An old reminder just in time for elections tomorrow:
Muslim voters acquiring more political clout
LOS ANGELES — There are 1.8 million registered Muslim voters in the United States, and that number is predicted to increase with a new generation of young Muslim Americans coming of voting age. Politicians are slowly starting to take notice.
A Democratic forum in Michigan organized by the Arab American Institute in October was attended by all of the Democratic candidates, and Michigan will print its first Arabic language ballots for the upcoming February primary.
A Labor Day convention organized by the Islamic Society of North America included three of the presidential candidates, who showed up uninvited to talk in front of a crowd of more than 30,000.
On the university level, Muslim students are gaining attention as Monday marks the start of Islamic Awareness Week at the University of California at Los Angeles.
Agha Saeed, national chairman at the American Muslim Alliance, said that the increased political importance of Muslim Americans should be expected.
http://www.pbs.org/weta/washingtonweek/voices/200401/0126clout.html
The Rise of Islam in America
Islam lies at a dangerous intersection between race and immigration.
by William Robertson Boggs
Islam is one of the fastest growing religions in the United States. Partly through conversion but mainly through immigration, the number of Muslims has now risen to three or four million. At current rates of increase, there will be more Muslims than Presbyterians within the decade. Early in the next century their numbers may well grow past six million, at which point there will be more American Muslims than Jews.
Islam is not a religion that attracts whites. Although there may be as many as 1,500,000 native-born Americans who have converted to Islam they are, almost without exception, black. Heretofore, black Muslims and immigrant Muslims have had little to do with each other, but they are beginning to build alliances. Militant blacks and Middle-Eastern fundamentalists are discovering common ground, bound together in a religion that, in its extreme forms, strives to dominate all aspects of society.
more...
http://www.amren.com/9311issue/9311issue.html#cover
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