Voting was probably not the first thing our parents or grandparents thought about when they came to the United States from countries and provinces where democracy was a chimera. Working (perhaps multiple jobs), learning the language, and settling into the community took priority over politics, and it was all in service of their top priority: creating a better future for their children.
This week, that seemingly bygone promise of the American dream played out in real time inside Michigan voting centers. Hundreds of thousands of Arab Americans — many of them second- and third-generation descendants of Middle Eastern immigrants — used their votes to send a message to President Biden protesting his handling of the war between Israel and Hamas.
Citizens concerned about civilian casualties and the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, and frustrated by what they see as Biden's unconditional support for Israel, joined a grassroots movement to check the “non-engagement” in the primary ballet on Tuesday instead of voting for the incumbent candidate.
The goal was to get 10,000 votes. They reached 10 times that number. That's more than 100,000 “uncommitted” votes in a swing state that Biden won by just 154,000 votes in 2020. Maybe he's listening now?
Of course, it remains to be determined whether this stunning act of protest at the polls will change American politics, but simply using the power of the vote to send a message rather than ruin a candidate's chances represented a dream come true. .
Previous generations who immigrated to Michigan from countries like Lebanon, Syria and Iraq came to the United States in search of a better life. They came here to escape war, political and religious persecution, lack of opportunity, and corrupt systems led by despotic strongmen or brutal theocracies.
Many came from places where “free elections” were largely performative because the outcome was already set, or where voting for one political party over another meant putting one's life at risk.
Some rulers never seem to leave. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who has been in office for a decade, has nothing to do with the late Hosni Mubarak, who ruled for 30 years. The Al-Assad family has ruled Syria since 1971. My father came from Iraq, where occupation, American meddling, and despotic leadership were the norm during his lifetime.
Political corruption, if not war, has been a constant reality from Lebanon to Libya for generations. It is no wonder that the promise of America continues to shine, even now in our divided and precarious state.
Biden was defeated by the “uncommitted” vote in both Dearborn and Hamtramck, where Arab Americans make up about half the population. Some are new to the United States, but many more have generational roots in Michigan.
“Yesterday was a resounding victory,” Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud said Wednesday. The 33-year-old man is the son of Lebanese immigrants.
“This is no longer just an Arab or Muslim issue,” he continued. “This is an American problem now.”
His actions made headlines and kicked off a movement that will likely be duplicated in other swing-state primaries, where a fraction of the electorate could make or break his run for the White House. In 2020, Biden won Georgia by fewer than 12,000 votes. The state is home to more than 57,000 Arab Americans.
Arab and Muslim Americans, most of whom have voted for the Democratic ticket since the Iraq war, are aware that a Donald Trump victory in November is not in their best interest.
In his first year as president, the Republican repeatedly insulted the Muslim parents of a fallen Gold Star soldier; he enacted a Muslim ban; and he overlooked Palestinian interests when he recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Arab American voters' frustration over Biden's support for Israel has reached a new high, and they are not alone. Many smart, civic-minded people I know, from all kinds of ethnic and religious backgrounds, now tell me they are considering sitting out the November election.
Voting for the seditionist Trump is impossible, they say, but Biden's unconditional support for Israel in its war against Hamas presents a moral conundrum that is difficult to ignore. More than 30,000 Gazans have been killed, most of them women and children, since the Israeli army began its harsh assault on Gaza in response to the brutal October 7 Hamas attacks in Israel that killed some 1,200 people. .
On Thursday alone, at least 115 people were killed and more than 750 wounded, according to witnesses and the Gaza Health Ministry, when Israeli troops opened fire on a crowd seeking help in Gaza City.
But not participating in the elections is not the answer, no matter where you stand on the United States' role in the war between Israel and Hamas—or on anything else, for that matter. It's the only true power we still have as citizens, and if that sounds corny, let's consider what happened this week in Michigan.
It was democracy in action, something many of our parents and grandparents only dreamed of in their home countries.
