The Arab American News - AAPAC rallies voters: High turnout will bring surprises

Arab American Political Action Committee activists stand with public officials during AAPAC’s annual dinner on Thursday at the Bint Jebail Cultural Center in Dearborn. PHOTOS: Nafeh AbuNab/American Elite Studios

The Arab American Political Action Committee (AAPAC) rallied activists and voters on Thursday in preparation for Nov. 3 elections at the group's 12th annual banquet in Dearborn.

AAPAC Endorsement Chair Abed Hammoud

"We believe the biggest impact we can have in American politics is in local government," said AAPAC Endorsement Chair Abed Hammoud during the gathering at the Bint Jebail Cultural Center.

Hammoud spoke about the extensive process the group goes through before every major election, making endorsements and sending thousands of newsletters to Arab American homes.

Founded in 1997, the group conducts interviews with candidates who request endorsement in the weeks before announcing choices ahead of municipal and national elections.

The group donates to some campaigns and AAPAC volunteers, primarily Arab American students from local college campuses and even high schools and elementary schools, work the polls and phones and go door-to-door to bring out voters on election days.

"Our name is the Arab American PAC, but we are not just for Arab Americans," said Hammoud about the group's reach and endorsement standards.

"We don't do work just for our community," he said. "We do work for our city, our state and for our country."

AAPAC President Osama Siblani

Osama Siblani, the group's president, who is also publisher of The Arab American News, before turning to the local election, spoke on various international crises in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, Sudan, Somalia, and Iran, as well as national issues including civil rights infringements and what he called rampant Islamophobia.

But he said that despite all the major world issues that remain on the minds of most Arab Americans, Thursday night was about local political participation, and showing up at the polls in unprecedented numbers on Nov. 3.

"If we are not successful in our lives here, then how can we ever expect to help the rest of the world," he said."Next week, we are going to be making decisions that will affect our every day lives... While others stay home and think it's not an important election, let every registered Arab American go out and vote."

"We are here and we are here to stay and we are an important member of this political equation," he said.

He said the Detroit area schools, economy, public services, health and safety depend on the ability of informed communities to show up at the polls in small elections.

Hussein Berry accepts a community service award from AAPAC leadership Thursday.

"Hussein Berry must be elected to the school board and he will do an excellent job of representing all the students of the city of Dearborn," he said, citing as an example one of the 20 candidates on the group's endorsement slate.

Berry was also given a community service award by the group.

"I know him as a tireless advocate for children," said AAPAC member Aimee Blackburn as she presented Berry the award.

AAPAC also presented public service awards to Gail Mee, President of Henry Ford Community College and Dearborn City Councilwoman Suzanne Sareini.

President of Henry Ford Community College Gail Mee accepts an AAPAC public service award presented to her by Hammoud.

"Under her watch," said Hammoud about Mee, "the college has made tremendous progress."

He said the community college, with Mee at the helm, has dramatically increased enrollment and added a program in which students can receive an associate's degree in Arab cultural studies.

"She's one of the greatest public servants we have in this city," he said.

AAPAC Secretary Nabih Ayad said Sareini, who is also endorsed by the group in her bid for re-election, has "always kept her doors open to the community to help whenever she could."

Sareini said, looking out at the gathering of about 600, that the Arab American community has reached a level of participation and organization that many thought impossible when she first ran for the council 20 years ago.

Suzanne Sareini receiving a public service award from AAPAC Secretary Nabih Ayad.

"When I began running for office, what is here tonight was a dream," she said. "We did it when all odds were against us."

Youth organizer Tarek Baydoun, after receiving an AAPAC member of the year award, recognized the community's student activists for being the backbone of the organization's political rallying and organizing efforts.

"The students are the ones who stand at the polls and educate the voters," he said. "The students are the ones who make the phone calls. The studenst are the ones who inspire the adults."

Chicago-based comedian Ray Hanania performs Thursday at the AAPAC banquet.

Chicago-based comedian and political columnist Ray Hanania performed at the event, poking fun at George W. Bush, Mahmoud Abbas, Dick Cheney, the U.S. Census, his Palestinian parents, his Jewish wife and himself.

"My kid is so patriotic he's turned me into the FBI three times this week," he said.

Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard, an Arab American who is running for governor in 2010, also spoke at the event.

Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard

"Your involvement is critical," he said. "I encourage you to vote next week and in every election. That's what makes your voice heard in this American democratic process... Will our children have an oppurtunity to stay in this state, to get an education in this state and to be able to have their own families in this state? ...I'm not gonna let my grandpa down, who came from another country to make a better future."

Siblani said he was asked to comment during the event on Wednesday's FBI raids on a local group that officials described as a radical Muslim organization engaged in criminal activity.

He said that though the charged group had nothing to do with the Arab American community, he would make one statement:

"Muslims who commit crimes, just like Christians and Jews who commit crimes, do not do so because of their religion. They do it in spite of their religion."