terribly mistrust our county government. They will not vote in a tax until the Commissioners regain their trust in how those taxes are spent.
The Progressives who care about social services, fair wages, human rights, and the environment cannot force the rest of the community to pay for those things (which they clearly do care about) until we help elect a man who has the time, patience, and heart to listen to his people and win their trust again. A man who has already knocked on 13,000 doors, with 700 individual donors, and over 200 volunteers.
That man is Rob Handy.
May 15th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
Rose -
Thanks for this great personal story, and your work for my friend, Rob H!
Your observations are in line with what George Lakoff said a few weeks ago when he spoke at the UO: People don’t vote with their heads but with their hearts. In particular, people don’t necessarily vote for the person who sees the issues the way they do, has the best policies or is the smartest. They vote for someone they can trust. And, yes, Rob H is that man.
- Rob Z
- Rob Z
May 16th, 2008 at 6:21 am
It’s so true. I have friends who will vote for whomever I ask them to vote for — and wave away my explanation about why! “I’ll take your word for it Rose, I trust you.”
I never know what to make of that — I want people to think for themselves, but it’s nice when we agree!
With Rob H, we see eye to eye on many things, but the trust issue is clearly the most important aspect of this race.
May 16th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
If Rob Handy is elected, Lane County will have an all-white, all-male board of commissioners for the first time since 1986. Is this the new progessivism in the post-Clinton era?
May 16th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
Absolutely. I was DELIGHTED to lose the “token female” two years ago for the much more progressive Bill Fleenor.
In my world, it is not race, sex, or political party that earns my support. You gotta earn it.
I hope we have many progressive candidates in the future who make a more diverse board of commissioners.
May 19th, 2008 at 8:49 am
Jack -
I take your views—and those of John VanLandingham and Ken Tollenaar, both of whom have come out publicly in favor of Bobby Green—seriously. Green is hard working, knowledgeable and experienced. Rob Handy, if elected, will need to work hard to develop that same kind of experience on the details of county government and relations with other governments.
But Green barely gives me the time of day and is sometimes downright rude (although he might feel he is merely being funny), even though I have provided constructive, detailed and to the point testimony in numerous forums where Green sits. I don’t feel listened to.
If I, as a citizen who is much more willing than most to make an effort to be heard, don’t feel heard, what must the average man or woman in his district feel?
I would hope that we in Lane County don’t discriminate or reverse discriminate on the basis of race, gender or other categories (although I know some do). I don’t think the North Eugene county commissioner election is about race or should be. It probably isn’t much about experience either. It is about who people trust because he comes to their door and listens to them.
Lakoff’s point message was that people don’t always vote rationally or in their best interests: That’s not how their brain works. They vote more on their emotions.
I saw a TV ad for Bobby Green last night and he wasn’t even in his own ad! There were a lot of words like it was a newspaper story, and then a woman doing a voiceover and telling us that Bobby Green approved the ad. I got no connection to the man himself. Then I saw a TV ad for Bacack Obama. He was in the ad speaking personally to me, he told me he approved the message because we can changed Washington together. Both candidates are black men, but that isn’t what is important: One talks and acts as if he cares about me and wants to represent me; the other doesn’t.
June 18th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
Rose,
It so ironic to be so blindsided by your beloved Mr. Handy. When you stated that “Absolutely. I was DELIGHTED to lose the “token female””!
you didn’t only betrayed your gender as a female, but you didn’t respect the fact I was a female candidate too in the race!!
Who has much more experience & knowledge of Lane county issues than Mr. Handy does? Mr. Handy main concerns are the city issues -Such as potholes, etc…-
He doesn’t strike me as a very strong candidate for what you “progressive” made him looks like! You can check your “Progressive EW” letter to the editor on May-08.
www.nadiasindi.com/issues.html
In addition, I would like you to know this fact about your gifted candidate, the one you were DELIGHTED to lose the “token female”.
Late on February, I met with Rob Handy, at the Public Library. After Rob hunted me down calling every one who possibly knows me including Ib Hamide..etc and few exchange email messages, to persuade me to drop out of the race!!
I stated all the facts of why I NEED to run for the County Commissioner seat!
Mr. Handy’s response to me was: Don’t worry Nadia; whispering in my ear that he was “running for all the women” so he can speak for us women too!!!”
If Mr. Handy was deserving your “Absolutely. I was DELIGHTED to lose the “token female”” Why then, Mr. Handy was so ashamed to say his statement loud in the pubic, and not being so embarrassed,to the point. He felt the need to whisper it in my ear instead of just voice it as the rest of our conversation!
–
Salaam. nadia
We will forget and forgive any judgment error that you make, but integrity
mistakes are forever.
– David Cottrell
I’m still in the RACE for Lane County Commissioner: Please, I need your
financial support, endorsement, VOTE. I’m running as “Write In”
www.nadiasindi.com
I’m one of the National Delegates for Sen. Barrack Obama:http://restricted.dpo.org/delegates/vp/1639.html
I am the Oregon Representative for:
www.StudentLoanJustice.Org
June 18th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Mr. Zaco,
I’m really disappointed to read your comments and response to “Jack Roberts”.
It’s so hurtful, coming from an Arab American who’s rallying against me!
I’m a very qualify Arab American candidate!
Who has more experience and talents of the Lane County issues than your “God given Man”!!
Please read my website: www.nadiasindi.com, to see your “God given Man” and his supporters, trashing, and parading me!!
It’s so shameful & embarrassment by the fact I know & associated with most of you!
I’m a very sophisticated, classy, dignified person, with high education & knowledge!
I don’t want to stoop to this level, nor wallow in the pitiful “progressive” community!
It’s a disgrace of the “progressive” community, to do what you have done to me ?!
–
Salaam. nadia
We will forget and forgive any judgment error that you make, but integrity
mistakes are forever.
– David Cottrell
I’m still in the RACE for Lane County Commissioner: Please, I need your
financial support, endorsement, VOTE. I’m running as “Write In”
www.nadiasindi.com
I’m one of the National Delegates for Sen. Barrack Obama:http://restricted.dpo.org/delegates/vp/1639.html
I am the Oregon Representative for:
www.StudentLoanJustice.Org
June 30th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Your Whiteness is Showing:
An Open Letter to Certain White Women
Who are Threatening to Withhold Support From Barack Obama in November
By Tim Wise
June 5, 2008
This is an open letter to those white women who, despite their proclamations of progressivism, and supposedly because of their commitment to feminism, are threatening to withhold support from Barack Obama in November. You know who you are.
I know that it’s probably a bad time for this. Your disappointment at the electoral defeat of Senator Hillary Clinton is fresh, the sting is new, and the anger that animates many of you–who rightly point out that the media was often sexist in its treatment of the Senator–is raw, pure and justified.
That said, and despite the awkward timing, I need to ask you a few questions, and I hope you will take them in the spirit of solidarity with which they are genuinely intended. But before the questions, a statement if you don’t mind, or indeed, even if (as I suspect), you will mind it quite a bit.
First, for those of you threatening to actually vote for John McCain and to oppose Senator Obama, or to stay home in November and thereby increase the likelihood of McCain winning and Obama losing (despite the fact that the latter’s policy platform is virtually identical to Clinton’s while the former’s clearly is not), all the while claiming to be standing up for women…
For those threatening to vote for John McCain or to stay home and increase the odds of his winning (despite the fact that he once called his wife the c-word in public and is a staunch opponent of reproductive freedom and gender equity initiatives, such as comparable worth legislation), all the while claiming to be standing up for women…
For those threatening to vote for John McCain or to stay home and help ensure Barack Obama’s defeat, as a way to protest what you call Obama’s sexism (examples of which you seem to have difficulty coming up with), all the while claiming to be standing up for women…
Your whiteness is showing.
When I say your whiteness is showing this is what I mean: You claim that your opposition to Obama is an act of gender solidarity, in that women (and their male allies) need to stand up for women in the face of the sexist mistreatment of Clinton by the press. On this latter point–the one about the importance of standing up to the media for its often venal misogyny–you couldn’t be more correct. As the father of two young girls who will have to contend with the poison of patriarchy all their lives, or at least until such time as that system of oppression is eradicated, I will be the first to join the boycott of, or demonstration on, whatever media outlet you choose to make that point. But on the first part of the above equation–the part where you insist voting against Obama is about gender solidarity–you are, for lack of a better way to put it, completely full of crap. And what’s worse is that at some level I suspect you know it. Voting against Senator Obama is not abo! ut gender solidarity. It is an act of white racial bonding, and it is grotesque.
If it were gender solidarity you sought, you would by definition join with your black and brown sisters come November, and do what you know good and well they are going to do, in overwhelming numbers, which is vote for Barack Obama. But no. You are threatening to vote not like other women–you know, the ones who aren’t white like you and most of your friends–but rather, like white men! Needless to say it is high irony, bordering on the outright farcical, to believe that electorally bonding with white men, so as to elect McCain, is a rational strategy for promoting feminism and challenging patriarchy. You are not thinking and acting as women, but as white people. So here’s the first question: What the hell is that about?
And you wonder why women of color have, for so long, thought (by and large) that white so-called feminists were phony as hell? Sister please…
Your threats are not about standing up for women. They are only about standing up for the feelings of white women, and more to the point, the aspirations of one white woman. So don’t kid yourself. If you wanted to make a statement about the importance of supporting a woman, you wouldn’t need to vote for John McCain, or stay home, thereby producing the same likely result–a defeat for Obama. You could always have said you were going to go out and vote for Cynthia McKinney. After all, she is a woman, running with the Green Party, and she’s progressive, and she’s a feminist. But that isn’t your threat is it? No. You’re not threatening to vote for the woman, or even the feminist woman. Rather, you are threatening to vote for the white man, and to reject not only the black man who you feel stole Clinton’s birthright, but even the black woman in the race. And I wonder why? Could it be…?
See, I told you your whiteness was showing.
And now for a third question, and this is the biggie, so please take your time with it: How is it that you have managed to hold your nose all these years, just like a lot of us on the left, and vote for Democrats who we knew were horribly inadequate–Kerry, Gore, Clinton, Dukakis, right on down the uninspiring line–and yet, apparently can’t bring yourself to vote for Barack Obama? A man who, for all of his shortcomings (and there are several, as with all candidates put up by either of the two major corporate parties) is surely more progressive than any of those just mentioned. And how are we to understand that refusal–this sudden line in the proverbial sand–other than as a racist slap at a black man? You will vote for white men year after year after year–and are threatening to vote for another one just to make a point–but can’t bring yourself to vote for a black man, whose political views come much closer to your own, in all likelihood, than do the views of ! any of the white men you’ve supported before. How, other than as an act of racism, or perhaps as evidence of political insanity, is one to interpret such a thing?
See, black folks would have sucked it up, like they’ve had to do forever, and voted for Clinton had it come down to that. Indeed, they were on board the Hillary train early on, convinced that Obama had no chance to win and hoping for change, any change, from the reactionary agenda that has been so prevalent for so long in this culture. They would have supported the white woman–hell, for many black folks, before Obama showed his mettle they were downright excited to do so–but you won’t support the black man. And yet you have the audacity to insist that it is you who are the most loyal constituency of the Democratic Party, and the one before whom Party leaders should bow down, and whose feet must be kissed?
Your whiteness is showing.
Look, I couldn’t care less about the Party personally. I left the Democrats twenty years ago when they told me that my activism in the Central America solidarity and South African anti-apartheid movements made me a security risk, and that I wouldn’t be able to get clearance to be in some parade with Governor Dukakis. Yeah, seriously. But for you to act as though you are the indispensible voters, the most important, the ones whose views should be pandered to, whose every whim should be the basis for Party policy, is not only absurd, it is also racist in that it, a) ignores and treats as irrelevant the much more loyal constituency of black folks, without whom no Democrat would have won anything in the past twenty years (and indeed the racial gap favoring the Democrats among blacks is about six times larger than the gender gap favoring them among white women, relative to white men); and b) demonstrates the mentality of entitlement and superiority that has been long ! ingrained in us as white folks–so that we believe we have the right to dictate the terms of political engagement, and to determine the outcome, and to get our way, simply because for so long we have done just that.
But that day is done, whether you like it or not, and you are now left with two, and only two choices, so consider them carefully: the first is to stand now in solidarity with your black brothers and sisters and welcome the new day, and help to push it in a truly progressive and feminist and antiracist direction, while the second is to team up with white men to try and block the new day from dawning. Feel free to choose the latter. But if you do, please don’t insult your own intelligence, or ours, by insisting that you’ve done so as a radical political act.
–
Salaam. nadia
We will forget and forgive any judgment error that you make, but integrity
mistakes are forever.
– David Cottrell
I’m still in the RACE for Lane County Commissioner: Please, I need your
financial support, endorsement, VOTE. I’m running as “Write In”
www.nadiasindi.com
I’m one of the National Delegates for Sen. Barrack Obama:http://restricted.dpo.org/delegates/vp/1639.html
I am the Oregon Representative for:
www.StudentLoanJustice.Org
June 30th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Your Whiteness is Showing:
An Open Letter to Certain White Women
Who are Threatening to Withhold Support From Barack Obama in November
By Tim Wise
June 5, 2008
This is an open letter to those white women who, despite their proclamations of progressivism, and supposedly because of their commitment to feminism, are threatening to withhold support from Barack Obama in November. You know who you are.
I know that it’s probably a bad time for this. Your disappointment at the electoral defeat of Senator Hillary Clinton is fresh, the sting is new, and the anger that animates many of you–who rightly point out that the media was often sexist in its treatment of the Senator–is raw, pure and justified.
That said, and despite the awkward timing, I need to ask you a few questions, and I hope you will take them in the spirit of solidarity with which they are genuinely intended. But before the questions, a statement if you don’t mind, or indeed, even if (as I suspect), you will mind it quite a bit.
First, for those of you threatening to actually vote for John McCain and to oppose Senator Obama, or to stay home in November and thereby increase the likelihood of McCain winning and Obama losing (despite the fact that the latter’s policy platform is virtually identical to Clinton’s while the former’s clearly is not), all the while claiming to be standing up for women…
For those threatening to vote for John McCain or to stay home and increase the odds of his winning (despite the fact that he once called his wife the c-word in public and is a staunch opponent of reproductive freedom and gender equity initiatives, such as comparable worth legislation), all the while claiming to be standing up for women…
For those threatening to vote for John McCain or to stay home and help ensure Barack Obama’s defeat, as a way to protest what you call Obama’s sexism (examples of which you seem to have difficulty coming up with), all the while claiming to be standing up for women…
Your whiteness is showing.
When I say your whiteness is showing this is what I mean: You claim that your opposition to Obama is an act of gender solidarity, in that women (and their male allies) need to stand up for women in the face of the sexist mistreatment of Clinton by the press. On this latter point–the one about the importance of standing up to the media for its often venal misogyny–you couldn’t be more correct. As the father of two young girls who will have to contend with the poison of patriarchy all their lives, or at least until such time as that system of oppression is eradicated, I will be the first to join the boycott of, or demonstration on, whatever media outlet you choose to make that point. But on the first part of the above equation–the part where you insist voting against Obama is about gender solidarity–you are, for lack of a better way to put it, completely full of crap. And what’s worse is that at some level I suspect you know it. Voting against Senator Obama is not abo! ut gender solidarity. It is an act of white racial bonding, and it is grotesque.
If it were gender solidarity you sought, you would by definition join with your black and brown sisters come November, and do what you know good and well they are going to do, in overwhelming numbers, which is vote for Barack Obama. But no. You are threatening to vote not like other women–you know, the ones who aren’t white like you and most of your friends–but rather, like white men! Needless to say it is high irony, bordering on the outright farcical, to believe that electorally bonding with white men, so as to elect McCain, is a rational strategy for promoting feminism and challenging patriarchy. You are not thinking and acting as women, but as white people. So here’s the first question: What the hell is that about?
And you wonder why women of color have, for so long, thought (by and large) that white so-called feminists were phony as hell? Sister please…
Your threats are not about standing up for women. They are only about standing up for the feelings of white women, and more to the point, the aspirations of one white woman. So don’t kid yourself. If you wanted to make a statement about the importance of supporting a woman, you wouldn’t need to vote for John McCain, or stay home, thereby producing the same likely result–a defeat for Obama. You could always have said you were going to go out and vote for Cynthia McKinney. After all, she is a woman, running with the Green Party, and she’s progressive, and she’s a feminist. But that isn’t your threat is it? No. You’re not threatening to vote for the woman, or even the feminist woman. Rather, you are threatening to vote for the white man, and to reject not only the black man who you feel stole Clinton’s birthright, but even the black woman in the race. And I wonder why? Could it be…?
See, I told you your whiteness was showing.
And now for a third question, and this is the biggie, so please take your time with it: How is it that you have managed to hold your nose all these years, just like a lot of us on the left, and vote for Democrats who we knew were horribly inadequate–Kerry, Gore, Clinton, Dukakis, right on down the uninspiring line–and yet, apparently can’t bring yourself to vote for Barack Obama? A man who, for all of his shortcomings (and there are several, as with all candidates put up by either of the two major corporate parties) is surely more progressive than any of those just mentioned. And how are we to understand that refusal–this sudden line in the proverbial sand–other than as a racist slap at a black man? You will vote for white men year after year after year–and are threatening to vote for another one just to make a point–but can’t bring yourself to vote for a black man, whose political views come much closer to your own, in all likelihood, than do the views of ! any of the white men you’ve supported before. How, other than as an act of racism, or perhaps as evidence of political insanity, is one to interpret such a thing?
See, black folks would have sucked it up, like they’ve had to do forever, and voted for Clinton had it come down to that. Indeed, they were on board the Hillary train early on, convinced that Obama had no chance to win and hoping for change, any change, from the reactionary agenda that has been so prevalent for so long in this culture. They would have supported the white woman–hell, for many black folks, before Obama showed his mettle they were downright excited to do so–but you won’t support the black man. And yet you have the audacity to insist that it is you who are the most loyal constituency of the Democratic Party, and the one before whom Party leaders should bow down, and whose feet must be kissed?
Your whiteness is showing.
Look, I couldn’t care less about the Party personally. I left the Democrats twenty years ago when they told me that my activism in the Central America solidarity and South African anti-apartheid movements made me a security risk, and that I wouldn’t be able to get clearance to be in some parade with Governor Dukakis. Yeah, seriously. But for you to act as though you are the indispensible voters, the most important, the ones whose views should be pandered to, whose every whim should be the basis for Party policy, is not only absurd, it is also racist in that it, a) ignores and treats as irrelevant the much more loyal constituency of black folks, without whom no Democrat would have won anything in the past twenty years (and indeed the racial gap favoring the Democrats among blacks is about six times larger than the gender gap favoring them among white women, relative to white men); and b) demonstrates the mentality of entitlement and superiority that has been long ! ingrained in us as white folks–so that we believe we have the right to dictate the terms of political engagement, and to determine the outcome, and to get our way, simply because for so long we have done just that.
But that day is done, whether you like it or not, and you are now left with two, and only two choices, so consider them carefully: the first is to stand now in solidarity with your black brothers and sisters and welcome the new day, and help to push it in a truly progressive and feminist and antiracist direction, while the second is to team up with white men to try and block the new day from dawning. Feel free to choose the latter. But if you do, please don’t insult your own intelligence, or ours, by insisting that you’ve done so as a radical political act.
–
Salaam. nadia
We will forget and forgive any judgment error that you make, but integrity
mistakes are forever.
– David Cottrell
I’m still in the RACE for Lane County Commissioner: Please, I need your
financial support, endorsement, VOTE. I’m running as “Write In”
www.nadiasindi.com
I’m one of the National Delegates for Sen. Barrack Obama:http://restricted.dpo.org/delegates/vp/1639.html
I am the Oregon Representative for:
www.StudentLoanJustice.Org
July 14th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Fair and Balanced Journalism in “Progressive” Lane County & the Bus Project!!
I’ve been mistreated, abused,and discriminated against, time and time again, by the Media.
First encounter, right after, I filed to run for Lane County Commission on Thursday March 6-08. I called the KVAL, RG, to cover my candidacy announcement at the Plaza Lanita’s on Friday March 7-08.
No one showed up from the Media! Especially the “Progressive” Lane County Media!!
-The media didn’t cover the interview they did with me. Matt Cooper the Register Guard reporter for the County commissioner candidates, and the endorsement report by Paul Neville from the Register Guard.
-The “progressive” Eugene weekly was in the pocket of the “progressive & our Mayor for all”. “The Progressive EW” called me NOT serious candidate!!
-Jason N. Reed jasonreedemerald@gmail.com a reporter from the University Daily Emerald sent me few questions to answer them. I’ve sent the response to him. Jason Reed never responded or published the interview with me.
-The Bus Project down played my candidacy, by degrading, humiliating, and insulting, me on their “nonpartisan” election website! Every time they have the chance to do so!!!
-Four years ago, 2004, when “Mayor for all Piercy” was running for the Mayoral seat against Jim Torrey. One of her campaign aids contacted an American Iraqi woman- that happened to write something to the editor not in favor of Mayor Piercy!!
The campaign aid telephoned this woman and informed her, she needs to go back to Iraq! Because she’s not welcome in the USA! and continued to harassed her!
There was a letter to the editor supporting my statement in the RG!
“It is sad that the races are less about the issues and the personalities of the people running and more about whatever National Inquirer style snippets can be derived from the daily sound bytes.”
Mr.”Intellect” Handy, spent every forum, NOT speaking about the issues. But he was obsessed by trashing Bobby Green.Yet, noone comment on this!!
–
Salaam. nadia
We will forget and forgive any judgment error that you make, but integrity
mistakes are forever.
– David Cottrell
I’m running as a write in for Lane County Commissioner: Please, I need your
financial support, endorsement, VOTES.
www.nadiasindi.com
I am the Oregon Representative for:
www.StudentLoanJustice.Org
July 21st, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Hateful rhetoric continues to target the Arab-American community, both Christian and Muslim, and ADC needs your help to put an end to it. During this election season we have seen a dramatic increase anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bias. One does not have to look past main stream media outlets to notice how the images and names of Arabs and Muslims are routinely connected with negative stereotypes.
ADC’s forthcoming Hate Crimes Report, which will be widely distributed, documents a continuing pattern of hate and bias toward the community.
The American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (www.adc.org) continues to work for you and defend the rights of the Arab-American community. Below are some of our recent accomplishments. Please consider making a 100% Tax Deductible contribution to the ADC-Research Institute so that you can help us help the community, defend our constitution and encourage a foreign policy based on equality and human rights for all. As the premiere Arab American Organization in the United States — with chapters across the Nation and members in every state of the Union — ADC is leading the fight to protect the community and needs your help to do so.
Click below to make a secure donation:
http://capwiz.com/adc/utr/1/BDZUIZIMGJ/IKLLIZIMTR/2213575806
ADC continues to:
•Conduct extensive cultural competency training to corporations, institutions, schools and local, state and federal law enforcement;
•Play a major role in the political and legal challenges to abolish profiling of Arab and Muslim Americans
•Play key roles in the passage of legislative resolutions on the Hill
•Serving as the only US-based organization certified as an expert civil society representative working with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on combating Islamophobia in over 56 countries including the United States
•Launch a voter registration drive so that Arab Americans make a difference in local, state and federal elections
•Publish and distributed a report discussing Israeli violations of international and humanitarian laws during the 2006 war on Lebanon
•Promote a balanced US foreign policy in the Middle East.
•Make several media appearances and placing letters to the editor and Op-Eds in the Nation’s largest media outlets (See below)
Recent ADC Op-Eds, Articles and Letters and Media Appearances
ADC Letter to New Yorker about Obama Cartoon Coverhttp://capwiz.com/adc/utr/1/BDZUIZIMGJ/JLXXIZIMTS/2213575806
ADC Op-Ed on TSA Security Scanners in the Arab American Newshttp://capwiz.com/adc/utr/1/BDZUIZIMGJ/DINDIZIMTT/2213575806
ADC Op-Ed on Obama and Arab and Muslim Americans in the Minneapolis Star-Tribunehttp://capwiz.com/adc/utr/1/BDZUIZIMGJ/BCBWIZIMTU/2213575806
ADC on CNN discussing Arab Americans and the Presidential Campaignhttp://capwiz.com/adc/utr/1/BDZUIZIMGJ/FTATIZIMTV/2213575806
ADC in Wall Street Journal Discussing the Electionhttp://capwiz.com/adc/utr/1/BDZUIZIMGJ/MUEKIZIMTW/2213575806
ADC on Voice of America on the Plight of the Palestinianshttp://capwiz.com/adc/utr/1/BDZUIZIMGJ/LUAQIZIMTX/2213575806
ADC Letter in South Dakota Argus Leader http://capwiz.com/adc/utr/1/BDZUIZIMGJ/EMJBIZIMTY/2213575806
ADC Letter on Obama Campaign in The New York Timeshttp://capwiz.com/adc/utr/1/BDZUIZIMGJ/FOWWIZIMTZ/2213575806
ADC Op-Ed on the 60th Anniversary of the Nakba in The Boston Globehttp://capwiz.com/adc/utr/1/BDZUIZIMGJ/KYGMIZIMUA/2213575806/