 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Masnet - August 31, 2004 Muslim Americans took center stage By Hannah Abdullah NEW YORK (Masnet) --Muslim Americans took center stage at the Republican National Convention in New York City Monday as they delivered speeches to a primetime national audience. Imam Izak-El Mu’eed Pasha gave the invocation at the RNC’s evening session. He is the spiritual leader of Harlem’s Malcolm Shabazz Masjid and was appointed in June 1999 by New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani as the city’s first Muslim police chaplain. "Every baby born, whether that baby is born to a African family, a European family, a Latino family, a Chinese family, a Native-American family or whether the baby is Black, White, Brown, Yellow or Red; all babies come here crying in the same language,” he said. "This is a sign from God that we are all from one life; that Humanity is one and that our Humanity is bigger than our physical and cultural differences," said Pasha. A 33-year old Iraqi American woman was also given a prominent slot in the convention speaker’s lineup. Zainab Al-Suwaij, the Executive Director of the Boston-based American Islamic Congress, fled to the United States from her native city of Basra after the gulf war. She is now active with her organization formed to promote religious tolerance post 9-11. In her speech, she highlighted her own personal experience in Iraq. “When people talk about the war in Iraq -- I want to remind them that there has been a war raging in Iraq for the last 3 decades,” she said. “A war waged by Saddam against his own people. I lived through it. I saw it brutalize my friends and my family.” Al-Suwaij, a self-described survivor of the failed Iraqi uprising against former President Saddam Hussein in 1991, said she supported the President’s war in Iraq. “Yes, there is still bloodshed and uncertainty -- but America, under the strong, compassionate leadership of President Bush, has given Iraqis the most precious gift any nation has ever given another -- the gift of democracy and the freedom to determine its own future,” she said. In April of 2003, Al-Suwaij met with President Bush in the White House as part of an Iraqi-American delegation. A reporter who witnessed the president's meeting with the group said the members told him their stories of torture and mistreatment in Iraq, and all welcomed the coalition campaign to liberate their country. They also, the reporter said, expressed eagerness to return to help rebuild Iraq. Al-Suwaij also had an opportunity to meet with Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice. Ari Fleischer, who at the time was the White House Press Secretary, told reporters prior to the meeting that President Bush "hopes that people everywhere in the world will listen to the message of these Arab-Americans and these Iraqis who saw firsthand what a brutal dictatorship Saddam Hussein has led, the torture that he has used to stay in power." The speeches of minority leaders and activists are part of a larger effort to demonstrate the Republican Party’s outreach to a more diverse group of supporters. Since the 2000 convention, there has been an estimated 70 percent increase among minority delegates. This year, African-American representation among delegates is up an estimated 65 percent and Asian-American representation is up nearly 40 percent, according to convention officials. This August, Hispanic delegates will be the largest minority group represented, adding another 15 percent to the 100 percent surge Republicans saw between 1996 and 2000. This year’s convention will include 15 Arab American delegates, while the Democratic convention boasted 43. Exact numbers of Muslim delegates at either convention were not available. |