it is their job to earn my vote it is not my job to fall in line Arab and Muslim voters in Michigan are ready to abandon the Democratic party there's nothing worse than genocide there is nothing worse than watching our baby brains Spilled Out day in and day out people uh being buried alive under the rubble there is nothing worse than that any candidate or any political party that has been complicit in providing political cover and material support for a genocide is not worth voting for we're back talking to voters in dearb Michigan home to
the largest arab-american community in the us when we came here last October the Arab Americans we spoke to were adamantly anti-biden now there's a new nominee and an even higher death toll in Gaza we've returned one year later and are asking people how they're planning to vote in the presidential election free free Palestine free free palestin free free free Palestine free free free Palestine Lexus Zan is a Christian Palestinian American activist who grew up in Dearborn my grandparents are all people who have been victims of the 1948 neba my dad's family grew up in yafa
which a lot of people know as current day Tel Aviv a lot of them left Palestine and became refugees because of what happened in 1948 of being displaced out of their homes unjustly unlawfully in a way that was dehumanizing and in a way that's happening to Palestinians in this very moment she says that the demographic in Dearborn has a unique perspective on the election and we see our parents that came from nothing from war torn countries countries that have been War torn by our own tax salaries still come here and create something for their family
and contributed to a society that in a sense has betrayed them when we last spoke to her a few weeks after October 7th Lexus was clear that she would not vote for Joe Biden now that kamla Harris is the nominee she says she and other people in the community don't know who they're going to vote for for president people don't know what to do and two options of a fascist like Trump and Harris who was under an Administration that directly funded this genocide because of the way US presidential elections and the Electoral College are set
up the candidate who wins the most votes in a state usually gets all the states votes in the Electoral College that means certain swing States like Michigan are more likely to sway the election we've been staying for months now that we want them to implement an arms embargo to you know stop supporting the the occupation and the killing of Palestinians and that demand has clearly Fallen under years unfortunately and so it's people almost feel like what what is there to do Lexus is one of the co-founders of The uncommitted Campaign which asked voters to cast
a protest vote against Joe Biden in the Democratic party primaries in Michigan's Primary in February more than 100,000 people voted uncommitted many of them protesting the US government's policy on Gaza but now there's a new nominee and at the end of the day you come down to this reality that there's Harris and there's Tron my biggest thing is I want people to go to the the polls and civically engage and vote but also I want people to understand that what we do outside The Ballot Box is actually far more important than what we do inside
The Ballot Box to Lexis the movement is not just about making change but also creating a space for those affected by the genocide in pain and Trauma and grief we forget to also pause and kind of breathe and really recognize that art and culture can help mobilize people when we met up with her she was preparing a spoken word poem to perform at a rally and when someone asks me where's my smile I tell them I sent it to the children children of Palestine 6,000 Mi away it's in the land where olive trees witness bombings
each and every day where the sun paint Hues on resilient Palestinians who always find their [Music] way Michigan is home to more than 300,000 Arab Americans immigrants from present day Syria and Lebanon came here in the beginning of the 20th century to work in car manufacturing factories and with each outbreak of war and mass displacement in the Middle East more and more Arab immigrants called Michigan home deborn is home to the largest Arab American population in the country you know if you drive down uh just down the street you'll see a lot of Arab American
owned restaurants and businesses this is the home of Arab America while in Dearborn we also reconnected with Adam abuella Adam volunteered for the Biden campaign in 2020 but now Adam says he can't endorse the party this Administration right now um has continued to support Israel with with their actions within the last 11 months and really haven't changed anything so for us you know talking to our families back back home talking to people here in our community were really hurt by this Administration 40,000 people dead uh you know 20,000 children dead this is just too much
uh for any of us to say you know what let's look past this and continue to support the Democratic party when Joe Biden dropped out of the race and kamla Harris became the nominee Adam was initially hopeful but he says he's been disappointed in the campaign statements since then you know we hear a lot of talks about a ceasefire but KLA Harrison everybody they say you know we want a ceasefire but and then what we want to see is a permanent ceasefire the week we traveled to Dearborn the city was hosting Arab con at the
convention Arab political leaders and organizers were discussing the community's role in this year's election Arab and Muslim voters overwhelmingly supported the Democratic party in 2020 an estimated 69% of them voted for Biden in the last election that helped Democrats in Michigan where margins have historically been slim obviously to state that Donald Trump only won by 10,000 votes in 2016 and we we just saw 101,000 people vote uncommitted uh so this is definitely a state that democrats should be paying attention to you know I know right now in the in the polls KLA Harris is up
but guess what Hillary Clinton a week before elections was up 10% in Michigan and she ended up losing to Donald Trump by 10,000 votes now a recent National poll puts kamla Harris's support with the Muslim Community at 30% and that's tied with the percentage of Muslim Americans who say they're planning on voting for Jill Stein and the green party and that number includes Adam you know the Arab and Muslim Community knows very well what a trump presidency looks like many people in this community were impacted by the Trump presidency he is a threat to our
country he's a threat to our democracy see we also need to talk about kamla Harris being a threat to our democracy and the Democratic party being a threat to our democracy as it stands right now I'm going to vote for Joe Stein right now we have a choice between candidates who have been continuous supporters of Netanyahu and and the genocide that's going on and we also have a candidate who has called us a genocide I really don't understand why Democrats would think that out of the three candidates we would go with them and some of
the people we spoke to At arabc Con echoed Adam sentiment I'm a registered Democrat but I am voting for Jill Stein it's important to show that the two options that we're presented with aren't necessarily our only two options I'm definitely not voting for genocide so I definitely will be voting for an independent candidate who supports my belief if we give away that principle which is what we would be doing by voting for Harris or or Trump for that matter then we've acquiesced to genocide the Democratic part's refusal to hold Israel accountable has even caused longtime
supporters to question their loyalty Ali dager is a Lebanese American lawyer working in Deerborn he's a lifelong Democrat and has been volunteering in presidential campaigns since the 80s one of the best campaigns I've ever worked on was the Obama campaign I loved it because it was pure pure passion we went to the convention it was amazing to see an African-American uh become president especially with the guys whose name was Barack Hussein Obama has galvanized my kids has galvanized all of us into believing in the the spirit of the the Democratic party and its values we
traveled to Michigan before Israel escalated its attack on Lebanon Israel has killed at least 2,000 people in Lebanon in the past year one of those victims being Lebanese American Kamel Jawad from Dearborn the majority of people of Arab descent in Dearborn have ties to Lebanon including Ali who still has family in the south it's going to be a close election I really don't know how things are going to go I think the AR American Community is likely not to vote for Harris I'm fairly certain of that if the war had stopped a couple of weeks
ago or it stopped a month ago there may have been some time for reconsideration The Killing that's going on in Gaza The Killing that's going on in in the entire region is just wrong there is some amount of betrayal that I felt I I don't know I'm going to vote I'm not going to lie to you in my heart I don't want Trump to win I think he's not just a disaster for Arab Americans but he's also a disaster for all Americans deep in my heart I'm rooting for her Ali's family history is deeply tied
to Michigan's labor unions which are known for having a significant influence on the outcome of Elections Ali's father was a member of the United Auto Workers Union UAW for short which often is vocal in state and federal politics and if it wasn't for him getting a job as a UAW worker would be living in poverty and that's why I'm 100% supporter of Labor I march with them I do whatever I can to be a part of the Union you can't live in this area without being in some form impacted by the UW the union endorsed
kamla Harris for president but also called for a permanent ceasefire in Palestine and Israel we're the grandkids and Children of the UAW and um by calling for an immediate ceasefire ww did stand up and do the right thing and we're hoping that UAW continues to influence the administration while the majority of UAW members voted for Joe Biden in 2020 it's unclear how its endorsement will influence the upcoming election we want a president that's going to tell someone like NYU you know you don't own the United States Congress and we need the American people to regain
the power that has been lost we need our country back that's the problem here is she that person I don't know and that sentiment of I don't know is what we heard a lot at arabc con it's a time in history in American politics where we're choosing from the bottom of the barrel disappointing as an understatement you know for kamla's position on Gaza and at the same time um I think Donald Trump would be disastrous for our country the reality is it is a democratic Administration that is funding and excusing genocide it is a democratic
Administration that is allowing the biggest land grab in the West Bank in 20 years it's really hard to look at somebody in my community and say it's going to be worse the genocide is going to be worse men women and children are being slaughtered and we're paying for it and we're funding it and it's our weapons that's my main issue do I want to stop Donald Trump from becoming president again or do I want to you know vot my conscience and demonstrate also the power of the Arab American and Muslim vote that feeling of uncertainty
is present for Lexus and the uncommitted campaign as well the campaign VP Harris the the administration they have repeatedly said to us that they actually don't want us to mobilize our people that they're willing to put those votes on the table they don't want the resistance in the party they want to be able to navigate and operate in a way where nobody's pushing back against their inhumane and unjust policies the uncommitted campaign refused to endorse any presidential candidate for this election but it also said it would not recommend voting third party if Harris does not
move as it relates to policy I cannot come out and endorse Harris it's just not something I can do and as it relates to third party and I just can't in my good conscience recommend a vote for a third party in my personal assessment voting third party is a vote that's almost serving as a protest vote against people that feel very angry and rightfully so against the decisions that the Democratic party has made but the question I put back on people is what does that decision do for saving Palestinian lives right now some in the
Arab and Muslim Community were angered by the uncommitted campaign's refusal to endorse any Third Party candidate but as more and more Arab and Muslim voters stop being loyal to the Democratic party it could make kamla Harris's path to the White House extremely difficult no matter who wins the presidency in the US Lexus doesn't think US foreign policy in the Middle East will change which is why she says she's focused on the day after the election we far too often react in a moment of Crisis what infrastructure are we building right now so we don't have
to be reactive to things that are happening that we have enough infrastructure built to create influence to create change what are we doing as a community on the very next day after the election to grow our movement and so for me I want to see that movement continue to grow I want to see coalitions build across communities of color across lines of difference to see the influence that movements from the people in the streets to the student encampments to what uncommitted has done to see the influence that it has had on people across not just
our country but the globe and the way people are are are courageously speaking up for Palestine like that's truly a silver lining and that shows me that we're doing what exactly what needs to be done [Music]
