TRANSCRIPT
The Detroit suburb of Dearborn is a blend of cultures.
The red, white and blue is flown proudly at America’s largest mosque.
This is the first Arab-majority city in the United States and voters here could help determine if Kamala Harris or Donald Trump wins the state of Michigan.
In a Lebanese bakery staff are preparing for the busy lunchtime rush as Al Jazeera blares in the background.
The election campaign has been focused almost entirely on domestic issues but not here; people in Dearborn are following events in the Middle East closely.
Wayne’s come in to buy lunch.
He moved to the United States from the West Bank almost 40 years ago.
He’s always voted blue but this time, he'll be voting for Jill Stein, the Green Candidate.
“I do worry about Democrats losing power, I do worry about right (wing) extremists, of course I do… all that can take secondary (place) when you look at the genocide that’s going on, the administration providing all these weapons to the state of Israel, children being shredded on a daily basis."
Mohammed won’t vote for Harris because of the current administration’s support of Israel, but he won’t vote for Trump either and wonders if Muslim supporter for the Republican is being overstated.
“It could be just to bring encourage others to vote the same way. I don’t think a large part of the community’s going to vote for Trump or Harris.”
Israel’s war in Gaza and operation in southern Lebanon has had an enormous impact on Muslim voters here.
Many are worried for relatives; all are horrified by the images they see on TV each night.
It led to the creation of the Abandon Biden Campaign, which had to abandon its original name.
Hasan Abdul-Salam is its leader:
“The ultimate goal is to punish the Vice President because of her genocide, to then take the blame for the defeat, and in so doing buy power, to send a signal to the political landscape that you should never have ignored us when we came out again and again and again.”
Reporter: “Democrats would say that the Abandon Harris movement is simply helping Donald Trump, what would you say to that?”
“I say that the former President prevented our friends, family and colleagues from entering the country, but the Vice President killed them. We have no choice. Imagine what would happen after a year like this where we protested against the administration because of the genocide and we’d walk gently to the ballot box and reward the vice president.”
Others in the community aren’t just voting Green or staying home.
The back streets of Dearborn are a strange mix of Trump signs and Palestinian flags.
We’re meeting the mayor of nearby Dearborn Heights, Bill Bazzi.
He's a veteran, a Muslim, an immigrant and a supporter, at this election, of Donald Trump.
“We have no voice with the Democrats, with Harris or Biden. All of a sudden now she says “I’m going to stop the war”, President Trump’s been saying it for months.”
The Mayor was one of several community leaders who joined Trump on stage recently.
It came as a surprise to many of his constituents.
“Within a day or two of that I probably spoke to 100. Maybe 10 were negative, but I was getting feedback from 19 year olds, 20 year olds, we’re glad somebody actually came forward and now we have direction, we have a city leader who’s endorsing Trump and we’re going to go with your recommendation.”
Democrats are asking Muslim voters to think about what a Trump Administration 2.0 could mean for them.
Sami Khaldi is a local party official.
“Obviously we tell them a vote for the Green Party is helping Donald Trump and we remind them, ‘is this the President you want back?’ Obviously we have tried him for four years, we know he implemented the Muslim ban and he's going to do it again.”
But for many of those who’ve spent years supporting Democratic candidates there’s a sense of betrayal.
Suehalia Amen is a local Arab-American activist.
“I’m at a point where for me, I can’t sit back as a life-long democrat and pretend that the Democratic party isn’t funding a genocide and allowing Israel carte blanche to do as they please.”
Reporter: “If the Biden Administration announced a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah for example a couple of days before election day, would that swing any votes here or is it too late?
“It’s 400 plus days too late to act like you care.”
