AMATown Hall Meeting
Integral to Community Civic Involvement
By Hazem I. Kira
Mitchell Shamsud-Din and a speaker |
Detroit, Michigan- The American
Muslim Alliance (AMA), a national civic education organization
with 101 chapters, held a town hall meeting Saturday at
the Muslim Center in Detroit, Michigan. Discussed in the
meeting was how to strengthen the democratic structures
and processes within the American Muslim community, increase
community activism, and construct strategies for the upcoming
2005 municipal elections.
Met with great enthusiasm from those attending, a number
of speakers and more than a 100 people filled the community
center in an event that lasted over two hours. The event
included widely known local and national figures within
political circles, including Dr. Riaz Ahmed, Dr. Anwar Mahmood.
Mr. Mitchell Shamsud –Din moderated the meeting.
About 90 percent of the members of the AMA Detroit Chapter
are African-Americans. AMA plans to hold at least one town
hall meeting every other month by rotating the location
to a different city and state.
“While numerous challenges face our community”,
started Dr. Riaz Ahmed, the process of civic involvement
allows individuals and communities the opportunity to bring
about constructive and viable change. The general aims and
purpose of political participation and activism are to insert
the voice of community members into the political decision-making
process, and thus bring about substantive change.
Asked by audience members on what they can and should do,
Dr. Ahmed stressed the importance of civic education and
becoming member of an organization such as the AMA. Such
institutional structures are essential in infusing political
purpose with the political tools to achieve those goals.
To the question of what individuals can do, one audience
member replied that such political organizations could “assign
tasks to the people”.
Attendees agreed that the AMA campaign goal to get Muslim
candidates elected at the city, state, and federal level
is achievable. The AMA stands committed to get qualified
Muslim Americans elected to the US Congress by 2008. They
also resolved that national organizations should prepare
and notify community members, on a regular basis, of important
action items. This list should also be sent to Imams and
other organizations.
At the event, AMA chapter President Mitchell Shamsud-Din
highlighted the importance of choosing activism over political
pacifism. He also stressed the importance of unity of purpose,
not conformity, among American Muslims.
Two attendees at the Town Hall Meeting |
The subject of unity quickly
animated a passionate discussion on how, regardless of school
of thought, race or ethnicity, to employ a united and proactive
strategy to solve shared problems. On the political level,
Muslim unity has been demonstrated by two impressive and
consecutive bloc votes.
In fact, in his book ‘Silent No More’, former
Congressman Paul Findley recorded 72 percent of Muslims
voted for George W. Bush. In 2004, according to a post-election
survey, 93 percent of Muslims voted as a bloc for the endorsed
candidate, Senator John Kerry. The pattern of bloc voting
demonstrates the community’s maturity and recognition
of the strategic importance of a unified action agenda.
Speaking of his own campaign run for local school board
in Michigan, Dr. Anwar Mahmood, challenged the audience
with substantive measures on how to become politically engaged
- joining a political party, becoming a delegate, and working
with local elected officials. “He appeared genuine,”
commented an audience member, “in his willingness
to listen to the audiences and both provide his personal
experiences and recommendations on how to become more politically
responsible”.
AMA Chapter
President Mitchell Shamsud-Din |
Recounting his own election
campaign, Dr. Mahmood stressed to the predominantly Muslim
audience that in his own run, he had received help and votes
not merely from the Muslim community but predominantly from
non-Muslims. “They do support us”, and in fact
“most of the votes I received came from them.”
Workings with all Americans
of like mind, and pledging to protect this nation physically,
intellectually and spiritually have become the ideological
foundation of the American Muslim community. Town Hall meetings,
such as the one in Michigan, are increasingly becoming commonplace
features of the new American Muslim infrastructure as demonstrated
in the 2004 presidential elections which yielded between
70-100 town hall meetings around the country. The concrete
results achieved by such meetings have been significant
- from educating the community on civic issues to influencing
candidates and community decision makers in a bottom up
grassroots community approach.
For more information please contact the AMA Head Office
at 510.252.9858
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