quarta-feira, 29 de outubro de 2008

BBC: Muslim vote split in US elections

By Sima Kotecha
Newsbeat US reporter

With America set to decide between Barack Obama and John McCain for their new president next Tuesday, Newsbeat visits a mosque in a New York suburb to find out how Muslims feel about the election.

At prayers at a mosque in Jamaica, Queens - a suburb of New York City, the women have their heads covered.

They are kneeling in prayer, the men sitting separately opposite them.

The scene provides an insight into how some of America's 4 million Muslims are feeling about the Presidential race. And the truth is, many are angry.

They feel they've been rejected by mainstream politics in the US, a result perhaps of the 9/11 attacks by followers of Osama Bin Laden, the Islamic extremist, and for which many still feel hated and alienated by their fellow citizens.

I do find it offensive that being Muslim is being considered as a slur. That is offensive, it is racist and it is unfortunate
Azeem Khan, 27, from New York
In the mosque, Anoushka prays for peace.

She thumbs her prayer beads and tells me that a Barack Obama victory would make the world a better place.

She said: "He seems like a truthful person and he has good policies."

She also happens to think, wrongly, that he's a Muslim.

Most of the Muslims here are pro-Obama. After all New York is a state that normally supports his Democratic Party.

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