I am a first-generation American and the first Muslim and South Asian woman elected to the Georgia State Senate, and my story is Gwinnett County’s story: I grew up right here in America’s fourth-most diverse county to working-class immigrant parents. Gwinnett’s diversity is the reason my Jamaican American husband and I are raising our newborn son here.
Our neighbors care about the same issues we do: reproductive rights, support for working mothers, better health care access. That’s Vice President Kamala Harris’ “opportunity economy.” For some, it might be a difficult decision to make, though to protect our families and our future, we all must use our voices and our votes to make sure Harris is elected on Nov. 5. Even if you have reservations about Harris, as many Muslims do, every alternative will bring consequences that are far worse.
Photo contributed by the candidate
Photo contributed by the candidate
I have spent my career advocating for people like my parents, who came to Gwinnett from Bangladesh to work hard, sacrifice and build a better life for our family. Voters from immigrant backgrounds — like the 80,000 Muslim and 110,000 South Asian voters in Georgia — will play a decisive role in this election. Polling by the Indian American Impact Fund (IAIF) shows Harris leads former President Donald Trump by 48 percentage points among South Asian voters in the battleground states.
Muslim voters have mixed feelings. Many of us are reluctant to vote for Harris because the Biden administration has supported Israel’s brutal military assaults, including potential war crimes, on Palestinian civilians. Some Muslim Americans have family members who were killed by Israeli bombs or family members who saw their homes, neighborhoods and cities leveled, leaving them with nowhere to go.
But returning Trump to the White House would be a catastrophe. Trump is on record saying the Israeli military should be freed to “go further” in Gaza. His billionaire donors want Israel to simply annex the West Bank and consign its 2.7 million Palestinians to permanent second-class status in their own country.
And here at home, immigrants would be personally targeted by Trump’s plan to break up families and deport millions of people, including children born here — like I was — who have known no other home. He and his fanatical MAGA followers would restore the Muslim ban, then try to ban abortion, fertility treatments and birth control next. They’ll gut Social Security and repeal Obamacare, and end protections for women and people of color.
Groups like the Indian American Impact Fund have been hard at work to mobilize voters like us on Nov. 5. IAIF’s $3.5 million ad campaign aims to reach hundreds of thousands of voters in swing states, including Georgia, focusing on issues such as the economy, abortion rights and support for caregivers. They’re determined to make sure our people’s voices are heard in this critical election — and that we ensure that Trump, who believes immigrants do not deserve to be called Americans, does not return to the White House.
I understand that the current administration’s support of Israeli militarism leaves many of us with reservations, and I’ve also seen that voting for Harris is the best available way to protect the safety of the Palestinian people and continue fighting for an end to the war.
Unlike Trump, Harris and her advisers are open to our influence. She has increasingly expressed empathy for the suffering of the people of Palestine and Lebanon, and the pain it has caused Arab and Muslim Americans. She has repeatedly called for a Gaza cease-fire and endorsed a two-state solution to resolve the ongoing violent assault on Palestinians. And she has endorsed the rights of the Palestinian people to “dignity, security, freedom and self-determination.”
So I urge all my fellow South Asian and Muslim voters: At this pivotal moment in our nation’s history, we must take action. Tell your friends and family to vote early or make a plan to get to the polls on Election Day. Knock on doors and make phone calls. Together, we can put us on a path to progress and build a Georgia where every family has the opportunity to thrive.
Nabilah Islam Parkes is Georgia State Senator for District 7, encompassing Peachtree Corners, Berkeley Lake, Norcross, Duluth, Suwanee and Lawrenceville in Gwinnett County. She is the first Muslim woman and first woman of South Asian heritage elected to the state Senate
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