How Is The Arab American Community Responding To This Year's Presidential Race? James Zogby Offers Insights
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It is unlikely that Donald Trump will get even twenty percent of the Arab American vote this election. Whether or not people like Hillary Clinton, the Arab American community will maintain its historically support for democrats over republicans, James Zogby said in an interview with Focus Washington host Chuck Conconi. With candidates on both sides of the aisle making mistakes, this election seems to be impacting how American’s view the Arab American community.
Jim Zogby, President and Co-Founder the of the Arab American Institute and member or the Democratic National Convention Platform Drafting Committee, said he is has seen an increase in the practice of profiling since 2002, despite positive statements from American politicians like President Bush and President Obama. “As the negatives have gone up, the positives have gone up,” he said in regard to support from other ethnic communities. “Groups that wouldn’t give [the Arab American community] the time of day twenty years ago now embrace us.”
Zogby expressed frustration with the distinction between Christian and Muslim Arab Americans in campaign organizing, and the tendency in campaigns to prioritize religious identity over ethnic identity. “We have to be able to define ourselves,” he said about Arab Americans, rather than allowing others to conflate religious and ethnic identities for political purposes. “I do not think religion and politics belong together”
Zogby, who travels extensively, said that throughout the Middle East and even in Europe, he gets a similar response with regard to the reputation of America abroad, “What the hell’s wrong with you people?” America is not putting its best foot forward in this election cycle, he called this “a ‘hold your nose’ election,” and he said, “frankly, you know, we can do better as a country, and we’re not.”
While he said Donald Trump has caused irreparable damage to America, it did not start just with this election cycle, but, much to Zogby’s concern, America has been in a “steady downward spiral.” He suggested that the damage began under Former President Bush, who he said, tarnished the view of America, and continued with President Obama, who built up expectations he could not fulfill and now, with Donald Trump, who Zogby agreed, “is, as Hillary Clinton says, a great recruiter for Isis.” Looking at the election overall, Zogby said, “It troubles me deeply that we [are] presenting to the world a flawed system.”
“The fact [is] that you cannot view America either as fundamentally good or fundamentally evil. We are both,” he said, “We’re the Statue of Liberty and we’re Donald Trump… We’re not just Donald Trump, but we have produced Martin Luther King, we’ve produced people who have taken us to great heights and shown us great promise and done great things.”
Zogby, who is a first generation American, points out that his father was an illegal immigrant, and hanging on the wall in his office are his father’s naturalization papers and a parchment from President Obama, appointing him to a post in the government. To Zogby, that the son of an illegal immigrant can serve the President of the U.S. is the unique story of America. “Never forget we’re capable of doing bad things, but we’re also capable of doing great things,” he concluded.
Source: www.prnewswire.com