Bangladeshis and Muslims make history
People elect new faces and many 'firsts' in U.S. elections
Several people won historical elections Tuesday, becoming the first of many races from New York to Michigan. We’re highlighting a few of them this week for Saa Nasta.
New York City - Shahana Hanif, was elected to the Brooklyn’s 39th district of the New York City Council. She’s the daughter of Bangladeshi immigrants. Hanif is an activist and organizer. She worked for Council Member Brad Lander’s on the Participatory Budgeting process, lending New Yorkers a say in spending neighborhood funds. Hanif is the first Muslim woman elected to New York City Council and the first woman to sit on the 39th district’s council. She will serve a district with 750,000 Muslims.
According to her website, some of the policies she aims to work on are affordable housing, policing which includes community safety, working toward more small business relief following the pandemic, language services for health care, and more affordable health care options. Hanif is from Chittagong, Bangladesh. She begins her term in January 2022. Read more
New York City - Soma Syed was elected the first as the first Bangladeshi American judge for the Queens County Civil Court Judge democratic nominee. Syed has worked as an attorney for 17 years. Syed has served as a former president of the Queens County Women’s Bar Association, and Chairperson of the NYSBA Lawyer Referral and Information Service. Read more.
Hamtramck - Amer Ghalib was elected as the first Muslim mayor after 100 years of Polish mayors. Besides the mayoral seat, Khalil Refai, Amanda Jaczkowski and Adam Albarmaki won seats on the city council, predicted to be the first all Muslim council in the U.S., when they are sworn in January 2022.
Dearborn - Abdullah Hammoud, State Representative of the 15th district in Michigan, was elected as the first Arab American and Muslim mayor in Dearborn. Hammoud says he didn’t run to be the first, but the best. He says he wants his name Abdullah to be seen as American as any other. He told cheering crowds in Dearborn on Tuesday:
“To the young girls and boys who have been ridiculed for their faith or ethnicity, to those of you who were ever made to feel that their names are unwelcome, and to our parents and to others who are humiliated for their broken English and yet are still persisted — today is proof that you are as American as anyone else and there is a new era in Dearborn,” he said.
Dearborn has the most Arab Americans per capita in the U.S.
Dearborn Heights - Bill Bazzi has been elected as Dearborn Heights mayor. He was elected last year to serve a partial term after the death of former Mayor Daniel Paletko’s passing in December 2019 due to COVID-19. This election he bid to complete his term of January-December 2021, and for another four years as mayor. Dearborn Heights has a population of about 1/3 Arab Americans, according to the Arab American News.
“I am overwhelmed by the outpour of support that I received from family, friends, amazing volunteers of all ages, and our residents at large. Our community will continue to rise together as we collectively propel our great city forward,” he said in a Facebook post.
Bazzi is a Ford engineer and Marine Corps. veteran. Read more.