Arab Americans at the DNC: A Community's Political 'Coming of Age'

Charlotte, NC – Some 55 Arab American committee members and delegates representing 21 states will join their fellow party members this week at the Democratic National Convention. The number of Arab Americans representing their states at the DNC supersedes any other year. A record nine Arab Americans delegates representing Michigan, an important battleground state where the Arab American population in key districts is likely to have an effect on whether or not the state will go to President Obama or Governor Mitt Romney. For the Arab American community, the the 2012 convention marks an Arab American political “coming of age,” and widespread “acceptance of the Arab American community by all levels of the Democratic Party’s leadership,” said Arab American Institute President Jim Zogby.

Zogby further stated: Our hard work and perseverance has brought us from exclusion to being respected and recognized as part of the mainstream of the Democratic Party. But we also go to this convention knowing that real challenges remain. Arab Americans still face serious threats to our civil liberties and our voices are desperately needed in the national debate over America’s still one-sided and misguided foreign policy.

For information on Arab Americans at the convention, visit AAI’s DNC web page