BFF-06 The race for first Muslim woman in US Congress

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BFF-06

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The race for first Muslim woman in US Congress

SPRINGFIELD, United States, Aug 3, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – It’s an incongruous
sight, a woman in a salmon pink hijab standing on a Massachusetts traffic
median, waving at oncoming cars and asking perfect strangers to vote her into
Congress.

“Hey how are you? Good to see you!” hollers Tahirah Amatul-Wadud at a male
pedestrian. A few cars beep their horns, the odd driver zaps down his window
to say hello. Quite a few drive past, seemingly oblivious.

Amatul-Wadud is a mother of seven, a lawyer, a community activist and a
Muslim, who rises before dawn, prays five times a day and fasts during
Ramadan.

Now aged 44, she faces the biggest hurdle of her life: asking a majority
white constituency, where Catholics are the biggest religious group, to make
her the first Muslim woman elected into Congress.

But for her it’s about policy, not religion. It’s about better representing
and improving lives in western Massachusetts, an area suffering from higher
than average unemployment, where many work two jobs just to make ends meet.

“I don’t always talk about religion because I don’t look to lead or serve
from a religious prespective,” she tells AFP at her campaign headquarters
just outside Springfield.

She says her goals are secular, but her faith is “where I find my core
strength.”

Indefatigable, armed with a warm smile and a lawyer’s mind, Amatul-Wadud is
part of a groundswell of women and progressive Democrats running for office
this year, motivated at least in part by opposition to President Donald
Trump.

She’s one of five candidates vying to become the first Muslim woman in
Congress in November mid-term elections — 12 years after Minnesota’s Keith
Ellison became the first Muslim in the US House of Representatives.

If she’s successful, she would also become her district’s first woman and
first African American in Congress.

– ‘Hope is possible’ –

Except it’s a long shot. Her opponent in the September 4 Democratic primary
is Richard Neal, who has served in Congress since 1989. She has raised a
total of $72,000 compared to his reported $3 million.

When she moved to Springfield aged nine, he was the city mayor.

Now she wants his job, championing progressive causes such as Medicare for
all, affordable education and wider access to high-speed internet, and
eschewing donations from corporate and special interests.

Her team claims to have nearly 300 volunteers as they build a grass-roots
campaign, knocking door to door to hear people’s problems.

If she beats Neal, she will repeat the triumph of 28-year-old political
novice, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who trounced a Democrat grandee in a New
York primary by running a similarly progressive and insurgent ticket.

That win gave her campaign a huge shot in the arm, boosting contributions.
“It was wonderful,” Amatul-Wadud tells AFP. “If she could win, then hope is
possible, here in our home.”

Dressed in a floral dress, black pants and platform heels, she powered
through the sticky heat of a recent afternoon, trading pleasantries and
soliciting votes at a church barbeque.

Ira Prude, a 28-year-old factory worker who worries about opioid addiction,
homelessness and violent crime, says it meant a lot that she stopped by.

“She seems to care a lot about her community. You know, where she grew up,”
she said. “So I think that’s good.”

– ‘Time for a change’ –

As Amatul-Wadud makes her way through the picnic, a few look up surprised.

“There are times where I could see that people are surprised that I present
the way that I do,” she tells AFP. “But have I had overt nasty racism right
in my face? No, I’m grateful for that. I hope that that never happens.”

Despite increasingly overt bigotry in the country at large, the racism and
Islamophobia she experiences lies online, forcing her to ask her teenage
daughter to remove “vile things” that were “scaring” people.

While her decision to run is motivated primarily by discontent with the
status quo in her community, she admits that Trump’s election “changed
everything”.

“Some of his policy, some of his character was alarming to people… I had
friends and neighbors, clients who told me that they were waking up feeling
they had an elephant on their chest,” she said. “Their futures did not look
bright.”

Deanna Williams, 56, joined the campaign after being laid off earlier this
year. Amatul-Wadud was her divorce attorney — “she did me well and then we
became friends,” Williams laughs.

“It’s time for a change. Western Mass is suffering and we just need more
people to get into Washington to help out the cause,” she told AFP. “Too many
people are struggling and don’t have a job.”

Back at campaign HQ, Amatul-Wadud declares herself “very” confident of
winning her David-and-Goliath battle against Neal.

But if she doesn’t? “I am not going anywhere,” she replies.

BSS/AFP/MRI/0807 hrs