The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) has announced that it has entered into a national partnership with the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) in order to collaborate on voter registration efforts. According to the announcement:
Washington, DC | www.adc.org | August 22, 2012 – The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) is proud to announce it has entered into a national partnership with the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). ADC and CAIR will coordinate voter empowerment efforts and election activities in the key swing states, including Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Virginia. The two organizations will collaborate on hosting voter registration and get out the vote drives, phone banks, town halls, and candidate forums. CAIR is America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding. ADC Legal Director Abed Ayoub said: ‘ADC welcomes the partnership with CAIR and is committed to strengthening the voice of our respective communities and constituents. The past few weeks have shed light on the discrimination and hate which still exists in this country. It is only through such partnerships and coalitions that a united voice can rise against the hate and bigotry.’ ‘CAIR is proud to join with ADC in helping to strengthen the political voice of the diverse American Muslim and Arab American communities in the November elections,’ said CAIR Government Affairs Coordinator Robert McCaw. ‘The political empowerment of American Muslims and Arab Americans can only be accomplished through positive civic engagement and by building coalitions with other Americans who seek social justice.’ ADC launched its Voter Protection Unit (VPU), a special unit dedicated to protecting Arab and Muslim Americans from attempts to intimidate or prevent their right to vote. To increase ADC-VPU’s reach, CAIR will advertise ADC’s voter protection services throughout the election. ADC is also working in organizing candidate forums in key swing states across the country. If you are interested in hosting a forum in your state please contact ADC. ADC encourages its members to use the voter registration toolkit and state-specific voting guides released today by CAIR. The kit is part of its ongoing campaign to empower and increase political capacity and presence in the 2012 elections.
The U.S. Muslim Brotherhood has history of acting in connection with electoral coalitions. In 2004, then Presidential candidate John Kerry was supported by the American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections (AMT). The AMT supplanted an earlier electoral coalition known as the American Muslim Political Coordination Council (AMPCC). According to its’s website, the AMT is made up of all the major U.S. Muslim Brotherhood organizations. In 2004, national news described the founding of the AMT as follows:
The leading Muslim organizations have been so outraged over the USA Patriot Act (search) that they have banded together as the American Muslim Taskforce (search) to make civil rights their top issue in the presidential race.
AMT activities appear to be similar to those of the AMPCC although consistent with the groups ostensible civil-rights agenda, the organization has defended high-profile terror suspects such as Sami Al-Arian.