In de Verenigde Staten stemmen relatief veel Amerikaanse moslims traditioneel op de Republikeinse Partij. Hun soms wat conservatievere waarden en geregeld betere economische positie, maakt dat de Republikeinen in hun beleving wat beter bij hen passen dat de Democraten. Zo voerde George W. Bush actief campagne onder de Iraans-Amerikaanse gemeenschap. Dat het met de nominatie van Donald Trump lastiger wordt om ook dit jaar de Republikeinse presidentskandidaat te kiezen, is helder. Toch laat niet iedereen zich zomaar uit het veld slaan.
Saba Ahmed is advocaat en president van de Muslim Republican Coalition in Washington DC. Zij was de afgelopen week aanwezig op de Republikeinse conventie in Cleveland. Zij zegt tegen Al Jazeera: ´ I feel that conservative Islamic values align with the Republican party, and to the extent that they are being anti-Islamic, anti-Muslim, it is our job to educate them, and to change their hearts and minds about Islam and Muslims. Unless we get involved, they will never change their perspective on us. ´
´Last night´, aldus Saba Ahmed,´ it was awesome to see a Muslim actually give a prayer. I’ve never seen that at the RNC (Republikeinse conventie) so I think we are moving towards the right direction. When he got booed by some, other people stopped them. I think the voices of tolerance and acceptance are louder than the voices of hatred.
Thankfully, I have not had any bad experiences here. Most people come up (to me) and they are very supportive, they’re happy to see Muslims here. The Trump Muslim ban has already been toned down significantly – and I know it’s unconstitutional and illegal – [but] it will never be enacted. It’s just campaign rhetoric that I think we can ignore for the most part.´
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