Ilhan Omar member House of Representatives in Minnesota, Photo by Lorie Shaull via Wikimedia Commons
A new organization is seeking to motivate and train Muslim Americans to boost their participation in grass-roots politics, especially through greater representation.
Jetpac, a political advocacy center named after justice education and technology, launches a nationwide campaign on Friday.
The organization says its work will center around teaching about justice, education and technology with a goal to build the American Muslim civic base.
“We’re striving for fair representation of minority communities – especially our Muslim communities and allies – at the local, state and federal levels,” the group says on its website.
Nadeem Mazen, a city councilor in Cambridge, Massachusetts, leads the effort.
“Every community has its political wake-up call … that time for Muslims has come,” Mazen said in a recent interview, according to a Reuters report.
Mazen is launching the campaign amidst challenges of a new divisive political landscape that has been characterized by rhetoric and some violent attacks against members of community in the wake of terrorist attacks in the United States and other Western countries. As part of his campaign promises, President Donald Trump has restricted travel to the United States from seven predominantly Muslim countries . The Trump Administration has also said travel restrictions do not mean a ban on Muslims but a pause to figure out a tighter vetting process.
An example of American pluralism came to the fore in 2016 election, when mainstream Americans voted in large numbers to elect Ilhan Omar, a Somali American to Minnesota House of Representatives.
But the group’s work identifies a key problem Muslim Americans, who are said to number around four million, face – a lack of grassroots political organization and scant representation in local political processes.
“We teach everyone from highschool students to young professionals to empty-nesters how to organize on the local level. Through organizing, our trainees learn to apply the Muslim community’s numbers, votes, and dollars towards social justice and service causes. Through this organizing work, trainees also learn all the skills you’ll need to one day run for office,” the Jetpac says.
