Why American Muslims cannot afford to vote third-party this election
By Dawud Walid
After much deliberation as an American Muslim of African descent, I have made the extremely difficult decision to vote for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the upcoming American presidential election. I voted for Senator Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary, and publicly proclaimed that I was not going to vote for Clinton after Sanders lost. I flirted briefly with the idea of supporting Libertarian candidate and former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson then considered voting for Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein. Though I voted for a third party candidate in the 2012 election, not President Barack Obama, I view the threat of a Donald Trump presidency to be so grave for American Muslims, that I simply cannot squander my vote for Stein at this point.
My vote for Clinton does not mean that I agree with many of her domestic and foreign policy stances. On the contrary, I find her record on supporting bad trade deals, close relationships with Wall St. bankers, aggression towards Libya, unconditional support for Israel and a number of other matters in her long political career to be deplorable. Although she has made a few bigoted comments in the past about people of color, including her infamous 1990’s “super predator” statement about young African American males, I do not see Clinton as a flaming xenophobe nor a staunchly idealogical Islamophobe.
Trump, however, is a different story.
Not only has he emboldened white supremacists in American society and made xenophobic comments about plans to build a wall on the U.S. – Mexican border, he has made a number of dangerous statements relating to Muslims which could be instituted through executive order, should he be elected. Some of his key policies directed towards Muslims residing in America are more than just hyperbole; they are informed by a well organized anti-Muslim effort which seeks to criminalize the American Muslim community.
One such example of the dangerous road which Trump has embarked upon is through the misguidance of Lebanese American Maronite “counterterrorism expert” Walid Phares, who is a key player in America’s Islamophobia network. Outside of his former ties to Christian militias which committed atrocities in Lebanon in the 1980’s, to his fear-mongering over the Iranian nuclear energy program, Phares’ main crusade is the actual criminalization of many mainstream American Muslim organizations and through extension, certain religious leaders and activists, under the guise that they are part of a foreign controlled network.
The fact that Trump has already floated the idea that he would close mosques which support extremists as defined by the likes of Phares is no laughing matter. In 2009, during the Obama administration, the Department of Treasury seized assets of the Alavi Foundation which also involved the unprecedented closure of mosques based upon their affiliation with Iran. It is not an exaggeration that a Trump presidency poses an eminent risk to the existence of a number of prominent American Muslim organizations and mosques. Trump in the White House poses the potential of what took place to the Alavi Foundation times a thousand percent in impact.
So for this reason, as well as the next president having the authority to nominate federal judges, (including Supreme Court Justices) I feel compelled to vote for Hillary Clinton. With that being said, I am also committed to organize for the issues which I believe in on day one of her presidency, if she is elected. A Clinton administration cannot be given a pass as how the American Muslim community unstrategically gave the Obama administration an early pass.
I know that a Clinton presidency will not be good, but I believe that Trump is so dangerous for the American Muslim community that not voting for Clinton is like standing in front of an oncoming train.
