American Muslims Face Tough Choices, But We Must Refuse to Empower Trump

(RNS) — Determined not to see another after the horrors of Trump’s first presidency, in 2020 I assembled a diverse team of Muslim Americans from across New Jersey to form New Jersey Muslims for Biden. During the 2020 election cycle, we made more than 136,000 calls in collaboration with the Muslim political organizing group Emgage Action, helping more than 50,000 Muslim voters in Pennsylvania turn out. We were part of a broad coalition that had the advantage of winning this election.

I never imagined then that four years later our Muslim community in America would be faced with such difficult choices. Many Muslims view Harris as simply an extension of Biden, a president who seemingly callously financed a war and used American bombs to inflict catastrophic harm on our Palestinian and Lebanese brothers, sisters and children.

As a longtime progressive Muslim American Democrat, I understand this anti-Biden sentiment. Like my community, I feel abandoned and betrayed by a party that stood by silently while civilian men, women and children were attacked en masse in Palestine and Lebanon. Elected Democrats also supported eliminating our free speech rights. Until recently, our elected leaders’ rhetoric, including Biden’s, dehumanized Palestinians and Muslims as terrorists.

As a result, many in our community are voting for Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate, in an attempt to register their opposition and dismantle the two-party system in American politics that shortchanges political debate and ignores the nuances of opinion. However, the data clearly shows that a vote for Stein or any third party is a vote for Trump.

Faced with this difficult election choice, I found myself unable to empower Trump and all he stands for.

I believe we are more likely to achieve more for our Palestinian and Lebanese loved ones, including ending the war in Palestine, with Harris, who called for a ceasefire. Trump has officially announced that he will complete the job in Palestine.and therefore I cannot empower Trump with my voice.

Read the article from the American Civil Liberties Union. Trump’s notesa document detailing how our Muslim and human rights institutions may not survive a second Trump presidency and what the organization plans to do to reduce Trump’s bias. Consider that Trump is on track to cause irreparable damage to our democracy. As an American citizen who cares deeply about our democracy, I cannot trust him with my vote.

In solidarity with our Black Muslim brothers and sisters who I’m raising the alarm Regarding the harm that Trump’s racist rhetoric and policies will cause to their community, I cannot empower him with my vote.

Let’s also not forget the horrors that Trump unleashed on immigrant families and children at our borders and see that Trump cannot be trusted with anyone’s votes.

On a range of domestic issues—the economy, education, health care, student loan forgiveness and more— Harris will focus on diversity, inclusion and equality in her policies.. (Trump wants to get rid of DEI programs across the country.) Harris’s diverse administration indicated that it would include American Muslims.

Although a protest vote may seem pleasant, the election Trump intends to ban Muslims from entering for four years. Let’s not forget that the policy decisions made depend on different people in the administration. Even when Trump sends senior officials to meet with Muslim leaders, they very openly refuse to make any political commitment to our community. Why should we empower Trump with our voices?

People wiser than me have said: when someone shows you who they are, believe them. Trump shares his plans, and I believe him.

Several years ago, when I visited the Holocaust Museum in Washington, I found stories of Muslims helping members of the Jewish community in Germany escape the Holocaust. I wondered if I had been in Germany at that time, would I have been able to help the Jewish community or because, as a single parent of a child with a disability who is completely dependent on me, I would have felt that I could not take such a risk? As I left the museum, I asked myself what I would do if I found myself in this situation. It’s easy for all of us to believe that we would do the right thing.

Since then I have prayed to God that the right action will always be clearly visible and also that it will be easy because I don’t want to face that choice and I hope I never have to face that.

As someone who tries to be guided by what is fair and right, it is not easy to vote for Harris, which may not give us the justice we seek. Achieving a just resolution to this land conflict may take generations, given the power differences in our political reality that we face as advocates for vulnerable Palestinians and Lebanese.

But as a Muslim whose faith runs deep, I am confident that Trump’s empowerment will most certainly mean continued war and harm to our Palestinian and Lebanese brothers, sisters and children, as well as our country’s most vulnerable and marginalized communities. Empowering Trump’s bigoted rhetoric and policies goes against everything Islam teaches us about justice, compassion, and caring for community.

That’s why I plan to vote for Harris on Election Day. I hope you will join me in voting to prevent more injustice here, at home and abroad.

(Afshin A. Shamsi is a national board member of Emgage Action, a national Muslim-American advocacy group that advocates for policies that strengthen pluralistic democracy and protect human rights. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect the views of Religion News Service.)