Muslims For Kucinich

Everybody was already seated by the time that Dennis arrived. As he walked through the dining area greeting people, he saw me, made eye contact and gave me the same little bow of the head that he did when I met him at the campaign appearance in July.

He made his way to his place at the table. The Washington campaign coordinator introduced him, then he spoke for about ten minutes or so about Iraq. He talked about the U.S. plans to privatize Iraq's utilities and public services and sell them off to foreign companies and all the other war profiteering that's going on. The U.S. is mismanaging Iraq in the worst way. Instead of staying there to keep on devastating and plundering that country, we need to withdraw and let the U.N. take over and protect Iraq's resources so that they can be used by Iraqis. Dennis also talked about ending the spell of fear that we are being kept in and said that by working together and speaking up we can start to turn things around and repair the damage we've done.

After this speech, we all had a chance to eat. The food was vegan (a form of vegetarian that avoids any animal products, such as milk or eggs, not just meat), since Dennis is vegan. This is also helpful for those of us who try to eat halal or kosher.

After the meal, Dennis took some questions from those present. He started by introducing a representative of the longshoreman's union that had hosted the labor rally the previous evening. The union rep said that everybody involved in the rally had felt that it was a great success and that it was the best labor event this year and the best event put on by the longshoreman's union in a long time. He said that the union members were committed to supporting Dennis and being at the caucuses for him, which is great news.

Dennis then took questions. This is not a verbatim report; I've taken the liberty of combining the answers to a couple of similar questions, and I'm sure there's some things that I left out.

He mentioned that he felt the three key issues in the coming months are Iraq, healthcare, and trade. Policy in all three areas is broken and will affect our economy and our security in the short, medium, and long term, respectively. Iraq is already becoming a disaster and getting worse and throwing more and more money into failed policies won't solve it. Healthcare is becoming a greater and greater problem, as more and more Americans are uninsured while costs continue to rise. And our trade policies have led to a huge trade deficit and debts that we will have to pay off. Economist Paul Krugman has discussed this and if anything offers even more dire predictions than Dennis mentioned. In all three cases - Iraq, healthcare, and trade - simply tinkering with the current system won't resolve the problems; at best it may only put them off a little longer. Dennis is the only one of the candidates who is offering proposals that will actually deal with and work to solve these problems at their roots. His solutions are to get the U.S. out and the U.N. into Iraq; to replace the current healthcare system with a single-payer national health insurance like in Canada; and to get out of NAFTA and the WTO and instead make bilateral trade agreements with each country that respect workers rights, human rights, and the environment so that corportations aren't moving to developing countries where they can exploit workers - the importing of these goods is behind the trade deficit.

Another question was about 9/11. Dennis talked about how the Bush Administration has distorted the meaning of 9/11 by using it to promote its own policies such as war on Iraq. The wounds have not been allowed to heal but are deliberately being kept open and sore so that our fears can be played upon. Dennis said that we need to have a dialogue as a nation about what happened and why so that we can find closure and that as president he would promote this. This was in response to a question about how the Bush administration is trying to stifle investigation.

There was also a question about immigrant rights. Dennis wants amnesty (legalization) for undocumented workers. He described the current situation as being little better than "slave labor", taking advantage of poor workers who have no legal protections or rights and who can be kept docile with the threat of being reported to the INS. Dennis also promised to meet with the president of Mexico to establish an agreement that allows workers to move freely between the U.S. and Mexico. He said that current immigration policies are upside down, treating immigrants as suspects and criminals, and that it goes against our history and our nation's ideals.

After this, I got a chance to speak; when I raised my hand, he selected me right away to speak, which sure stroked my ego, lol. I didn't have a question but I said something that I've been wanting for the last several weeks to be able to say to his face: "Thank you for introducing the Benjamin Franklin True Patriot Act". He has a lot of courage to do that, and I said so. Dennis used this as an opportunity to explain the True Patriot Act to everybody present.

Another question was about the war on drugs. Dennis alluded to Rush Limbaugh but deliberately did not name names; however we all knew that's who he was talking about. A man like Rush Limbaugh is lucky. He'll probably never be arrested much less see the inside of a jail cell. Instead, he'll get treatment. However, if he were poor and a racial or ethnic minority, he would be locked away and treated as a criminal. Dennis talked about how we need a system that concentrates on rehabilitation rather than incarceration. He wants to see non-violent drug offenders given treatment not put in jail. He wants an end to mandatory minimum sentencing, "three strikes" laws, and the death penalty. All of these are not only wrong in themselves but are tainted with racial bias.

Another question was about the Department of Peace, which Dennis took the opportunity to promote. The Department of Peace by itself is not a magic solution. True change will require work from all of us to build our society on non-violence and cooperation. But a Department of Peace can remove some of the roadblocks that make it difficult to implement policies towards this end.

Dennis was asked about the "School of the Americas", which you can read about here. It's our own little terrorist training academy, except that when they're on our side we call them freedom fighters (as we called Bin Laden in the 1980s). Dennis said that he would issue an executive order to immediately shut it down.

The last question was about reparations to African-Americans for slavery. Dennis mentioned Rep. Conyers's bill to establish a commission to study the reparations issue and indicated his support although he has not yet signed on as a co-sponsor. He talked about how the institutions of slavery and the destructiveness of slavery are still with us and we only pretend that they aren't. Slavery as well as the exploitation of the Native Americans have left permanent wounds in our country and barriers between our people. We need to embark on a substantative reconciliation with our brothers and sisters of color. Dennis believes that the most effective reparation is to rebuild our schools and provide public education from pre-K to college level, to have a full-employment economy and a living wage (instead of minimum wage) and universal health care. Payment of money to individuals would only be a bandaid; rebuilding the infrastructure of these communities and providing tools to escape poverty is what is really needed. This is a speech that I think Dennis needs to be giving much more often.

That was the last of the questions. Afterwards, Dennis made his way out. He stopped to talk to various people. One person asked him about Israel and Palestine. I didn't hear all of his answer, but I caught some parts. He thinks that either a two-state solution or a binational state solution may be able to guarantee Palestinian autonomy and self-determination (at this point Israel has created so many "facts on the ground" with its settlements and blockades that demanding full and equal rights within a single state may be the best path to Palestinian self-determination rather than trying to make an independent state out of what Israel has left to the Palestinians). He supports a declaration of Palestinian statehood as a way of supporting the cause of Palestinian self-determination, but seems to want to find the best solution available under the current circumstances, which may not be the ideal solution. He also criticized Israel's attack on Syria as a violation of the U.N. charter; if Israel has a dispute with Syria, they need to take it to the U.N. not just launch unilateral military strikes.

After this, Dennis passed by me and greeted me with "As-salaam alaykum" and another nod, both of which I returned, then he continued on his way. I probably could have tried to buttonhole him to ask him something but I didn't think of anything at that moment. Also, I was running late and had to get to work. When I left, Dennis was talking with the kitchen staff, whom he asked us all to give a round of applause to.

This cemented my positive impression of him that I had since July. He is culturally sensitive to Muslims, has the right positions on the issues (from my point of view), and is also a man of intregrity and courage. I believe in what he stands for and I would like to work to help him accomplish it, both in this presidential campaign and as part of the larger peace movement that must be ongoing.