prominent muslim activists and academics endorse bernie sanders.
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The 2016 presidential campaign converges with a critical impasse for Muslim Americans. On one hand, the Muslim American population is believed to be as high as 8 million, and ranks as the fastest growing and most racially diverse in the country. On the other, rhetoric from the right pushing “Muslim bans,” “making the desert glow,” identification of “terrorism” with Islam, and mass deportation dragnets converges with an ever-broadening police state, which isolates Islam and Americanness, and links Muslim identity with presumptive “radicalization”.
At this impasse, Islamophobia is a full-fledged campaign strategy, a political wedge issue, and formal state policy. Mobilized by this, a recent study indicates that 76% of Muslim Americans intend to vote in the 2016 presidential primaries, with 67% registering support for the Democratic Party. While Islamophobia is garnering Republican candidates more votes, it is also pushing Muslim Americans and their allies to the ballot box.
In light of the pervasive fear-mongering emanating from the right, and the commitment to expanded policing from the left, which of the 2016 presidential candidates should Muslim Americans support? Which candidate’s policies are most in line with broader Muslim American values, interests and concerns, particularly given the rising tide of Islamophobia and Muslim scapegoating? Bernie Sanders. By a far stretch. More here.