Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud has heard a lot of political commentary on former President Donald Trump’s election victory.
Mr. Trump flipped Michigan, winning nearly half the vote in a key battleground state that favored Mr. Biden by 154,000 votes in 2020. In Dearborn, the country’s largest city with a majority Arab-American population, Trump won more than 42% of the vote, followed by Vice President Kamala Harris with 36% and Green Party candidate Jill Stein with 18%.
Hammoud said some “really awful” explanations are coming from experts, who focus on how certain communities will vote before Election Day and then vice president Kamala Harris. blamed Latino, Muslim, or Arab American voters for their defeat.
“If you don’t know our stories, if you don’t know our names, if you don’t know the names of our ancestral home villages, if you don’t know the names of the families we have buried or had to say goodbye to, If you don’t know the name, then you don’t know what happened,” he said.
Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud kicked off the city’s first Coffee Week at Peace Park West as community members gathered to celebrate Yemeni coffee. The photo was taken on November 8th. Photo: Frances Kai-Hwa Wang/PBS News
Hammoud, who did not voice his support before the election, has consistently expressed feelings of sadness and betrayal from Muslims, Arab Americans, and many in the justice movement over the Biden administration’s handling of the Gaza war. and rose to the top. The problem is serious, according to a poll by the Arab American Institute and the Yaqeen Islamic Institute. Voters were also frustrated by inflation and the pressure on salaries.
“Obviously, that call was never heard or picked up by anyone,” Hammoud said.
Read more: Divided over who to support, Muslim and Arab American leaders offer mixed support or no support at all
Although they did not expect much change on this issue during President Trump’s second term, Dearborn residents said they will continue to rely on each other and who in the White House will be responsible for changing course on Gaza and Lebanon. The MENA American Chamber of Commerce, which represents some Dearborn entrepreneurs with interests in the Middle East and North Africa, sent a letter to President Trump on Nov. 8 urging him to keep his pre-election promise for an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon and Palestine. I asked. .
The White House is only part of the story. In addition to Trump’s victory, Democratic U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who represents Dearborn and Dearborn Heights and received 70% of the vote, was reelected.
Hammoud said understanding begins by talking directly to people who live in communities like his, rather than just focusing on school district data. Democrats in particular need to “take a moment to pause and really reflect on what happened and understand what we need to do to prepare.”
Read more: How Harris and Trump are appealing to voters in battleground state Michigan
As leaders reflected on the election results and what lies ahead, PBS News asked Muslim and Arab American voters how they felt post-election.
community pressure
Nancy Hubhub, an educator and lifelong Democrat, said she’s relieved the election is over, but a little nervous about what’s to come.
“It was a lot of pressure on the community,” she said.
Hubhub voted for Biden in 2020, but was reluctant to vote for either Trump or Harris this time, although some family members voted for Trump.
“While genocide is happening overseas, it doesn’t make sense that my cousins and relatives are being bombed, and that they are using the people’s taxes, our taxes, to do so,” said Habhab, who was born in Lebanon. spoke. that.
Read more: What Michigan’s ‘uncommitted’ voters want
With President Trump inaugurated in January, she hopes wars and the climate will change, but says, “I know how Trump feels. I know he’s a narcissist.”
Hubhub said Harris isn’t listening to the community. If she had listened, or if the government had stopped what it was doing overseas, she thinks more people would have tried to help her.
I don’t feel like I’m being listened to
Siham Awadah Jaafar was disappointed that the Democratic Party did not allow Arab Americans to take center stage at the national convention.
“As an American, I don’t feel heard. As an Arab American, my opinion has never been heard.”
“I don’t think people were listened to at all during this process. I think it’s been a whirlwind,” she said. “As an American, I don’t feel heard. As an Arab American, my opinion has never been heard.”
Awadah Jaafar, CEO of 3D Consulting and Communications, which specializes in diversity training and cultural competency programs, says Israel’s wars in Gaza and Lebanon — “and it’s a huge It’s a genocide.” He also worries about the trillions of dollars of U.S. tax money spent on bombings. Mobilize civilians and expand territory for “land grabs” and colonization.
She doesn’t know what Trump’s second term will look like, but given his history, she expects it to be a bit of a struggle depending on who he puts in his Cabinet and who makes key decisions. Ru.
Read more: Decades after the ‘Arab Question’, Muslims and Arab Americans are leading political change in metro Detroit
“My philosophy is that we just try to do what we can in our corner of the world to make things better and more positive. And I hope that little by little it makes a difference. ” she said.
I hope that the next administration will drastically reform its election campaigns and create more diversity.
“We’re a country of diversity. We’re a nation of immigrants. Diversity is very, very important. People need a seat at the table. We need diverse voices at the table.” she said.
Hasan Awadah Jaafar and Siham Awadah Jaafar of Dearborn, Michigan, feel that their voices were not heard in this election, and that people feel left out and socially and economically divided. I am concerned that this is happening. Photo courtesy of Siham Awada Jaafar
Siham’s husband, Hasan Jaafar, is a former high school principal in Dearborn. He is concerned about students and their children excelling, as he feels that education is the most important factor for social mobility, but he still feels that students are “indebted with (student loan) debt.” “I am troubled by this.”
He also worries that people feel marginalized and socio-economically divided, which is an ongoing problem for both Republicans and Democrats.
“Why aren’t we investing in the future of education in this country? Do we want education to be a privilege or a right? “It’s public education up to grade level,” he said.
There remains work to be done on both sides to resolve the issue, he added.
“We are talking about becoming the moral compass of the world,” he said. “Maybe we were post-World War II. Now we’re anointing ourselves as the world’s police officers, and we’re spending billions and trillions of dollars to secure that position. But with that position comes responsibility…Why doesn’t this country, by far the richest in human history, offer a free college education to all students? ”
WATCH: Dearborn mayor: ‘Door was pried open’ for Harris to address complaints about Gaza
Looking forward, he is hopeful that President Trump’s term will be fact-based, conciliatory, and moving in a positive direction at home and abroad.
“Many innocent civilians are being massacred in the Middle East,” Jaafar said. “We need to ensure that our end of the deal is respected in terms of bringing a just peace to the Palestinian people and Lebanon.”
become more politically active
Zarina El-Amin has heard a variety of reactions among Muslim Americans, ranging from fear and disappointment to anger and abandonment.
“I am not shocked, surprised or hurt by the election results,” she said. “But now, at age 45, I realize that these people and their laws and policy changes are really impacting my children and their children.”
Zarina El-Amin has vowed to become more politically active after hearing mixed reactions among Muslim Americans. Photo courtesy of Zarina El Amin.
Based in Metro Detroit, El Amin is a cultural anthropologist and founder of Legacy Keepers, a company that helps community elders write and publish books.
Up to this point, she had not been very politically active in her adult life. That is about to change.
“We have to act, we all have to organize and find ways to improve society,” she said. “We cannot become indifferent and leave it to others.”
“I don’t know yet what direction it will take me, but that’s my responsibility,” she added.
voting for political power
“People in our community went to vote with Gaza in their hearts, and that decided this election,” Amer Zaar said.
He said the election results were a historic opportunity for Arab American voters, “not because they like Donald Trump, but because they had to make their voices heard.” said.
“And now, hopefully, we have secured political power for a generation,” he added.
Read more: Why Michigan now offers Arabic ballots and what this means for U.S. voter access
Mr. Saar is a Palestinian-American lawyer, comedian, and professor who just became the first Palestinian-American elected to the Dearborn Public Schools Board of Education.
He said that contrary to the idea that Arab Americans would stay home and not vote, Arab Americans actually went to vote because “we are the voices of those who don’t have a voice. Because he was a spokesperson for the families who suffered.” Literally go home. ”
A lawn sign in Dearborn, Michigan, with a picture of a Democratic donkey reads, “Four votes Kamala is four votes genocide.” Photo by Francis Kaifa Wang/PBS News
Turnout in Michigan was actually higher this year than in 2020 because people want their voices to be heard, he said.
“A lot of people thought we were going to wholeheartedly reject the Democratic Party,” Saar said. “Democrats won every partisan election held in Dearborn except for president. So our vote was for policy, not party.”
Saar hopes political parties recognize that they cannot take the Arab American community for granted.
“We’re not magically in the Republican Party right now,” he said. “We’re not celebrating Trump’s victory today, but we’re celebrating our political power.”