My Plea to Kamala

Dear Vice President Harris:

Allow me to offer my assessment as to where we stand regarding our hopes for your victory in the State of Michigan…

1. Your stunning candidacy has given tens of millions throughout the country a new hope — and a belief that we can save our Democracy, restore women’s fundamental rights, and create an economy where everyone has a seat at the table and a slice of the pie. 

2. Those of us from Michigan have serious concerns about you possibly losing Michigan — and we just can’t let that happen. We fear you may not have the whole picture that we see here on the ground. This is why we are reaching out to you. 

3. The war on Gaza has not only resulted in the deaths of 42,000+ civilians (nearly half of them children), but those still alive are literally being starved to death. Most hospitals, schools and social services have been obliterated. This suffering must end. 

4. The grief over this is felt by the 200,000 to 300,000 Arab and/or Muslim Americans who live in Michigan. Many have either lost loved ones in Gaza or live with the daily fear that their families and friends still in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon are in a constant state of terror and in fear of losing their lives. It has profoundly affected them, our neighbors here in Michigan. And it will deeply affect this election on November 5th.

5. In the 2020 election, the Biden-Harris ticket won nearly 70% of the Arab American vote in Michigan. 

6. Since Israel’s invasion of Gaza a year ago, the Arab vote in Michigan for Joe Biden — and now you — has tanked. That 70% support number in the polls has dropped to as low as 12% in one recent Michigan poll. In a state that Hillary Clinton lost by just 2 votes per precinct in 2016, the loss of any of the 140,000 votes you received in 2020 could be catastrophic. 

7. We must not let this happen. One thing we’ve learned from the polling — the good news — is that Trump has not picked up many of these Arab American votes. The bad news is that it seems the vast majority of Arab voters in Michigan are either going to stay home or they will show up to vote but leave the ‘president’ line blank. Some will vote 3rd party. As Michelle Goldberg wrote in The New York Times, “Lose Michigan, Lose the White House.”

8. In the 1968 presidential election, the Democratic candidate, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, waited until 5 weeks before the election to break with President Johnson over the Vietnam War. Humphrey finally insisted he would end the war. It was too late. Richard Nixon won. The result? Another 21,000 dead American soldiers who literally died for nothing. 

Vice President Harris: Your perceived silence and lack of action, your lack of a plan, your continued repetition of the party line — “We are close to a ceasefire!” — as if it’s just around the corner when we all know (because we all know Bibi) that that is not going to happen — rings hollow, and it has cost you an active base of support in Michigan. Many are still going to vote for you, but that vote now lacks enthusiasm — and some supporters are not out there aggressively getting out the vote. They are dispirited, and they are demoralized by Trump barnstorming the state like a steamroller who, unlike our side, is not afraid to state clearly what he intends to do “on Day One.” There is no equivocating from Trump. No pulling his punch. No planting a symbolic pomegranate tree to honor the dead of October 7th while ignoring the slaughter of 17,000 innocent children. None of this points to us winning in Michigan. Maybe Michigan isn’t needed. Winning in North Carolina and/or Georgia may make up for losing Michigan. Then again, Madam Vice President, there are 71,000 registered Arab-American and Muslim voters in Georgia, a state you only won by 12,000 votes in 2020...

9. We believe this disaster can be prevented. The solution is simple and doable. It does not require you to be critical of President Biden. It simply asks that you side with the American people who in every poll have said that they do not support this war and they want an immediate ceasefire. You have eloquently called for this ceasefire. Why has it not been heard by the voters in Michigan? Why have thousands of Black and young adult voters joined now in sympathy and solidarity with their Arab and Muslim neighbors, co-workers, and fellow students throughout Michigan? Maybe it’s just because that's who we are. This does not bode well for you and we want to fix this right now. 

10. This is what we, your supporters, are asking you to do:

• Please stand with Arabs, Jews, African Americans and young adults in Dearborn, Flint and Detroit, and say that you will bring this war in Gaza to an end once you are president. 

• Promise to deliver all forms of humanitarian aid immediately and that we will help rebuild homes and hospitals in Gaza. 

• State that there will be a new understanding with Israel in your administration, one that will lead the way to real peace and a two-state solution — which will do more than anything else to create a safe and secure Israel. This relationship will require that all U.S. and international laws are to be followed by all countries to whom we give aid. Just yesterday, President Biden warned Prime Minister Netanyahu that he had “30 days to start letting humanitarian aid into Gaza — or else.” THAT is not acceptable. Unless President Biden can show us for the next 30 days how long he could last with no food and no water. Last week, on Stephen Colbert, when Stephen asked you what was going to “change” in the Harris administration, your immediate answer was, “Well, I’m not Joe Biden.” Exactly. I think it’s time that you need to prove that to the voters of Michigan and the rest of the country — and I think you can do so while acknowledging all the good Joe has done as perhaps our most progressive President since FDR. 

• Reassure the Israeli people that the American people are their closest friends and that their security is paramount to us. We will never again allow our Jewish sisters and brothers to face what they suffered in the 20th century. One wonderful thing you may know about the state of Michigan is not only how vocal Michigan people were in the 1940s in favor of taking in Jewish refugees from the War, but how, ever since then, Arab and Jewish people in Michigan have worked together for social justice, civil rights, unions and two different ways to enjoy hummus even if both groups spell it the same way. Cousins! 

• All hostages in Gaza are to be returned to Israel, and all Palestinian political prisoners in Israel are to be returned to the Palestinian Territories.

• All Palestinians must be able to live in their own Democracy with equal rights and self-determination and not be subjected to a separate set of rules because of their race or religion. 

• Finally, Kamala, you are already beloved by tens of millions of Americans — and most of them have really only truly gotten to know you in just 71 days! You have promised to restore the child tax credit! To increase aid to small businesses by ten-fold! To give first-time homeowners $25,000 in assistance! (Right now they get nothing!) You have announced so many things that are going to be different — and you don’t need us to tell you that is exactly why you have turned this election around! We thank you for it. Joe Biden thanks you for it. 

Now, please, let’s make sure you win by winning the state of Michigan! Let our Arab and Muslim neighbors hear that you are with them in standing for peace and for creating a new way. 

In Solidarity,

Michael Moore

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