{"id":4933,"date":"2012-09-07T15:29:31","date_gmt":"2012-09-07T15:29:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/?p=4933"},"modified":"2012-09-07T15:29:31","modified_gmt":"2012-09-07T15:29:31","slug":"muslim-voters-your-vote-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2012\/09\/muslim-voters-your-vote-matters\/","title":{"rendered":"Muslim Voters – Your Vote Matters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>By Jillian Holzbauer-Frazier<\/strong><\/p>\n

When asked about Republican strategy concerning African American and Latino voters in the upcoming presidential election, House Speaker John Boehner said, \u201cThey may not show up and vote for our candidate but I\u2019d suggest to you they won\u2019t show up and vote for the president either.\u201d\u00a0 When a party\u2019s political strategy rests on the hope that minority voters simply will not vote, it becomes that much more imperative that those voters raise their voices.<\/p>\n

Politics can be an exhausting subject for those of us working on behalf of American Muslims and other minority communities.\u00a0It is easy to feel disillusioned by the political process when even states generally perceived as multicultural beacons, like California, Illinois, and New York, are wrought with xenophobia in both the public and political spheres.\u00a0Prominent politicians treat minority voters, and especially American Muslim voters, as pawns to be seen and not heard; they want our votes, but not our voices.<\/p>\n

Yet, the Brookings Institute, one of the nation\u2019s leading independent public policy research organizations, declared in a May 2012 article <\/a>that minorities will decide the 2012 U.S. election results.\u00a0The presence or absence of minority voters in the upcoming election is important not only from the perspective of performing one\u2019s civic duty, but because it will literally determine the future of our country.<\/p>\n

If we allow cynicism to take root and convince us that voting is fruitless, or writing to our representatives is pointless, or running for office is hopeless, we only create a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure.\u00a0Our collective voices can create a future that embraces both diversity and unity; our silence only paves the way for continued ignorance.<\/p>\n

But we will not be silent.<\/p>\n

We watch with trepidation as the tides of bigotry rise in our country, but know that the desperation of the extremists, ugly as it is, signals the sunrise.\u00a0Hope is peaking the horizon, and it is ushered along by those willing to speak up and stand up for the rights of minority communities.\u00a0American Muslim participation in the political process is vital, because it lends to the chorus of voices that together make our nation what it is meant to be.<\/p>\n

Jillian Holzbauer -Fraizer is CAIR-Oklahoma\u2019s first communications director. She has worked with various community-based organizations and projects to support local business, art, and music.\u00a0 In 2011, Holzbauer organized a statewide conference in Stillwater on Islamophobia and its implications for civil and human rights.\u00a0 She is also a founding member of the Amnesty International chapter in her native city of Tulsa, Oklahoma. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jillian Holzbauer-Frazier When asked about Republican strategy concerning African American and Latino voters in the upcoming presidential election, House Speaker John Boehner said, \u201cThey may not show up and vote for our candidate but I\u2019d suggest to you they won\u2019t show up and vote for the president either.\u201d\u00a0 When a party\u2019s political strategy rests […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":590,"featured_media":4934,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[347,72,346,26,27,343,344,345,348],"class_list":["post-4933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","tag-2012-presidential-election","tag-american-muslim","tag-democrat","tag-islam","tag-muslim","tag-muslim-voters","tag-political-process","tag-republican","tag-viting"],"yoast_head":"\nMuslim Voters - Your Vote Matters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By Jillian Holzbauer-Frazier When asked about Republican strategy concerning African American and Latino voters in the upcoming presidential election,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2012\/09\/muslim-voters-your-vote-matters\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Muslim Voters - 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