Local Muslims to attend lobby day in Olympia on MLK Jr. Day

Published 12:58 pm Thursday, January 12, 2012

More than 400 Muslims from around the state, including Redmond, are expected to attend a lobby day on Monday in Olympia for this year’s Muslim Day at the Capitol.

Arsalan Bukhari, executive director of the Washington chapter of Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-WA), said the idea for the event came after a group of local Muslims attended a lobby day in Olympia in 2008 and 2009 as part of the Statewide Poverty Action Network, which works to end causes of poverty and create opportunities for people to prosper.

“I was among them and during late 2009, I saw photos and videos of a very large and successful state lobby day organized by a Muslim group in Florida,” Bukhari said. “Inspired by their great work and following their event program, CAIR-WA organized and held its first large-scale Muslims Day at the (state) Capitol on (Martin Luther King Jr.) Day of 2010.”

He said about 500 Muslims from across the state attended the event and since then, the annual event has attracted hundreds of attendees who representing more than 30 of the state’s 49 legislative districts.

Sanaa Carey, a 25-year Redmond resident, will be attending the event for the first time. She said is looking forward to showing people that Muslims do care about their government and want to have their voice heard in policy making at the local and national level.

“Mostly, I want to learn,” she said. “I think it’s absolutely essential to get more knowledgeable (about your government).”

Carey said she also hopes the event will lead people to question many of the stereotypes about Muslims.

Bukhari agreed.

“The growing suspicion and mistrust of the American Muslim community, caused in large part to an organized ‘Islamophobia’ industry, has also motivated community members to want to define themselves rather than having others define us,” he said.

Bukhari said this year’s Muslim day will include a legislative meeting training, a march to the Capitol building and rally at the steps. Rep. Ross Hunter from the 48th Legislative District, which includes Redmond, will be one of the speakers. There will also be pre-arranged meetings with state lawmakers and a planning session focused on how to build the relationships.

This year’s Muslim Day will be a kickoff to CAIR-WA’s year-long Political Engagement Project. CAIR-WA will hold more than 15 one-day workshops in mosques across the state to train Muslims n how to build working relationships with their city, county and state level lawmakers, as well as with the local media.