2020 US Elections: The Muslim Vote | TMJ Podcast

12 المشاهدات· 24/06/21

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Over 92 million have already cast their votes, and tensions are high to see who will be the next POTUS. Stores are boarding up their windows in case of riots, and many are left wondering what decision to make. The 2020 US Elections has brought a lot of confusion for the Muslim community. Journalists Zainabrights and Fatima Al-Sayed break down what the candidates represent, their similarities and differences, and how various scenarios may affect the Muslim community.

Links to the sources are pinned as the first comment.

Also available on Sound Cloud Podcasts!
https://soundcloud.com/the-muslim-journalists

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Transcript

[0:00]zainab and i started this podcast because we saw there was a

[0:06]lack in information within the muslim community we saw a lack within

[0:10]a lot of issues and one of the most confusing issues today

[0:13]is the elections exactly i think that you know when we look

[0:20]at the muslim community and the types of things that we're facing

[0:25]in today's day and age um from islamophobia that's just exacerbated due

[0:29]to the current climate um the changes that have taken place due

[0:35]to covid and now the fear that's being perpetrated by the elections

[0:39]you know i i like feel that it's time to have a

[0:46]safe space for muslims to be able to talk about these issues

[0:48]and this is how the muslim journalist was born so fatima i'm

[0:54]really excited to be talking about the elections because i think that

[0:58]a lot of us find ourselves confused you know who to vote

[1:03]for is this it is this the end of our democracy um

[1:05]why are we pressured to vote for only two evils right um

[1:11]and so we'll talk about that soon the lesser of two evils

[1:16]in that concept exactly so are we are we looking at a

[1:18]dystopian future um and is like something you said earlier got me

[1:25]thinking about how fear is raining everyone right like we are fearing

[1:30]oh the virus fearing what could happen if trump comes back we

[1:35]the a lot of people are fearing us as women covered in

[1:39]veils so can you talk a bit about you know that and

[1:44]why it's led to the start of our podcast you know when

[1:48]we speak about fear we always used to mention fear within the

[1:52]media you know they're fear-mongering they're pulling in people by making them

[1:56]scared and making them stay in their homes but now that fear

[2:01]is literally right outside our houses when we put on our masks

[2:04]and we walk outside you know it's fear for our children it's

[2:09]fear for our futures it's fear for our countries um and that

[2:11]has expanded i think over time into um i think during the

[2:18]elections the candidates are playing off of that fear that's already instilled

[2:21]in people people have been isolated for a long time exactly and

[2:25]it's something that gets people i think it's hard to sit with

[2:28]yourself you know especially in this day and age when you have

[2:31]social media right at your fingertips it's very hard for a person

[2:34]to just sit at home and start thinking and really thinking and

[2:40]i think that's what made us want to start this you know

[2:44]because we started thinking um and also i think it's what's making

[2:49]people scared of what's coming next the constant worry of the future

[2:56]of you know the united states of america and the u.s is

[2:59]not something to play with exactly because what happens in this election

[3:06]is going to be what affects things in the future not just

[3:08]in the united states you're not just affecting yourself as a society

[3:11]you're affecting the whole world the global change that's happening exactly and

[3:16]we're here to discuss whether that global change will be better if

[3:20]you look at trump versus looking at biden like who is going

[3:23]to be the better leader and i don't think there's really a

[3:26]clear answer for that yeah and and i think that's that attests

[3:30]to a lot of muslims confusion as to you know who to

[3:35]go with and i think you know today's conversation firstly is going

[3:40]to help both of us who have yet to still vote i'm

[3:43]going to be voting tomorrow um so i'm hoping that you have

[3:47]to decide who to vote for i mean it's a very hard

[3:50]thing and that's what it is people are falling and i think

[3:52]they're like and it's okay that it's hard um and i think

[3:57]that's what we're here for is that you know as both of

[3:59]us as journalists our main goal is to give people informed choices

[4:03]in for information so that they can make the best decisions about

[4:08]their life and i don't think that anyone can pressure anyone to

[4:11]be one way or another because like you said our actions um

[4:16]you know in turn are going to affect a lot of the

[4:20]world a lot of america yeah um i wanted to ask you

[4:25]so what are what are as muslims what are the values that

[4:29]we need to find within the ideal candidate like i know there's

[4:33]no ideal candidate right now but who is the ideal candidate well

[4:36]personally for me i think that you know as we're navigating into

[4:42]a more dystopian future it's giving rise to the idea that we

[4:48]do need a just leader and both of us staunchly believe in

[4:53]imam al-mahdi the most just the most you know just thinking about

[5:00]it makes me tear up because this is something that everyone is

[5:06]now looking for the eyes are searching for a just leader someone

[5:09]who will come and fix everything we don't have that we don't

[5:14]have that in any part of our society and you know as

[5:19]you can see like morality is disintegrating um people's horrid behaviors are

[5:25]coming out and that's something i really um sat with myself and

[5:30]thought that you know trump didn't change anything he just exposed everything

[5:35]yeah um things that already existed he just brought to the surface

[5:38]and sometimes that could be a blessing because only when you realize

[5:44]the problems you realize what it takes to fix it and the

[5:48]question i guess we want to explore today is is biden that

[5:54]solution or is there a greater solution in sight that we need

[5:57]to be talking about and i think part of that question goes

[5:59]to like is biden being elected because of fear of trump or

[6:07]is he being elected because he really is the leader that america

[6:10]is waiting for you know um and i think a lot of

[6:14]us do have an answer to that but it's like you know

[6:18]if you don't vote it's this pressure it's this moral dilemma that

[6:21]people have now like if you don't vote then you're putting us

[6:24]through another four years of trump no but is that really doing

[6:28]us any good i think uh i really liked uh something that

[6:33]i read earlier today it said um it was a muslim man

[6:39]who said that voting for biden is like eating that piece of

[6:45]him that you can only it's only permissible in islam in cases

[6:49]of extreme hunger and when you're about to die and then trump

[6:54]is starvation and death so um it's like you know that's literally

[6:58]how people especially muslims are seeing this election it's like uh ham

[7:06]or starvation pretty like haram or dying exactly haram or dying exactly

[7:12]um so that's our our predicament we're in a pretty big predicament

[7:18]and um and the amazing thing is even though you know muslim

[7:21]muslims make you know one percent of the american population we're very

[7:28]essential in swing states we could swing this whole election oh yeah

[7:32]and um so let's talk a bit about that you know where

[7:36]are we at where are we at currently i mean right now

[7:40]we have over 75 million americans who have already voted and those

[7:45]over the third of them are actually in montana montana is known

[7:49]to be a republican state based on the previous elections but we

[7:54]have also washington state colorado and aragon in terms of muslims if

[8:01]we vote as muslims and come together as a community we can

[8:03]make a huge difference in these swing swing states that you were

[8:06]mentioning which are arizona florida georgia michigan minnesota north carolina pennsylvania and

[8:15]wisconsin and and also in key areas like ohio i think virginia

[8:24]ohio these are michigan i mean hillary clinton uh trump got uh

[8:29]less than 11 000 more votes than clinton even though trump really

[8:33]loves michigan mm-hmm yeah all right um so and that's what what

[8:38]makes a difference is that our vote really does count but how

[8:42]much does it count that's the question we want to ask what

[8:47]do you think what's your opinion well so my opinion what i

[8:53]i don't like is being pressured into voting for just one side

[8:59]over the other for example as muslims a lot of the third

[9:02]party candidates represent a lot of our ideals right um from foreign

[9:06]policy no more wars i think not just muslims but everyone is

[9:12]sick and tired of all these wars imperialism um we don't want

[9:17]any more bloodshed exactly we don't want any more of that and

[9:20]when you look at biden and trump's foreign policy stances and that's

[9:26]something that wasn't discussed very adequately in the debates which when it's

[9:30]such a big issue right and a lot of people don't want

[9:35]to focus on that they want to be like well domestically we

[9:37]have this problem this problem but foreign policy greatly affects that because

[9:42]the budget that they're for example giving to israel or the arms

[9:46]deal in saudi perpetrating the military industrial complex it's all coming out

[9:53]of the budgets that should be helping our people at home so

[9:58]that it's greatly intertwined um but that's something that nobody brought up

[10:02]can we with your question yeah i was just going to ask

[10:05]the bigger question is can we vote third party um will that

[10:09]make a big difference and i think that's the dilemma we fall

[10:14]into is that we have these two parties that are put in

[10:16]the mainstream media and you only think you think you only have

[10:19]these two choices and you think that if you do okay i'm

[10:21]just one person voting third party what's that going to change well

[10:28]i know that you know a lot of people in california for

[10:32]example are voting third party because they think that their vote really

[10:37]doesn't count but i'm from florida so i know that like a

[10:41]third party vote might or pretty much will contribute like to a

[10:44]vote for trump if that makes sense uh because florida is more

[10:52]republican minnesota is more democratic so it's the same way in swing

[10:55]states your vote i think really does count so at the end

[11:00]of the day we need to be thinking that do we want

[11:02]to be pressured by i mean i'm playing devil's advocate i'm not

[11:06]saying do one way or another because right now like in the

[11:10]past i would have been like yeah for sure third party green

[11:13]party green party is something that i feel like like relates the

[11:17]most to my views yeah but this time i'm honestly like i

[11:21]am thinking about a lot of things because as you said you

[11:26]know we as muslims have to also worry about what's going to

[11:29]do the least amount of damage to our society i remember in

[11:35]florida in altamonte i used to live in a very pro-trump neighborhood

[11:38]and shortly after the elections i found myself hurrying my three children

[11:46]into the closet because there was a crazy man waving a gun

[11:49]outside my home and pelting rocks on the glass of my front

[11:55]door and there is real fear there is real fear domestically after

[12:00]the elections after the elections when you know his people i guess

[12:05]got emboldened um and islamophobia that's the question is it going to

[12:09]perpetrate um with trump so can we hear some of your like

[12:15]like back and forth scenarios as to like trump's islamophobia is exposing

[12:25]a lot of things and making people want to stand against him

[12:28]so for example you have organizations like the nba who are making

[12:32]an active stance where they otherwise wouldn't have with biden or with

[12:37]obama because the democratic parties they ins they don't really work through

[12:45]these problems they just stifled them so i don't know it's it's

[12:48]a hard decision but how much is too much like okay that's

[12:54]great if he's exposing everything and he's making everyone take a stance

[12:57]that's fine but what if he starts a huge war with iran

[13:02]like so this is the question here and this is where i

[13:03]sort of i think i have a problem with everything is that

[13:06]trump does everything openly [Music] other presidents as we've seen in the

[13:14]past will sweep things under the rug you know trump i think

[13:18]what he did was um as you just mentioned right now with

[13:20]uh his racist rhetoric what he did was make america really face

[13:26]the i think all the rotten things that are happening within it

[13:32]um and that's something that makes me wonder is it better to

[13:38]have someone who is outright and you know where he stands or

[13:41]is it better to have someone who is like playing the lines

[13:44]yeah because biden definitely plays the line oh yeah i mean before

[13:50]we you know talk about biden's biden's stances i think we have

[13:57]to highlight his hypocrisy you know he's some some people can argue

[14:01]all people change um there are things that he's done in the

[14:04]past for political clout for you know because he was part of

[14:10]other admins and he had to do that but it's going to

[14:11]be much different and i think a lot of people have fooled

[14:15]themselves into thinking that things are gonna you know change overnight when

[14:20]biden becomes president because trump was so horrible and trump was horrible

[14:24]at on one side but we have to give him credit for

[14:29]the economy as well oh yeah so we can talk about that

[14:30]later i think what do you really really sorry just on that

[14:35]point what really derailed the economy um during the trump presidency was

[14:40]kovit you know and there's because it really did create new jobs

[14:42]and really i mean we have to give him credit for that

[14:46]exactly we're speaking impartially about this so um no a lot of

[14:49]people have come up to me and said you know zaynab trump

[14:52]was really good for our business trump was good for this trump

[14:55]was good for so things are going really well for a lot

[14:57]of people until kovit came and uh that's what he was voted

[15:02]in in the first place because he's a businessman because people believe

[15:05]that he can pull up the economy but when it comes to

[15:11]biden i mean this guy voted for the iraq war in 2003

[15:14]um and then he calls it a simple mistake like oops like

[15:19]in 2007.

[15:20]i mean this is millions of lives right he can't just say

[15:26]it's a mistake he has a history of cutting um social security

[15:29]and he says that like he's not going to do that um

[15:34]he's he's saying that he will protect social security and then he

[15:39]also says that he'd never tried to cut it and there's a

[15:41]lot of things that he said that like contradict what he's he's

[15:47]saying he stands for now um even him trying to like appeal

[15:51]to the african american communities i mean in the past he has

[15:57]helped in writing large portions of uh the crime bill which strongly

[16:02]contributed to oppression of african americans um i have a quote here

[16:07]that he said to biden said to [Music] dj charlemagne on the

[16:16]radio station and he said if you have a problem figuring out

[16:20]whether you're for me or for trump then you ain't black like

[16:25]who says like who says stuff like that he said so many

[16:28]things that make you wonder like does he even care about this

[16:31]community um he was he was the principal author of the 1994

[16:35]violent crime and law enforcement act where it's like it's very harsh

[16:41]three strikes you're out billions of dollars towards prison um death penalty

[16:48]offenses and barring inmates from getting a college degree now bill clinton

[16:53]said that his um stances were very harsh but he never like

[16:58]he's always like defended his stances and so that's what makes me

[17:03]wonder like what kind of president he'll be and you know that

[17:06]trump during his presidency um his first step uh act in 2018

[17:11]was to change the prisoning sentence laws which released more than 3

[17:18]100 inmates who were actually innocent um so it's it's kind of

[17:23]this thing where you have so has the media just trumped up

[17:29]trump to a point where he's like this evil guy when biden

[17:31]could be the greater evil let's just play devil's advocate like what

[17:35]if biden is the greater evil yeah man i mean what you

[17:47]know like voting for biden let's talk about biden's stance with like

[17:52]israel and i mean this is a big pro-israel and he's a

[17:55]zionist he said himself that he's a zionist exactly like he said

[17:59]that about himself but then people could argue that you know palestine

[18:05]palestinians everyone outside of america is not american and so our domestic

[18:12]issues have a higher priority than what happens in the middle east

[18:16]for example but then we're kind of torn because as muslims you

[18:19]know the decisions we're making in this country are affecting these people

[18:22]who live outside of the world even if we want to neglect

[18:26]the fact that you know there's a relation you can neglect the

[18:29]fact that this has a direct impact on how they're living their

[18:33]everyday lives and i think as muslims we need to care about

[18:37]these people yeah i think that you know the holy prophet has

[18:41]taught us that the muslims the muslim ummah is like one body

[18:44]right when one part of our body hurts the whole part should

[18:50]hurt and this idea of individualism as you said like living in

[18:53]the west it's kind of made us desensitized to the problems all

[18:57]around us like i don't think we can even imagine what it's

[19:00]like to have a bomb fall not just on our neighborhood but

[19:04]like even our country it happened once and everything changed since 9

[19:12]11.

[19:13]and we see people in yemen and syria they're going through this

[19:15]every single day you know people in lebanon have drones flying over

[19:19]their heads people in iran are sanctioned i don't know how they're

[19:25]affording food and medicine especially in this time of the pandemic so

[19:29]when we look at all these issues plaguing our muslim ummah it

[19:34]should hurt us and we can't just say oh it's just oh

[19:38]it's just stuff here in the west that matters we just have

[19:43]to look at our own family first that is our family these

[19:46]are all our family these are our siblings um one thing that

[19:51]i did want to mention about biden was the watchlist program and

[19:55]a lot of muslims have you know shown their disdain for the

[19:59]watch this program and they've brought it to the attention of the

[20:03]biden campaigns he's made promises to end the watchless campaign but i

[20:08]don't know how true that is i mean this watchlist system was

[20:12]introduced by bush but it was actually applied extensively during obama so

[20:19]are they really two sides of the same coin that's the thing

[20:23]that we need to ask i can't get behind trump and i

[20:26]can't get behind the person who was the right-hand man for obama

[20:31]who was supposedly our hope right when we see him as a

[20:36]black american president we're like wow you know he's finally gonna get

[20:41]it but it's the system the entire system is corrupt from within

[20:44]it's whether he wants to or not it's the system that's not

[20:49]going to allow him so that's what makes me think yeah go

[20:53]ahead um from the daily princetonian which says the electoral um system

[20:57]has long been broken and while voting for the lesser of two

[21:02]evils is a necessary act in this election of greater importance is

[21:05]the need to rethink and reshape the societal structures that force us

[21:09]to make such an offensive decision in the first place exactly so

[21:13]if trump for example is the president is society finally the is

[21:21]the system that's so corrupt finally going to collapse so that there

[21:25]are there is room for more uh other parties to actually represent

[21:29]you know most of our interests but then you run the risk

[21:34]of creating more trumps around the world more trumps around america more

[21:40]violence even though trump didn't start any wars during his presidency he

[21:46]started i think economic wars you know just like you said the

[21:49]sanctions on iran what is that can you tell me a little

[21:55]more about you know the lesser of the two evils why why

[21:57]is this word thrown around so much this sentence the lesser of

[22:02]two two evils actually originates from ancient greek um and it was

[22:08]used in uh the odyssey very interesting actually yeah they were choosing

[22:14]one of the lesser or the two evils it's uh it's a

[22:16]proverb and it's a strategy strategy of desperation you know and that's

[22:21]what we're in right now um but determining the lesser of two

[22:28]evils we need to define that first what does it mean it

[22:31]is according to dictionary.com it is the somewhat less unpleasant of two

[22:36]poor choices and when you define it that way it makes sense

[22:40]why this term is being thrown around when you say evil evil

[22:45]some people don't believe that biden is evil you know they believe

[22:49]trump is evil um even though biden and trump have both been

[22:53]accused of sexual assault you know they are both have shown a

[22:58]lot of support for israel they both like there's a lot of

[23:00]similarities between the two that you can't take them apart from each

[23:06]other and it makes you think is this just what you know

[23:08]any american president is going to do um based on the track

[23:14]record of the past right i mean you said something about um

[23:20]you know trump hasn't started any wars but but he started economic

[23:24]wars yeah you know when we talk about that he's placed over

[23:27]800 sanctions on iran yeah and you know when we we think

[23:32]about that i don't even know how they're surviving at this point

[23:35]even even just looking at how he broke the nuclear treaty with

[23:38]iran like that was a big deal in the obama presidency that

[23:42]was after like eight years of negotiations that was something that was

[23:50]a true i think step that it's like one of the only

[23:53]steps that obama took that was really made a difference you know

[23:56]um and two even the sanctions on lebanon the trump has placed

[24:03]sanctions on lebanon on syria on yemen obviously backing the saudi regime

[24:09]in yemen but then again he's seen as less hawkish than bush

[24:15]and cheney but then we have to ask is he going to

[24:18]definitely start a war with iran why didn't he do that during

[24:24]this presidency what's stopping him from doing that is biden going to

[24:31]continue uh this kind of like uh war type of scenario um

[24:39]under cover or and is trump just going to do it more

[24:41]openly or are they two different two different beings completely and that's

[24:48]where we fall in the confusion again um i think we have

[24:53]to put biden and trump next to one another and really see

[24:57]in terms of policies nothing really will change and you know what

[25:03]i think trump had the racist rhetoric but biden will incorporate that

[25:07]into the law um you know based on his past record of

[25:12]what he's done in the in the in the past what what

[25:17]what has he done in the past by then well you know

[25:22]what he actually said um he moved bills and amendments that achieved

[25:25]or tried to achieve the following which eliminate parole enforce mandatory in

[25:29]longer sentences allow evidence illegally acquired to be used in court making

[25:34]it harder to plead insanity restrict the right to appeal lower the

[25:37]age at which children can be tried as adults and allow police

[25:41]to seize the assets of people who haven't been charged and drug

[25:44]test um school kids and these things if you really look at

[25:49]these issues that are being covered these affect minorities exactly most of

[25:54]these issues affect the minorities so what do people in do in

[26:00]this case some people will just say you know what it's too

[26:02]hard i'm not gonna vote a lot of people are abstaining and

[26:05]i respect that you know like no one can tell you oh

[26:10]you have to vote or like if you really thought about things

[26:13]and you believe abstaining is the right path then good on you

[26:18]if you've really thought about it and you think biden's the right

[26:21]pet good on you i can't say anything about trump's past but

[26:25]um or third party good on you like as long as you're

[26:32]making informed choices that's all i care about like at this point

[26:36]i don't think that anybody should be forced or coerced to go

[26:41]a certain way due to pressure but how how are we how

[26:46]are are we then different from sheep how is then this a

[26:48]real democracy you know i actually read a quote that i found

[26:52]interesting um and i wrote it down before this uh it says

[26:57]here alex cook of red brick mentions when it comes to the

[27:03]2020 us election voting is like public transport you take the route

[27:06]that is heading in the right direction even if it does not

[27:07]reach exactly where you want to be so what's the right direction

[27:14]then that's what we're asking ourselves is the right direction going towards

[27:18]the godlessness liberalism or is the right direction going towards proto-fascism exactly

[27:27]pretty much corporate capitalism or xenophobia and intolerance so we have a

[27:39]capitalist democrat and a protocol yeah yeah okay and i think i

[27:50]think i what what i want to know is what is it

[27:53]going to look like for the muslim community can we talk about

[27:57]that can we talk about like let's say trump is reelected can

[28:02]we make some projections just for the fun of it i mean

[28:05]we can say that the past four years people have survived right

[28:11]well trump doesn't care much about kovid no um trump cares a

[28:17]lot about the economy because he has he has his own hotels

[28:22]he has his own businesses that he wants he wants to see

[28:27]thrive yeah yeah he he evades taxes um and during his presidency

[28:31]and even now with kovid we see the rich getting richer the

[28:36]one percent is just on the rise of you know um wealth

[28:41]gained massive wealth gain widening the the [Music] gap between the one

[28:49]percent and the 99 so we're seeing a lot more inequality um

[28:53]but you know with trump we have a clear black and white

[28:58]with any other candidate you have that great area again where you

[29:03]think oh yeah they're doing something good you know they're they're trying

[29:07]they're doing their best but with trump you can be against him

[29:11]fully and you can challenge it you know we can bring up

[29:16]the black lives matter movements we can bring up different you know

[29:19]the the nba supporting the black lives matter movie and the fact

[29:23]that media is against him so they challenge him way more than

[29:27]they would challenge biden um some people could argue that there's more

[29:31]accountability for trump than there is for biden and you know something

[29:37]i do respect is that trump writes every single one of his

[29:41]own tweets you respect that i mean it's been a long four

[29:44]years and he has written every single one of those tweets it

[29:49]must be hard to keep up i mean that really you know

[29:53]what he appeals to he feel he appeals to people wanting someone

[29:56]real yeah you know someone when they show up who's going to

[30:00]be authentic who's going to biden says one thing and then he

[30:07]he says something crazy the next and he says crazy things but

[30:12]he kind of sticks to his beliefs his beliefs like biden is

[30:18]you know he's true one minute part of the civil rights movement

[30:21]another he's saying he wasn't part of it he's he's kind of

[30:24]he's flip-flopping yeah he's not and it's that's it's more of it's

[30:28]the same kind of things we saw with hillary clinton like you

[30:32]don't know where they really stand you don't know their true beliefs

[30:35]and their true values it's like they're just trying to appeal to

[30:39]the people to get the vote to get elected by it and

[30:45]winning can antagonize pro-trumpers so that's one belief a lot of people

[30:52]are abstaining from voting because they believe that if trump loses it's

[30:57]going to mean a lot more damage to to america because we're

[31:04]we might see a war we might see civil war we might

[31:09]see people hurting each other because what trump going away is not

[31:12]going to all of a sudden magically erase all these um xenophobic

[31:19]islamophobic um you know black phobic tendencies it's it's it's not going

[31:27]to erase that so what is it going to do um i

[31:30]want to look at islam a little bit because you have you

[31:35]have examples of the holy prophet you have examples of imam ali

[31:39]imam hussein and how they dealt with a lot of situations so

[31:43]right now you know we are looking at those kind of situations

[31:46]where we want to see whether it's what's good for us long-term

[31:53]or what's good for a short term just to give people some

[31:56]context they were living in societies that were run by tyrants exactly

[31:59]and so sometimes the holy prophet also made decisions that resulted in

[32:05]the torture and execution of many of his followers in the short

[32:10]term but look at how greatly it expanded in the long term

[32:13]same way with imam hussain he took a stance that was detrimental

[32:18]in the short term but look at how many people follow and

[32:22]revere him and keep his message alive today but then you also

[32:28]have people who made um sacrifices and and looked at the short

[32:33]term just to stay alive with imam ali just trying to stay

[32:37]alive with his followers a few followers that he had so where

[32:41]that's where you're at the long term more or the short term

[32:45]more that's what you're that's the thing and that's i don't think

[32:48]there's a clear answer like no one's going to tell us all

[32:52]hey there is a clear are we trying to vote in terms

[32:54]of what's going to be good the greater good in the long

[32:58]term or what's gonna do us good right now to keep us

[33:00]surviving are we at that point where we are thinking of survival

[33:04]right now i think so i think a lot of people are

[33:08]i mean a lot of people are jobless a lot of people

[33:10]are kovitz affected so many people around the world especially the poor

[33:14]and the vulnerable it's affected them the most children who used to

[33:19]i run a relief organization here in canada now and i really

[33:23]feel for the children who come from poor income households um who

[33:29]used to get fed at lunch and breakfast at schools they don't

[33:33]have any of that they don't have you know so many things

[33:38]are affected because of the pandemic so we have to understand that

[33:43]this is going to be detrimental to people in the future we

[33:47]have to think about people and so just seguing from that you

[33:52]know when we think about palestine which is a very oppressed nation

[33:56]um from the very beginning you know the millions have been displaced

[34:02]from anakba so a lot of american muslims will argue that what

[34:05]does palestine have to do with our politics here in the west

[34:10]so what what would you say and and where do the two

[34:16]candidates stand on that because for example the green party candidate hawkins

[34:21]is very clear on what he wants to do he's very pro-bds

[34:24]and he's very pro-palestine so what where what are their stances like

[34:30]and why should american muslims care well a couple of facts here

[34:37]um as we said biden has been quoted saying that he is

[34:43]a zionist he supports the creation of an independent palestinian state alongside

[34:47]israel but you know there are a couple things that he said

[34:52]he said that um he will not return the u.s embassy to

[34:57]tel aviv um he will reopen a u.s consulate in east jerusalem

[35:00]to allow a palestinian de facto embassy in washington and he is

[35:08]very pro-israel i mean some of the things he says you can

[35:11]say okay these are promises but are they really going to be

[35:15]put into action and based on his um you know he says

[35:20]that he doesn't support annexation um and he's going to reverse the

[35:23]trump administration steps that he thinks undercut the prospects of peace but

[35:28]do you really believe that he will do that do you really

[35:31]think that he will actually go back and change what trump has

[35:33]done nope and trump took these actions you know trump he denied

[35:39]the right of return for palestinian refugees whose families have been displaced

[35:44]by the israeli occupation in 1948 the united nations relief and work

[35:49]agencies whose role was to actually provide the basic social services to

[35:55]around 5 million palestinian refugees in gaza so we have um a

[36:02]lot of things that trump has actually put into action i think

[36:06]what we have to look at is are biden and trump really

[36:10]different when it comes to these issues i don't think they are

[36:13]trump poses a threat to palestine but so does biden so does

[36:18]it really make a difference which one is chosen no not when

[36:23]it comes to palestine i mean if palestine is important to you

[36:25]then i don't think that either of them are going to be

[36:31]a good choice yeah um when we look at the scenarios we've

[36:37]talked about how biden winning can antagonize pro-trumpers bloodshed fights on the

[36:46]street um biden winning can also mean war around the world that

[36:51]will keep perpetuating like we said um a trump win can mean

[36:56]i'm just giving all the scenarios right trump win can mean a

[36:59]post-apocalyptic world war three future i mean he tried it what's what's

[37:05]to say like what's there for him to lose in the next

[37:11]presidency i mean he has his hotels so he he can lose

[37:13]those um trump does face more accountability with the press and the

[37:22]establishment whereas biden would not um but then again does trump even

[37:28]care about accountability that's the question um with a trump presidency things

[37:34]will be more open and there is a lot more energy to

[37:36]rise up um against oppression which is a positive thing it is

[37:42]a positive thing whereas it's like you know when you have a

[37:46]disease and it's like you know you've diagnosed it you can treat

[37:51]it if it's hidden like biden would be um be like oh

[37:54]there's no cure and it keeps going on forever um and trump

[37:59]winning could this could eventually dismantle the entire corrupt system um and

[38:07]be better for the long term but it could also dismantle the

[38:12]entire world which we then might not even be able to see

[38:18]a long time um we just want to bring to light the

[38:20]thing the issues that are really the truth of these politicians you

[38:27]know exactly um it's not trying to shed a negative light on

[38:29]either one it's not trying to shed a positive light on either

[38:33]one in the future how we can really cause a change is

[38:39]within our local communities you know this election is going to change

[38:44]a lot but going forward let's really put in an action plan

[38:47]and start thinking about our local communities what we can do who's

[38:51]who's teaching our kids who's affecting the education system who is the

[38:56]person creating um you know the policies within our state you know

[39:00]every state has their own um governor i think that's what a

[39:07]lot of us forget is that we have a lot more power

[39:10]in our local grassroots movement that in turn a lot of people

[39:15]are very reactive we are very reactive as a society rather than

[39:18]preventative or proactive and what we see now with like people are

[39:23]like oh but why do we have only these two choices well

[39:27]it's because of how we've contributed to our society you know do

[39:31]people even know who their mayors are who their board of education

[39:35]directors are these people are actually making choices for your children's education

[39:40]what they're learning in school that could be completely against your values

[39:44]all these things they're contributing to you know helping the homeless these

[39:52]are things that really can go a long way in the bigger

[39:55]outcome um and these things like people are saying will keep happening

[40:00]they'll keep happening um two things that you know we want to

[40:02]take away from this is obviously as muslims we're always filled with

[40:06]a lot of hope why because one we believe this life is

[40:10]temporary this life is just fleeting we're passengers we're just passerbys and

[40:17]we have a bigger destination to go to and second we know

[40:23]that a better day is coming when you know towards the end

[40:27]of times when there is going to be a just leader that

[40:31]everyone will want and call out for whether it's muslim non-muslim black

[40:35]white anyone and um i think that's that's where we should we

[40:43]should keep our hopes up and it's not the end um even

[40:46]if things happen they'll happen the way they're meant to be nothing

[40:51]will happen without god's will you know as jer as a journalist

[40:53]and you as well we are not going to tell people who

[40:57]to vote for our role is to provide people with choices and

[41:00]i want to leave with saying one thing you know john john

[41:03]adams the founder of the one of the framers of the constitution

[41:08]um said that a division of the republic into two greater great

[41:14]parties is to be dreaded as the great political evil um and

[41:18]and so now we've found ourselves with stuck with the two-party system

[41:23]um to kind of pick one way or the other and um

[41:27]and i think it's been clear from everything that we've gone through

[41:34]today that it's not as black and white um we have a

[41:36]lot of things to consider as long as you can justify your

[41:41]decision i think that's what's important here this conversation has put my

[41:45]heart at ease a little bit because i think we can see

[41:48]the moral compass a little more clearly now um but i think

[41:52]the thing i want to leave people with is whatever the outcome

[41:57]um no matter your vote i think in at the end of

[42:01]the day we have to always remember that we do still have

[42:08]an impact on society we still do have an impact on what

[42:11]the next four years after these four years will look like you

[42:17]know exactly like within the next four years we can change what

[42:19]will happen before you're following um and i think that's really important

[42:24]to you know really hone in on because we it doesn't just

[42:30]stop after this election nope we can't be reactive we can't be

[42:37]people who are just oh federal elections we have to really be

[42:40]proactive and if we really envision a future where our values are

[42:44]represented why don't we have people who look like us look like

[42:51]us with government with our unapologetically with our values because isn't that

[42:57]what democracy is about you know people have made religions but that's

[43:01]a terrible true democracy you know exactly um and that really makes

[43:07]you think about you know having this authoritarian authoritarian state run in

[43:13]the disguise of a democracy you know yeah um what decisions do

[43:17]we really make so that's why we have to come back to

[43:18]our local communities and i'm going to keep urging everybody and pushing

[43:23]that because truly it does make a difference that makes the greatest

[43:26]difference um even if you just start with your neighbor informing them

[43:29]about who you are um i think as muslims we become especially

[43:33]as muslim women um within the west you know you're the person

[43:37]that people come and ask questions to and a lot of people

[43:40]think that's unfair but it's the truth i mean just as there's

[43:44]been efforts made to tarnish our religion using you know the the

[43:50]veils we have to counter that movement with more proactive measures yes

[43:55]unfortunately like it's our a lot of people are like oh well

[44:00]it's not my fault like i didn't do any of the bad

[44:02]things but you know your generations your future generations your family your

[44:08]sisters um people of your faith are going to be affected because

[44:12]of islamophobic measures i think this has been really helpful for me

[44:15]personally i thank you everyone for joining us on our very first

[44:20]video podcast um and we you know we haven't really officially launched

[44:26]yet but i felt that um i and fatima felt that this

[44:31]was so important to talk about because we just saw confusion everywhere

[44:34]and no real talk about the actual stances the options um they're

[44:41]just you know even on muslim platforms there were just questions being

[44:45]asked but no real like solution or no real like conversation around

[44:53]it and i think that it's it's good to have that safe

[44:55]space for us to be um talking about that hopefully in the

[44:59]future episodes we can bring in guests and experts when we have

[45:03]a bit more time this was done like overnight overnight to set

[45:07]up the studio overnight so um like hopefully they'll have a lot

[45:13]more time but i'm excited i'm excited for this venture i think

[45:16]it's much needed and um i hope that we see a lot

[45:20]more little journalists you know um this episode was a longer one

[45:25]um than most are going to be so please let us know

[45:27]how long you guys think um an episode should be how we

[45:32]want your feedback we want to know what you guys want to

[45:34]listen to um let us know what issues are important and close

[45:37]to your heart that need more light shut on that need more

[45:42]information resources we're going to bring any sources that you need on

[45:46]here to speak um about the issues that matter to you and

[45:50]that's really the core of what we're doing so anytime feel free

[45:52]to reach out and let us know exactly thank you for joining

[45:56]us we are the muslim journalists and we will see you next

[45:59]time inshallah

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2020 US Elections: The Muslim Vote | TMJ Podcast

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