Under siege since 9/11, Arab vote shifts to Kerry

[JoFerret]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/story/0,13918,1328800,00.html

Driving down Michigan Avenue in Dearborn a woman in a chador takes her hand off the steering wheel of her SUV to light a Marlboro. Through the half-open window she exhales smoke and Lebanese pop music. As she turns into Dunkin' Donuts her bumper reveals a frayed sticker: Vote Kerry/Edwards.
Dearborn, a suburb of Detroit, is the hub of Arab America. When the car plants of the Motor City had attracted all the labour they could from African-Americans fleeing tyranny and poverty in the deep south, they went for those fleeing poverty and war from the global south.

And just as African-Americans brought gospel and turned it into Motown, so Arab-Americans are blending the culture of the old country with that of their new home.

You will find more Arab-Americans in California and New York, but you will not find a greater concentration of them than here. One in three people in Dearborn is of Arab origin; Detroit is the biggest Iraqi city outside Iraq.

<more>

[knowbody0]

1. welcome

[PROGRESSIVE1]

2. Welcome to America's Party!

:kick:

[Dancing_Dave]

3. Very Good Article!

Kerry will have to do SOMETHING to actually give the Arab-American's a positive reason to vote FOR him. Kerry's campaign has made the fatal error presuming that, surely, the whole anti-Bush majority will turn out and vote for him in the end. It just ain't so. Unless Kerry immediately corrects this error with Arab-Americans and other forgotten anti-Bush groups, he will ultimately lose to Bush even though Bush will not have an overall majority.

It takes gross negligance to lose against an incumbant who can't even mobilize a majority, but that seems to be where the Kerry campaign is headed. :nopity:

[Merlin]

4. Gotta say, I tend to agree with you.

The K/E campaign is mired in inertia. We need a new shot of adrenaline. How he deals with the Arab vote is a mystery. There seem to be a million different points of view in the US Arab world.