South Asian Congressional Candidate Faces Discrimination

Racism spurs candidates’ determination to run

By May Chow
AsianWeek Staff Writer

Phone messages left on Syed Mahmood’s campaign headquarters’ answering machine are usually general questions regarding his candidacy for California’s 13th Congressional District or support from Bay Area residents on his courage to run for office as a Muslim American candidate.

So it came as a surprise to Mahmood when he pressed play and heard: “No camel jockeys in the government of the United States. You must be smoking crack to think some Turbanhead is going to get into office. No way, not in California — blond-head, blue-eyed nation.”

“I feel sorry for this person and for those people who have these feelings,” Mahmood said. “These people are victims of ignorance.”

Mahmood’s office received five racist phone messages and numerous hang-ups within a week last month after campaign workers posted 4-feet-by-8-feet election signs around the area. The messages contained expletives and racial epithets aimed toward Mahmood and the Pakistani community.

“I expected the vandalism. There are people with racial attitude, but not many,” he said. “I’m not afraid, but I am concerned about the safety of my campaign workers.”

The Newark, Calif. Police Department has been notified, and detectives assigned to the case are treating the incidents as felony hate crimes. In addition to the harassing phone calls and e-mail threats, some of the campaign posters have been removed by vandals, while some have been defaced with black circles and crosses.

Mahmood is one of a handful of South Asian and Middle Eastern candidates running for office in the Tri-Valley area, which covers parts of Alameda and Santa Clara counties. Mahmood, a Republican candidate, is running against longtime Congressman Pete Stark, D-Fremont. Mahmood says there still isn’t enough representation of Middle Eastern or South Asian candidates.

Top: Syed Mahmood. Above: Vandalized Mahmood campaign sign in Fremont. Many others were seen nearby. Top photo courtesy of www.syedmahood.com. Above photo by Brijinder Anant.

According to the American Muslim Alliance (AMA), an organization that follows the campaign trail of Muslim Americans, the numbers seeking public office have dropped. In the 2000 elections, there were 700 candidates nationwide, of which 152 were elected. This year’s elections, however, it is estimated that there are only 70 candidates. AMA attributes the decline to Muslim Americans’ fears and concerns after Sept. 11.

But Mahmood is not backing down. “Personally, I’m not afraid,” he says. “After Sept. 11, I became more committed and much stronger. We are citizens. Just because somebody has a similar name or background, we all shouldn’t feel guilty. We’re not all responsible for Sept. 11.”

Mahmood isn’t the only one who shares this sentiment. Maad Abu-Ghazalah, a Libertarian candidate for California’s 12th District, says after Sept. 11, his incentive to run for public office became a little more urgent.

“In America, you shouldn’t be afraid of who you are,” Ghazalah said. “I felt there was something that needed to be done to combat backlash, to cut away from this. So rather than lay low, one thing I can’t afford to do is let my rights get steamrolled.”

Ghazalah has also had his share of discrimination. Recently at a local fair to promote his campaign, a woman told Ghazalah that “all of you guys” should be deported.

“It was a normal conversation about abnormal conversation,” Ghazalah said.

Another woman approached his campaign booth, studied his face and asked where he was from. When Ghazalah informed her he was born in the West Bank and grew up in Saudi Arabia, the woman told him he needed to go back home.

“I smiled at her,” Ghazalah said. “It reminded me of why I’m running.”

¡oth candidates said that they hope by running for public office, they can allay some of the fears or misconceptions of Muslims Americans or Middle Easterners.

“There is a small percentage of people who have these bad misperceptions,” Mahmood said, “And these are wrong ideas — thinking that Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs are all the same because everybody looks alike.”

Mahmood was born in India and grew up in Pakistan. The eldest of 11 children, Mahmood immigrated to the United States in 1969, and has lived and worked in Union City since 1977. His career started in marketing and sales management, in which he specialized in telecommunications, computers and business machines.

He is the founder of The American Institute of International Studies and past president of the United Muslims of America. He is married to wife, Carol, of 28 years and has one daughter.

In the 2000 elections, Mahmood was the Republican nominee for California’s 18th District.

Reach May Chow at mchow@asianweek.com.