GOP needs inclusive tone beyond immigration reform

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http://blogs.detroitnews.com/politics/2013/01/29/gop-needs-inclusive-tone-beyond-immigration-reform/

GOP needs inclusive tone beyond immigration reform

Comprehensive immigration reform will most likely pass in Congress this year due to the political reality facing the GOP in presidential politics.

America is quickly becoming a browner nation, and GOP national leadership knows that it can never win a presidency again by alienating people of color, save gerrymandering and voter suppression on steroids.

Given that Latinos are the largest immigrant demographic nationwide, Republicans are casting their bets that championing immigration reform will make them appear less xenophobic. Thus, they hope to win substantially more brown votes in 2016. There are few assumptions, however, in this political calculation.
Such a calculation assumes that this one issue will trump other concerns that many Latinos have with the GOP’s platform on education funding, gun (non)control and reproductive rights. Latinos are far from a monolithic in their voting concerns nor are they one issue voters.

The immigration reform overture also assumes that Latinos will ignore racist and xenophobic rhetoric that has come overtly but more often subtly from the GOP, which targets other minorities. I’m not sure how many Latinos will buy that there has been fundamental change in a party whose national leadership was mum while making boogeymen out of Muslims, Arabs and South Asians during the whole anti-sharia bill movement that has swept across America in the past two years.

The GOP needs a complete tone recalibration from its posture since 9/11 if it hopes to slowly convince people of color that they are indeed an inclusive party. Having a Latino face here and a Black face there in the party doesn’t equal inclusion for the masses. This means Republicans should have zero tolerance for birtherism, anti-Muslim fear-mongering and code language which alienates Black Americans if they indeed wish to look more inclusive, a la New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

The tone around comprehensive immigration reform thus far has been civil. Will the GOP continue this for the next three years to win back Latinos and other people of color at the polls is the real question.

Dawud Walid

Dawud Walid is currently the Executive Director for the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI), which is a branch of America’s largest advocacy and civil rights organization for Muslims in America. Walid is a preacher of the Islamic religion, who delivers weekly sermons at various mosques throughout Michigan.

 

DawudWalid

Dawud Walid is currently the Executive Director of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI), which is a chapter of America's largest advocacy and civil liberties organization for American Muslims and is a member of the Michigan Muslim Community Council (MMCC) Imams Committee. Walid has been interviewed and quoted in approximately 150 media outlets ranging from the New York Times, Wall St Journal, National Public Radio, CNN, BBC, FOX News and Al-Jazeera. Furthermore, Walid was a political blogger for the Detroit News from January 2014 to January 2016, has had essays published in the 2012 book All-American: 45 American Men on Being Muslim, the 2014 book Qur'an in Conversation and was quoted as an expert in 13 additional books and academic dissertations. He was also a featured character in the 2013 HBO documentary "The Education of Mohammad Hussein." Walid has lectured at over 50 institutions of higher learning about Islam, interfaith dialogue and social justice including at Harvard University, DePaul University and the University of the Virgin Islands - St. Thomas and St. Croix campuses as well as spoken at the 2008 and 2011 Congressional Black Caucus Conventions alongside prominent speakers such as the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Congressman Keith Ellison. In 2008, Walid delivered the closing benediction at the historic 52nd Michigan Electoral College in the Michigan State Senate chambers and gave the Baccalaureate speech for graduates of the prestigious Cranbrook-Kingswood Academy located in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Walid was also a featured speaker at the 2009 and 2010 Malian Peace and Tolerance Conferences at the University of Bamako in Mali, West Africa. He has also given testimony at hearings and briefings in front of Michigan state legislators and U.S. congressional representatives, including speaking before members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in Washington, D.C. Walid has studied under qualified scholars the disciplines of Arabic grammar and morphology, foundations of Islamic jurisprudence, sciences of the exegesis of the Qur’an, and Islamic history during the era of Prophet Muhammad through the governments of the first 5 caliphs. He previously served as an imam at Masjid Wali Muhammad in Detroit and the Bosnian American Islamic Center in Hamtramck, Michigan, and continues to deliver sermons and lectures at Islamic centers across the United States and Canada. Walid was a 2011 - 2012 fellow of the University of Southern California (USC) American Muslim Civil Leadership Institute (AMCLI) and a 2014 - 2015 fellow of the Wayne State Law School Detroit Action Equity Lab (DEAL). Walid served in the United States Navy under honorable conditions earning two United States Navy & Marine Corp Achievement medals while deployed abroad. He has also received awards of recognition from the city councils of Detroit and Hamtramck and from the Mayor of Lansing as well as a number of other religious and community organizations.

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