MDCNY demands representation of U.S. Muslim communities at 2020 Democratic National Convention

 

  The Muslim Democratic Club of New York (MDCNY) slammed the 2020 Democratic National Convention for its erasure of U.S. Muslim communities and its inclusion of politicians with histories of Islamophobia in its recently released speaker lineup.

 

“Muslims in the U.S. have been at the forefront of fighting back against the depravities of the Trump administration, having led social movements, shaped political conversations, and won elections for office ranging from municipal government to the U.S. Congress. Yet, the party that presents itself as the opposition to Trump has erased us from its platform, its policies, and now from its convention.

 

“There is no shortage of U.S. Muslims that the DNC could tap to speak at the convention next week. Our communities deserve and demand better,” said Tahanie Aboushi, MDCNY President.

“Millions of Muslims across the U.S. have persevered despite heightened Islamophobia during the Trump administration. Some of us remain separated from family members and loved ones due to Trump’s Muslim Ban. We are disheartened and dismayed to see the DNC not only exclude Muslims from its speaker lineup, but actively give a platform to politicians with a history of Islamophobia.

“Former New York City Mayor and failed presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg was an architect and champion of mass surveillance of Muslim communities and the NYPD’s racist stop-and-frisk program, which almost exclusively targeted Black and brown New Yorkers. Both of these bigoted and unconsitutional policies have since been lauded by Republican politicians.

“Republican former Governor John Kasich, during his failed 2016 presidential campaign, used his platform to spread the Islamophobic trope that Muslims should ‘police their own neighborhoods.’

“Liberal Islamophobia is no antidote to the radical anti-Muslim bigotry of the Trump administration. The DNC can and must give a platform to those directly impacted by Trump’s white nationalist policies, not those who laid the groundwork for his atrocities.” said Faiza Ali, MDCNY Vice President.

MDCNY calls on the DNC to include Muslim speakers in its lineup and rescind its speaking slots for Michael Bloomberg and John Kasich.