YALLA VOTE ‘08 Our Voice. Our Future.

We’ve been out-and-about here in Michigan, spreading the Yalla Vote initiative to get out the vote and unite our voices under one declaration. This past weekend, we attended the American Federation of Ramallah’s 50^th Annual Ramallah Convention at the Dearborn Hyatt Regency. The huge event gathered some 2000 Palestinian Americans, many of whom trace their roots back to one of the seven major families of the Palestinian town of Ramallah, in the West Bank. Many of the attendees responded to the Yalla Vote campaign with enthusiasm and signed our National Declaration. On the Fourth of July, AAI’s Midwest Director Valerie Smith addressed the convention and explained how the Internet is revolutionizing grass-roots political activism, particularly in regards to the Yalla Vote campaign.

Meeting so many Arab Americans from all over the country on a monumental occasion such as this, and with many expressing great interest in this fall’s elections, it seems that it’s not too late for the larger Arab American community to make its voices heard come November.