As you know, Indian-American city council candidate Tom Abraham was smeared as a potential terrorist for being desi.

It’s ba-a-ack. We now know what the default political smear is going to be for Americans with brown skin for the next quarter-century. Hint: it’s identical to racist insults spewed by yahoos in 4×4’s:

Fliers that denounced [Prospect Park, NJ] Councilman Mohamed Khairullah as unpatriotic and a criminal were anonymously sent to borough residents last week… The message, delivered in a white envelope with no return address, was written in English and Spanish. It characterized Khairullah, a Muslim, as “a betrayer living among us” who would “try to poison our thoughts about our great country” and had ties to people responsible for the terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. [Link]An anonymous attack flier claimed a Muslim candidate was ‘a betrayer living among us’ with 9/11 ties

The mailing said Mohamed Khairullah “should not be living in our clean town…” [Link]

Khairullah [is] a Syrian native and former Saudi Arabian resident… Arab-Americans and Muslims make up about 15 percent of this half-square-mile borough’s population of nearly 5,800; Hispanics account for about 40 percent, with Caucasians and African-Americans representing most of the remainder…

He said the flier… misrepresented… comments he made at a pro-Palestinian rally in Paterson last year in which he said American Muslims need to do their part to affect change in the Middle East, either through political activism or economic boycotts… [Link]

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p>This is exactly the same smear an American shell company tried to use to prevent Jet Airways from flying to America. And it sometimes works. A desi candidate in another NJ town was smeared last year for being foreign-born, a classic political tactic. You get the sense that outside California, where that was never explicitly made a political issue with (cough, cough) Governor (I can never keep a straight face) Terminator, politics are pitched to the reptilian sub-brain and argued with the subtlety of a junior high playground fight:

The mailing is similar to one that went out the night before the 2004 election to voters in Bedminster, accusing township committee candidate Zaheer Jan and his running mate of being funded by “foreign nationals, not local residents.” Jan, who was born in India and grew up in Pakistan, said it was a scare tactic designed to make people fear he might have terrorist ties; he lost the election by 14 votes out of nearly 3,600 cast. [Link]

Jan lost by 12 votes out of more than 8,100 cast. Mass, his fellow Democrat, lost by a single vote. The night before the election, virtually every home in Bedminster received a flier from the campaigns of Republican incumbents Don Cross and Kurt Joerger, claiming Jan and Mass were being funded by “foreign nationals, not local residents.”

Both Democrats have said they have not taken contributions from foreigners, which is against the law. Mass, an attorney who formerly worked for the Justice Department, said he believes the fliers were racist… Having lived in the United States for nearly 30 years, Zaheer Jan thought his credentials as an American were beyond question as he made his first bid for elected office…

He helped design a massive pipeline project to bring Alaskan natural gas to the Midwest. He rallied neighborhood residents against a disruptive highway project and serves as president of his condominium association. [Link]

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p>Most of the press coverage of the Khairullah story correctly called the flier’s allegations ‘slurs’ or ‘smears.’ The Orlando Sentinel proudly stands alone in pretending a false accusation of treason is merely an ‘off-color remark.’

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p>The flier included a tactic also used by Senate candidate Tom Forrester of New Jersey, slamming the opponent’s personal life:

It also referred to a charge against Khairullah, alleging the aggravated assault of his wife and father-in-law was related to a… 2002, domestic violence incident… Some of the recent mailings included a copy of the arrest warrant… “Everyone in town got one, apparently,” said Helen Donahue, who received the mailing Friday. [Link]

Kahirullah was chosen mayor by the city council anyway to fill the vacant mayoral seat. The final vote: 4-0.

Government and religious leaders say they know of only one other Muslim currently serving as mayor in New Jersey, Wayne Smith of Irvington. Mohammed Ali Chaudry served as mayor of Bernards Township last year, but committee members take turns serving as mayor, and a different member is mayor this year. [Link]

Related posts: My opponent is undecipherable and probably an “embed”, Abraham vs. Sherrill to the Supreme Court???, Press bias, It’s over, Desi mayor voted to ban ‘Midnight’s Children’, The TM word