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Friend,
Friend,

In a normal time, this year’s events, especially the 2020 Census and general election, would have kept our small, committed AAI staff busy. And they did, for sure. But, as you all know, 2020 proved to be challenging for many reasons – including dramatic policy changes that have moved faster than ever.

Our talented and dedicated team of staff is making sure that Arab American concerns – your concerns – are not only heard, but that Arab Americans are leading on critical issues, including hate crime, voting rights, free speech, and civil liberties. This work fills me with pride and hope for a brighter year ahead. Because our mighty team is on top of it all, we have the opportunity to make a significant difference in the year ahead. But to do it, we need your immediate help to raise $100,000 so we can begin 2021 strong.

We are relying on your continued support to ensure Arab Americans are heard and represented at all levels of government.

I co-founded the Arab American Institute thirty-five years ago to foster a network of proud Arab Americans in civic and political life. Today, I am proud that Arab Americans serve on city councils, school boards, in state houses, U.S. Congress, and more. And this year in particular, the role Arab Americans have played in helping a nation in crisis – as educators, health care workers, and business owners, has demonstrated our community’s profound commitment to public service.

Indeed, as we have witnessed throughout this year, the Arab American community is incredibly resilient. But we continue to face obstacles to our full participation in public life. Obstacles that include challenges to being counted fairly and accurately in the Census, bigotry and hate, voter suppression, and challenges to our rights to free speech. Below you will see how we have tackled some of these obstacles, and how, with your support, we will continue to fight.

This year, our Yalla Count Me In campaign ensured Arab Americans were counted on the 2020 Census. Leading over 200 partners, AAI served as a Census resource hub for Arab American community organizations, advocates, and students alike. By providing Arabic and English resources about how Arab Americans could document their ancestry on the Census, to explaining the significance of the Census for our democracy, and responding to data privacy concerns, AAI worked year round, with often changing timelines and circumstances, to ensure a fair and accurate count of Arab Americans.

Going forward, data from the 2020 Census will help empower local communities to advocate for Arabic voter registration forms, translation services, and public services tailored to our community’s unique needs. Given the uniquely politicized nature of the 2020 Census, the work ahead won’t be easy, but it’s too important not to take on, and rest assured AAI will be at the forefront of this effort in 2021.

In 2020, AAI continued sounding the alarm about the hate crime crisis in our country. Our recently released analysis demonstrated a troubling trend of increased deadly and violent hate crimes. Our data analysis, paired with our work on missing data in federal hate crime reporting, has made AAI a go-to source for hate crime policy and data analysis.

I am proud that this summer, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Jabara-Heyer NO HATE Act, which we played a major role in drafting. In 2021, we will continue to press for the Act’s passage, which will provide law enforcement agencies with resources to train their officers on how to identify and correctly report hate crimes, ensuring that all hate crimes are reported and given the attention needed to halt this devastating trend. We continue to work on educating policy makers and the public on the importance of accurate hate crime data, and I look forward to this legislation passing the Senate in 2021.

The 2020 General Election meant our Yalla Vote program was in high gear. This year Yalla Vote was again a premier partner of National Voter Registration Day, and a partner with Former First Lady Michelle Obama’s initiative, When We All Vote . Our Yalla Vote partners registered voters throughout the year, including using innovative techniques that involved both digital and relational organizing. These proved critical as we worked with changing circumstances under COVID-19 to ensure community members were registered and able to safely vote. In addition to our bilingual Arabic/English Yalla Vote Election Protection Hotline, Yalla Vote also played a key role in tackling election disinformation on social media by flagging content as well as running inoculation messaging in ethnic media and across social media platforms. This allowed us to ensure Arab Americans knew their rights, and were able to cast their ballots.

As we move forward, AAI is looking to the critical reapportionment work that will occur, drafting guidance on congressional redistricting and the Arab American community and creating an Arab American framework to support democracy.

And, to make sure our community has every opportunity to participate in civic life, AAI has built an Arab American resume bank for those interested in making a difference through public service. As AAI interfaces with the Presidential Transition Team, the resume bank will be critical to ensuring our community’s representation.

Last but certainly not least, an issue that remains at the heart of our community – Palestinian human rights . The issue of Palestinian human rights saw many challenges in 2020. In addition to harmful foreign policy, the Trump Administration targeted pro-Palestinian advocacy by an unconstitutional Executive Order adopting a dangerous and overly broad definition of anti-Semitism. Along similar lines, we’ve seen proposed laws that would blacklist companies who support the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement. Until these unconstitutional efforts are defeated in court, AAI will continue to lead opposition to these misguided attempts to shield Israel from all criticism.

We’re only able to keep these key programs going with your support. These critical projects not only help our community but create a more just and inclusive society.

Your $250, $1,000, or $5,000 donation can help change the narrative and make all the difference to our community. A contribution at any level will help—when it comes to advocating for our community, every dollar matters.

-Jim

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