Arab and Muslim Americans and about 60 percent of all Americans have for months wanted US President Joe Biden to pressure Israel to agree to an immediate ceasefire in the war in Gaza. The White House has practically ignored them.
So Arab and Muslim Americans decided to show their political strength by using their electoral power in critical swing states in this year's presidential election. In December, community leaders from nine potentially swing states gathered in Dearborn, Michigan, under the banner “Drop Biden, ceasefire now.” They vowed not to vote for Biden in the November presidential election unless he changes his policies that enable Israel's genocidal attacks on Gaza, deprive Palestinians of decent living conditions, and largely ignore the voices of important minority communities in the United States. .
The campaign quickly attracted support in Michigan and other states with large Arab-American communities, along with criticism from Biden supporters who feared the campaign to pressure the president could inadvertently guarantee a victory for Donald Trump.
Arab and Muslim Americans intensified their campaign in February, when degrading articles in the mainstream press helped mobilize even more members of the community.
On February 2, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) published an op-ed by Steven Stalinsky, titled Welcome to Dearborn, America's Jihad Capital, which alleged that “Michigan City imams and politicians are getting on the side of Hamas against Israel and Iran against the United States. “The article branded the entire community as dangerous extremists.
On the same day, a New York Times op-ed by Thomas Friedman metaphorically compared Middle Eastern countries and political actors to jungle animals, including trapdoor spiders and wasps.
Whatever goal these – and other offensive articles and cartoons – were intended to achieve, they inadvertently fueled Arab-American compromises in high-stakes electoral politics. The city of Dearborn, Michigan, singled out by name and maligned in the WSJ article, became ground zero for this effort.
The Michigan community reached out to mobilize on a national level with other marginalized communities that the White House has often ignored – particularly African Americans, Hispanics, progressive Jews, workers, women, college students and others. They came together because they share concerns about foreign policy, as well as the White House's domestic priorities and its opportunistic and selfish citizen engagement.
Activists are demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the implementation of existing legal restrictions on the unconditional aid and weapons that the United States has provided to Israel for decades. They are tired of being ignored by a White House that takes their votes for granted, as well as by the Democratic Party they have helped boost through voter registration drives since the mid-1980s. They are also incredibly frustrated with the often racist mainstream media that misrepresents, demeans, and ignores them.
This week I asked Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud why his city is joining other disaffected American communities in impacting national politics and foreign policy at the highest level. He said: “This is about trust and respect between officials and citizens. We must end the discrepancy we see today between elected officials and citizens' values. There are no possible justifications or qualifiers for genocide or the killing of babies and civilians on such a large scale. None at all.”
In our conversation and his public statements, Hammoud explained how American foreign policy and media coverage directly impacts ordinary citizens.
“It's personal for us, as some of our families have experienced the Israeli occupation or wars, or volunteered in refugee camps,” she said. “When foreign policy decisions directly impact the well-being of Dearborn residents, it is irresponsible to walk away from difficult political conversations that can lead to saving the lives of innocent men, women and children.”
Hammoud was clear about his community's demands: “We want action, not words.”
But so far, Arab and Muslim Americans have mostly gotten words. Concerned about the “Leave Biden” campaign, the president's campaign staff approached local leaders about meeting, but they declined. They insisted that they wanted to speak with policymakers in the White House. And it worked.
Biden quickly sent several of his staff to Michigan, including Jon Finer, principal deputy national security adviser; Tom Pérez, senior advisor to the president and director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs; and Samantha Power, director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
But after the meetings nothing changed again. The Arab and Muslim American community received more kind words and no action.
So as Biden kept weapons and money flowing for Israel's attack on Gaza, community leaders, including US Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, decided to raise the stakes. They launched the “Listen to Michigan” campaign, which asks “people of conscience” to list themselves as “uncommitted” in the presidential primaries on Tuesday, February 27. This tells Biden and the party that they must listen to the concerns of citizens, and win their votes, or risk losing in state and presidential elections.
Community leaders and activists dare to do this because they enjoy unprecedented influence thanks to the size and distribution of Arab and Muslim American voters in swing states like Michigan, where elections are hotly contested. Michigan is home to more than 300,000 Arab-Americans. Trump won the state by fewer than 11,000 votes in 2016 and Biden in 2020 by 154,000 votes, including many cast by Arab-Americans. Biden also won by 10,500 votes in Arizona, where 60,000 Arab Americans live, and by 11,800 votes in Georgia, where 57,000 Arab Americans live.
Veteran Arab-American activist James Zogby, co-founder and president of the Arab-American Institute, told me that this burst of action builds on 40 years of community capacity building across the country. He captures the mindset of Arab Americans that “is moving from the paralysis and despair of the early 1980s to today's feeling that we can control our destiny.”
The other partners in the informal coalition to change American policy add influence. The large United Auto Workers Union of Michigan has called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, recalling how it had also opposed apartheid in South Africa. The African Methodist Episcopal Church also demanded an immediate ceasefire and called the attacks on Gaza “massive genocide.”
Progressive groups, such as US Senator Bernie Sanders' Our Revolution, have also joined the “Listen to Michigan” campaign.
Mayor Hammoud told me that coalitions of minority communities have always worked together on shared causes at the local level. But he added: “I have never seen a paradigm shift on the Palestine question like we see today, with up to 80 percent of Democrats and 50 percent of young people supporting the ceasefire we called for.”
An Arab-American who has advised the White House in recent years also told me that the community's new political influence “is unexpected, unknown and unprecedented.”
Indeed it is, and Tuesday's Michigan primary should reveal precisely how impactful they could be – and whether they can moderate America's war abroad by acknowledging their citizens at home who take seriously that their system of government is anchored in “ the consent of the governed.” .
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Al Jazeera.
