Posted on 05/07/2002 1:27:06 PM PDT by swarthyguy
NEW JERSEY, May 7 (IslamOnline) - In a country with only six Congressional Representatives of Arab descent, and none Muslim, Akram Yosri is campaigning to be the first American Muslim member of the U.S. Congress.
Yosri, a 40-year old, Egyptian-born Muslim currently serving as a professor of Information Technologies and Business at New York University (NYU), is seeking to win the Republican congressional seat for New Jersey's Fifth District. He has lived in Bergen County, New Jersey, for 20 years.
Yosri is currently running as a "moderate Republican" according to his Chief of Staff, Diala Pharaon, against three other Republicans in the primaries. He is considered fiscally conservative and a social moderate.
"He has a very good chance of winning," Pharaon went on to tell IslamOnline.
Yosri is running in a district where 91% of the constituents are affluent white Americans. Only 9% of the voters in the Fifth District are minorities and only 1% of those are Muslim. But Yosri asserted that his goal is to ensure that American Muslims have a voice in Congress.
Previously asked whether his ethnicity and faith were obstacles to his being elected to Congress, Yosri said, "I am an American. And I will fight for issues in the Congress that are important to my fellow Americans. The people of my district care about improving our economy, making our schools the finest in the world, offering the best healthcare for the elderly, and ensuring homeland security. And this is what my candidacy is about. America has given me so much. It's time for me to give back."
"And, frankly, I see my ethnicity and faith as an asset because as an immigrant, I am uniquely qualified and would be uniquely credible in communicating the beauty of America to the rest of the world, particularly the Middle East," he asserted.
He did go on to tell IslamOnline that the Muslim community has a unique window of opportunity to have a voice in Washington, D.C. He also stated that he sees a new pro-activity among the younger American Muslim generation.
"The younger college students are excited about my candidacy. They are coming to the campaign office and getting involved."
He stated that he hopes he would serve as an example to other American Muslims, specifically the younger generation. "If I succeed, chances are they will succeed too."
Yosri's platform currently rests on three factors: the economy, education and senior citizens. Yosri seeks to eliminate capital gains, make the cost of higher education tax-deductible and to extend health coverage for women - as well as to reform Medicare so that senior citizens would have their prescription costs covered.
He is also regarded as a proponent of empowering women and has won the endorsements of the largest Republican women's organization in the region, as well as the support of the former head of the Division of Women in New Jersey, which are to be announced at his fundraising dinner Tuesday.
Yosri is set to attend a fundraising dinner held in his honor Tuesday in New York. The event is set to serve as a "meet and greet" where members of the community can donate badly needed funds and support to help Yosri's campaign.
Yosri is also known to support the overthrowing of Saddam Husseins regime in Iraq, and asserted to IslamOnline that one of his goals is to foster democracy in the Middle East, as well as to lift the sanctions on the Iraqi people.
"My view has been very clear. The sanctions have been in place for over a decade and they have not worked and not produced the desired results.
"[We] must restore dignity to Iraqi people by removing the tyrant regime. And we must bring Iraq back into the international community and alleviate the suffering of the Iraqi people," Yosri continued.
"Make no mistake about it. I want to spread the seeds of democracy of democracy in Iraq, the entire Middle East and the world."
He also reiterated that the American Muslim community must become more proactive in the political arena. "In order for someone like me to be elected to Congress, the [American Muslim] community has to step up. We have a unique opportunity to have a voice in Congress. We need to become involved and support our candidates, financially and otherwise, in order to help us gain that voice."
There are several Muslims representing their communities at the state level. If elected, Yosri would become the first Muslim congressional representative on a national level.
The race for the Republican nomination for Congress in the fifth district took an unexpected turn on Thursday when Assemblyman DAVID RUSSO won a stunning victory tonight at the Bergen County Republican Convention, defeating State Senator GERALD CARDINALE by ten votes for the GOP organization line, 271-261. Assemblyman SCOTT GARRETT finished third with 27 votes. College professor AKRAM YOSRI received 3 votes, with no votes for financial analyst RICHARD PETERSON or BRIAN FOX.
This district (Congressional 5th) is a pretty heavy race between Cardinale and Garrett. The only reason I can see why he's remaining is to boost his name recognition for a later run. (NJ Assembly and Senate are up again next year.)
Well, it is not going to work with me. I don't care how "honorable", or how great he sounds - if he is a Muslim, he is not to be elected to any position of power because of what their religion teaches - "kill the non-believers".
AMERICAN MUSLIM ALLIANCE
>From Strategic Thinking To Concrete Results
3550 Mowry Ave. Suite 302
Fremont, Ca 94538
510-742-1126 (Phone)
510-744-1844 (Fax)
FIFTY (50) STATES DELEGATE SELECTION INFORMATION
NUMBER OF REPUBLICAN DELEGATES FROM YOUR STATE
Each slot means one more opportunity for you.
Party laws mandate that at least fifty percent of the delegates must be women
Even a better chance for American Muslim women activists
This year roughly 4, 400 Democratic delegates and 2, 200 Republican delegates will participate in the process of deciding the presidential nominee of their respective parties.
So far few American Muslims have participated in this process. In 2000, American Muslim from all over the United States need to run and get elected as Democratic and Republican delegates to the National Democratic and Republican Conventions.
Here is the Republican, state by state, delegate allocation table.
This information will enable community leaders and organizers, as well as, individual activists in identifying windows of opportunity for American Muslims.
Please review your own state and have qualified Muslim Americans run as both delegates and delegates-at-large. A MINI GLOSSARY is given at the end of this message.
I can't put my finger on what it is, but I just don't trust these men with women's rights issues long term. How long before they're calling for the wearing of the Burqa or Chador and implementation of Sharia?If the fundamentalist Christians haven't been able to do this, the fundamentalist Moslems sure won't be able to.
-Eric
They might vote Republican, but how long before they make women wear that awful black sheet thing? People love to condemn the 'right wing Christian fundies' for their conservative beliefs regarding women but say *nothing* about the Muslim beliefs regarding women (which are even MORE extreme than any Christian fundie could imagine).If they start pushing for that, we'll fight them and they'll lose just like Wildmon and his ilk do. But with 7 million people out of 250 million, that's not really a concern yet.
-Eric
I agree, but at the same time, we must hold those who have directly or indirectly supported or encouraged these murder-suicide bombers accountable, and we must win the war we are fighting right now.This is true, but treating US citizens as suspects because of their race and/or religion, as some here are apparently doing, is not only against everything America stands for, it risks turning friends into enemies.
The Democraps will be more than happy to get their votes. Had they gotten them in Florida, Algore would be President :shudder:.
-Eric
I agree (so call ME a racist if you wish). As far as I'm concerned, Islamics everywhere must now be regarded as the enemies of Democracy, Freedom, and Western culture and religion. Even Islamic U.S. citizens are "suspect" until they prove themselves otherwise...Ohhh yeahh.....guilty until proven innocent is such an integral part of "Democracy, Freedom, and Western culture and religion", isn't it?
-Eric
It's all in the meaning of words isn't it. What is the ideology of his district?
Why doesn't someone ask ole Arafat if he thinks ONE SINGLE person in Israel is a "Civilian" What do you want to bet, he considers EVERY person in Israel a combatant. The media is STUPID.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.