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Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders, has gotten the endorsement of the Arab American News in Dearborn.
The editorial says, in part:
Sanders is a Jewish American. This newspaper and the community at large do not have a bias against anyone's ethnic or religious affiliation. Ideas are what matters. . . .
Your vote on Tuesday, March 8, will help draw Washington's policies on critical issues for the near and remote future — a Supreme Court nomination; the United States’ role in the Middle East; the approach to the global refugee crisis; the fate of millions of undocumented immigrants and environmental guidelines that could affect our very existence on this planet.
On the Democratic side, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is facing an unlikely challenge from Senator Bernie Sanders.
The Arab American News endorses Sanders.
With the senator from Vermont, we have a historic opportunity to elect a principled politician who has remained true to his message from the days he was protesting with the civil rights movement to the day he proclaimed himself a democratic socialist on national television while running for president.
Sanders, 74, has served as a U.S. representative from 1991 to 2007. He has since been representing Vermont in the Senate.
Before being elected to Congress, Sanders served for eight years as the mayor of Burlington, Vermont. He taught political science briefly at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.
In his early years, he was a social justice activist.
Washington did not sway Sanders away from his ideals. In the House and the Senate, Sanders introduced and supported countless pieces of legislation to regulate Wall Street and protect the environment from predatory corporate greed.
Most Arab Americans are hardworking, middle class families. The concentration of wealth in the top 1 percent of the nation’s richest people impacts this community directly. Sanders' tax reforms and promised social programs would level the playing field for Americans to realize the American Dream.
Sanders stands for racial justice and has unequivocally condemned Islamophobia.
As a young community, education is essential to our future and well-being. Sanders' focus on making college affordable will help our youth fulfill their potential.
On foreign policy, Sanders has shown the most even-handed approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Although his views on this issue do not rise to the aspirations of Arab Americans who would like to see Washington take a clear stance against Israel's human rights abuses and occupation of Palestinian land, Sanders' call for ending the blockade on Gaza is a step in the right direction. His condemnation of Israeli attacks that kill Palestinian civilians is unprecedented by any major presidential candidate.
