What a narrow minded man Mujib Rahman - thankfully he was resoundingly defeated! Check out the video to get flavor of this man's thinking.....
Is Being Brown Enough To Get Your Vote?
http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/006010.html#addcomment
See TIMES video
http://www.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,49659278001_1937571,00.html
Our friend Bassam Tariq from 30 Mosques in 30 Days just posted a fascinating story over at Times.com about a Bangladeshi candidate that ran for local office in NYC.
I was conflicted as I watched this. On one hand you want this hard working Bangladeshi uncle to achieve the bootstrap American dream. He's getting himself and his community involved in civic engagement. But on the other hand, his closed minded smear campaign just reflects all the reasons I stopped talking politics with my father's generation of uncles. Were any of our readers involved in Mujib's campaign? Did any of you have the chance to vote (or not vote) for Mujib?
comments
1 · Ntl on November 11, 2009 4:23 PM · Direct link
Um... an anti-gay Republican? His campaign sounds despicable and I wouldn't vote for him even if he WAS my uncle. This is why politics should be about the platform and not the person. Being brown is never, ever enough for someone to get my vote.
2 · bubs on November 11, 2009 4:27 PM · Direct link
I'm not really torn on this at all. The guy deserved to lose convincingly and he did. I've always felt uneasy about politicians using their ethnicity as a crutch to gain votes that they should be earning through good work in the community and by coming up with good ideas. It's good to see that voters didn't buy the BS he was selling and that they didn't let the other candidate's homosexuality become an issue. The uncle who starts speaking at around the 4:25 mark came out looking the best in this video, kudos to him.
3 · Abhi on November 11, 2009 4:27 PM · Direct link
In the end, its always about the message. And this guy's message is one of ignorance.
4 · TM on November 11, 2009 4:41 PM · Direct link
They sure know how to throw a party!
5 · Indian Girl on November 11, 2009 4:46 PM · Direct link
There cannot be an easier decision ! I am disgusted at his narrow minded, anti gay comments. Agree with what the guy at 4 :37 says. It is never enough that he is brown / Bangladeshi. Also something about the way the guy at 1:20 says "
6 · Saheli on November 11, 2009 4:53 PM · Direct link
The mustachio'd campaign manager is a fascinating character. He almost felt like an actor, his expressions were so vivid. There's a novel lurking in his past.
But yeah, Abhi's right. No policy, ignorant attacks, non-ideas about what it means to be gay and be a family man and to want your community to advance---this is not the guy to win the seat.
7 · Krish**** on November 11, 2009 4:54 PM · Direct link
"Not one of our classier Indians"... hehehe
8 · Manju on November 11, 2009 5:14 PM · Direct link
well, Mujib did say his opponent is "a gay", as opposed to "the gay." Progress
9 · JG on November 11, 2009 5:16 PM · Direct link
Thing is, these "uncles" aren't even in the loop of the younger brown generation to know they're turning off so many young folks with their bigoted rhetoric. Taz, thanks for being a champion of us queers!
10 · Manju on November 11, 2009 5:20 PM · Direct link
interestingly, this guy more progressive than that one on this issue.
11 · sandhya on November 11, 2009 5:24 PM · Direct link
I'm not torn either. I wouldn't vote for him...even if he were my dad. Certainly not brown enough to win an election with such ignorant views and cheap tricks/slander.
12 · Manju on November 11, 2009 5:34 PM · Direct link
how come his sticker says "democrat"?
13 · AnjaliToo on November 11, 2009 5:49 PM · Direct link
I find it kind of ironic that he compares himself to Obama, considering that the latter didn't run his campaign on a platform of division, but rather inclusion. It's good to know that people can see past ethnic ties to the bs underneath. What the hell was this guys stance on issues anyway? All I heard was talk about his opponent being unfit because he knew nothing about family and is gay......sheesh, glad he lost.
14 · Dr Amonymous on November 11, 2009 6:07 PM · Direct link
his closed minded smear campaign just reflects all the reasons I stopped talking politics with my father's generation of uncles.
I don't know anything about this guy, but I will say that it's important to be cautious about generalising. I spent an afternoon interviewing people in
In any case, I think rather than rejecting an entire generation of people who are a mixed bag like every other generation, in context, it's worthwhile to talk politics with them as a way of actually gleaning what's important and what's not, who you're going to share values with and who you won't. I've done this and found that it helps in figuring out who you can relate to, adult to adult, and share a friendship with, vs. who you may have and may still love from your childhood, but have to write off in terms of mature friendship because you simply don't share the same values and so there's no room to build something with them.
Part of life, methinks.
15 · Dr Amonymous on November 11, 2009 6:12 PM · Direct link
interestingly, this guy more progressive than that one on this issue.
Dick Cheney (this guy) has a lesbian daughter and still worked with one of the most viciously homophobic movements in recent memory in OECD countries. Goes to show that you can take a single-issue stance on anything (whether it's supporting brown people or minimally supporting LGBT people) and still be a right bastard, a hypocrite, and a murderer. So it's not really interesting at all.
16 · Dr Amonymous on November 11, 2009 6:15 PM · Direct link
how come his sticker says "democrat"?
Apparently he's a registered Democrat but running on the Republican and other tickets. Sounds like a super guy ;)
17 · Arif on November 11, 2009 6:25 PM · Direct link
That lady's comment about him not being one of the "classier Indians" cracked me up. I'm glad this guy did not win. He gives desis a bad name.
18 · ptr_vivek on November 11, 2009 7:01 PM · Direct link
Is Being Brown Enough To Get Your Vote?
No.
But I'm too brown to vote here.
19 · Melvin on November 11, 2009 8:25 PM · Direct link
Thanks for posting this, Taz. I'm not sure who made me more uncomfortable, the candidate or his campaign manager.
20 · Gustavo on November 11, 2009 9:01 PM · Direct link
Why would a Muslim support the Republican Party.
They were responsible for the pre-emptive invasion of
This same party supported Musharraf in
Being brown is not enough to get elected.
Homosexuality is common and prevalent throughout
Considering the Islamophobia facing Muslims, South Asian or not, or those who are mistaken for being Muslim like Sikhs, this is outrageous.
21 · Broom on November 11, 2009 9:09 PM · Direct link
I find no conflict at all - this man is homophobic. I don't care if he's brown or black or white. I wouldn't vote for him.
22 · Gustavo on November 11, 2009 9:10 PM · Direct link
"That man is a gay."
I am a gay Muslim and even though this man does not wear a beard, high water pants, and is part of Tablighi Jamaat, his intolerance despite his "secular" appearance is equally reprehensible.
He had no platform and fittingly deserved to lose.
If the white gay candidate was to use anti-Muslim sentiments, Desis would protest furiously.
He cannot rely solely on the support of the Bengali community to win, he has to appeal to people of all backgrounds, not just simply his own.
23 · razib on November 11, 2009 11:52 PM · Direct link
conflicted? seriously? his ethnic background is enough to cause confusion or hesitation at condemnation of his anti-gay stance when if this was a white person you would know without hesitation where you'd stand? this is why the whole identity politics aspect of sepia mutiny sometimes leaves me cold. nice to see that everyone had the same reaction.
24 · Prova on November 12, 2009 12:08 AM · Direct link
Sure, pointing out his opponent's "uncouth choice of lifestyle" (As mr. Rahman sees it) displays his sheer ignorance, but above all, it shows us how incompetent he is for the job. I mean to have to go to that extent in an attempt to win proves that he has nothing to offer to begin with. And the way he was desperately hounding people to vote for him was just plain wrong...
25 · rudie_c on November 12, 2009 6:00 AM · Direct link
Talk about 20 steps back to the dark ages. The campaign manager is one sleazy sly dude.
26 · Sameer on November 12, 2009 7:01 AM · Direct link
I think we have enough homophobic politicians in office. Don't need to elect another just because he's brown.
27 · Dr Amonymous on November 12, 2009 8:33 AM · Direct link
He's getting himself and his community involved in civic engagement.
This struck me too. Civic engagement has its uses and its weaknesses as a tool, but it's just a tool. Getting Bangladeshis into the more rather than less conservative of the two parties seems like a not good use of getting people involved in civic engagement, even though it might provoke a response. On the other hand, it does hopefully help to put some fear into the Democratic Party. I read too many commentaries in which all nonWhite people are taken for granted (even though there are many nonWhite communuities that don't even vote Democratic!) and that blatant slaps in the face like the immigartion aspect of the health care debate can simply go uncontested.
So I would say perhaps given the state of the debate in the U.S. in terms of politics, when thousands of Bangladeshis were targeted and deported (among many others) just a few years ago and nary an apology has been heard, even from the allegedly progressive obama administration, perhaps a different form of civic engagements would be useful - such as a social movement to press for noncitizen voting in new york, or support for groups like ANdolan which have heavy Bangladeshi presence and are also in Jackson Heights, community associations (which often already exist), groups like SAALT and AALDEF, and others who play a productive and progressive role in getting people involved in society writ broadly. Elections are just one part of it, and are often not going to serve the people who are thoroughly marginalised at a given time - even when they're a majority (see: Stupak amendment).
28 · Nafisa on November 12, 2009 10:00 AM · Direct link
How anybody who claims to be progressive can be conflicted about Uncle Mujib is beyond my comprehension. If his homophobia doesn't turn you off, his unctuous political manager will.
The ugly truth is that were it not for "war on terror" a majority of first generation Muslim immigrants, and some second generation, would be natural Repubilcans. The entire aunty uncle crowd and several cousins in my family voted for Bush W. in the 2000 election because he was a man of faith, for prayer in school and not too hot for these gays.
29 · Puliogre in da
this shouldnt be any kind of surprise or conflict. why would a liberal want a bunch of conservative homophobe muslims in office in
30 · the ninny doctrine on November 12, 2009 1:58 PM · Direct link
interestingly, this guy more progressive than that one on this issue.
Yeah, isn't it interesting why Nancy Reagan supports stem-cell research. Maybe if we send Cheney's daughter to
31 · psamtani on November 12, 2009 2:17 PM · Direct link
I don't get why anyone would vote for this douchebag. For one, his agenda was xenophobic and racist. The only reason Bangladeshis were voting for him was so the "Bangladeshi community" could come up. If a white man said that he was only voting for someone because they want the white community to come up, he would immediately be labeled as racist scum. Secondly, if anyone other than a Muslim went on an anti-gay attack, they would be soundly punished. But because Mujib is a member of an "oppressed community" (more like an oppressive community), there wasn't too much made about it. I am elated that Mujib lost, and lost in a horrific manner.
32 · najeeb on November 12, 2009 2:28 PM · Direct link
The ugly truth is that were it not for "war on terror" a majority of first generation Muslim immigrants and some second generation, would be natural Repubilcans.
right on.
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