Thursday, September 8, 2016

Brooklyn Democratic Club Empowers Muslim Voters

The Muslim Democratic Club of New York is the vehicle through which many Muslim New Yorkers are getting their voices heard.

The goal of the club is to educate and motivate Muslim voters to support causes important to them and candidates that will fight for their issues. Murad Awawdeh is the president of the MDCNY, which boasts a few hundred dues paying members all over New York, but mostly in Queens and Brooklyn. Although most of the members are Arab or South Asian, there are also members hailing from Africa and Asia, with a smattering of whites, too.

This year the club is focusing its energies on the 44th and 46th Districts in Brooklyn. In the 44th District, which consists of Windsor Terrace, Park Slope, and Kensington, the club is endorsing Robert “Bobby” Carroll. In the 46th District, Coney Island, Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, they are behind Pamela Harris in the Primary scheduled for September 13th. The MDCNY will support these candidates with phone calls, canvasing, and especially targeting Muslim neighborhoods in those Districts, working to get Muslims to come out and vote in the primary.
“We are trying to engage and integrate as many people (Muslims) into this democratic process as possible. That they not only come out and vote but they understand what they are voting for. So they understand what a City Councilman does, what a Mayor does, what a Public Advocate does,” said Awawdeh.