Muslims Ask Obama for Inclusion, Change

In the letter, Muslim leaders asked the incoming Obama administration to take notice of the Muslim community. (IOL photo)

"We...wish to see you instruct senior officials in your administration to reinstate roundtables with Muslim leadership for all departments, such as State, Justice, Homeland Security and Health and Human Services," said the American Muslim Task Force on Civil Rights and Elections (AMT).

Unveiling the "American Muslims in the American Mainstream," open-letter in a press conference on Monday, December 29, AMT chairman Agha Saeed said the incoming Obama administration needs to take notice of the American Muslim community.

"Ninety-five percent of Muslims voted on the day of election," he stressed.

"That was the highest voter turnout of any community in America."

An AMT poll found that 89 percent of Muslims voted for Obama while only  two percent voted for Republican candidate John McCain.

Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), affirmed that US Muslims are "capable" and ready to help bring the change Obama has promised during his campaign.

"American Muslims are [a] vibrant community and we would like to be part of that change."

State Senator Larry Shaw, the longest-serving Muslim elected official in the US, agreed.

"Within the Islamic community in America are untapped resources," he said.

"We are very highly competent and capable people who can head any secretary department or deputy department or senior-level management."

The United States is home to between six to seven million Muslims.

The Muslim organizations urged President-elect Obama to change some of the unpopular Bush policies.

"As you assume your new duties, there are some areas we hope you will list among your priorities," read their open-letter.

"This includes restoring due process, objective justice, repealing manifestly unconstitutional clauses of the USA PATRIOT ACT, ending COINTELPRO campaigns against Muslim and Arab American communities, and ensuring that our nation rejects the use of ex post facto laws."

Muslims in the US have become sensitized to the erosion of their civil rights under the Bush administration.

Many of them have complained of facing discrimination and stereotypes because of their Islamic attires or identities.

The open letter also asked Obama to pay attention to issues long ignored by the outgoing administration.

"We look forward to your proposals for providing universal healthcare to our citizens and fixing our nation’s broken immigration system."

Many Muslims believe the economy, the infrastructure and basic services, such as healthcare, have been sidelined for the interest of Bush's so-called war-on-terror.

The letter also touched on the key issue of foreign policies, asking Obama to assist in ending the deteriorating situation in the Middle East.

"We demand that our government, the US government, take immediate steps to end the immoral and illegal Israeli bombardment of Gaza and its population," said Awad.

The besieged Palestinian territory, home to 1.6 million, has been under days of Israeli strikes, which have killed more than 380 and injured some 1,800 since last Saturday.Obama has kept his deafening silence on the Gaza onslaught, one of Israel’s deadliest against Palestinians in decades.

Former Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney has called upon Obama to "please, say something about the humanitarian crisis that is being experienced by the Palestinian people, by the people of Gaza."

McKinney was on board the relief vessel Dignity, which was rammed on the high seas by an Israeli patrol boat early Tuesday morning.

The Dignity, which carried three tons of medical supplies and a number of doctors prepared to treat the more than 1,000 Gazans wounded in the Israeli attacks, was forced by the Israeli navy to change course and sail for Lebanon.

"Nothing would be more effective in turning the tide in favor of the United States than playing a leadership role in finding a just and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," concluded the American Muslims' open-letter.