Loading ...So…Where are our Arab American candidates?
“Our difficulties are in political properties…the failure to institute campaign finance reform,” Executive Director Maya Berry of the Arab American Institute explains when asked about the lack of Arab American representation in politics. While the problems facing Arab Americans are unique, Berry affirms that the community’s problems in the political process aren’t too different from the general American public. “Every constituency faces these problems.”
Issues like the quagmire in the Middle East or a candidate’s stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are reputably ubiquitous staples for the Arab American voter. But the political concerns and views that guide these voters are as entrenched domestically as they are internationally.
Arab Americans also care about healthcare, are invested in education, and want to improve infrastructure and public transportation. As a community by which voter registration passed the national average in 2000, there is no shortage of breadth between both the voters as well as through the wide variety of issues on which they are focused.
With that said, cultural barriers aren’t necessarily an issue affecting Arabs’ participation in the political process. “We know how to sell things,” says Berry. And she definitely has a point: Syrians came to New York and Detroit as door-to-door peddlers, and today, Arab Americans have been prolific doctors, mechanics, lawyers, entertainers, engineers and salesmen. Though the community is underrepresented in the areas of journalism, politics, and public service, Arab Americans continue to direct their efforts and involvement in these fields and domains.
Any issues with Arab Americans and the political process aren’t necessarily a problem of organization and mobilization either. Even Arab American political action committees exist, yet they aren’t ample enough in number or size to significantly affect the campaigns of the candidates they wish to support. The corrosive nature of money in politics, unfortunately, occurs against the interests of the general public, especially Arab Americans pining for reformative policies on immigration to the nation’s support of the Palestinian occupation.
While Arab Americans have garnered national levels of awareness and attention to the community through numerous non-profit advocacy organizations, perhaps these methods of political action fail to go far enough to accurately convey their demands and representation at the legislative level.
In fact, one candidate says the high number of Arab American nonprofits registered as 501(c) 3 organizations could actually work against the efforts of Arab Americans in government. “The community has its hands tied behind its back. The huge number of 501(c) 3 organizations—all well-established—unfortunately prevents candidates from speaking at events and banquets and from organizations from being able to contribute donations to candidates.”
Referring to the restrictions that 501(c)3 nonprofits have in being able to support candidates because of these limitations, the candidate explained that these restrictions, in turn, affect the ability of certain candidates to obtain positions in office that would help instigate legislative changes for better social and foreign policies.
“We have a choice,” said the candidate on the community’s political involvement and mobilization. “Is it more important to be able to write a donation off on income tax or to empower people? A 501(c) 3 simply cannot get involved in the process.”
Candidates from Donald Trump to Bernie Sanders have boasted about the absence of super PAC donations in their campaigns. The super PAC continues to hold an indelible negative connotation; almost interchangeable with thoughts of corruption, division, and dishonesty.
And while the success of a candidate is contingent upon the resources, connections, and funds they accrue on their campaign, a super PAC isn’t necessarily the only way to accomplish that. Yet, while the obstacles that face the community with regards to electing people to office are dually endogenous—within the community, as well as exogenous—from within the political process, their solutions are clear and attainable. “We are missing the boat, but we can get back on…with the right foresight,” the candidate explained. “We who understand the Middle East are in a unique position—and are informed on what needs to be done.”
While numerous reasons, causes, and theories attempt to explain or rationalize the lack of visible Arab American representation in office, a common solution can remedy the ailment of the disproportionately low influence in policymaking the group holds.
Both the candidate, Berry, as well as most in the process would agree, involvement in local elections and efforts, direct grassroots support of local candidates holding views, and a vision compatible with the betterment of the nation, and a heightened awareness of politics from the community (for example, through attendance of town hall meetings) would all be steps that drive both the Arab American community and its affiliates to accomplish its myriad political and social goals.
Julia Kassam/Arab America Contributing Writer