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Abdul-Samad: First-Term Legislator's Endorsement is One of the Most Sought-After
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| Contributor | ev |
| Last Edited | ev Sep 27, 2007 06:50pm |
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| Category | News |
| News Date | Friday, September 28, 2007 12:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Abdul-Samad: First-Term Legislator's Endorsement is One of the Most Sought-After
By - Justin Schardin
(September 27, 2007)
When Ako Abdul-Samad meets legislators from other states, they always want to get a good look at him. They want to know how an African-American, Muslim community leader and former Black Panther got elected to the Iowa state Legislature.
When longtime Democratic state Rep. Ed Fallon decided to run for governor in 2006, first-term Des Moines school board member Samad ran for, and won, his 66th District seat. Now, in the midst of his first term, Samad's endorsement is one sought after by Democratic presidential candidates looking for more entrée into Des Moines' minority vote.
Speaking at Creative Visions, the non-profit community institute he founded and runs, Samad held close his cards on which candidate he would be supporting. But he offered plenty of insight into how his decision would be made.
How do you see your role with Creative Visions?
"To make sure this becomes an institute... I need to make sure this stays here even if I die tomorrow...to offer those resources to individuals before they get caught up in the system."
Are you still a member of the Black Panther Party?
"I will always be a Panther at heart, but no."
How has being Muslim and a former Panther affected you with voters?
"It was tested in 2003 when I ran for the Des Moines school board. We were trying to find someone to run at the time... One day I was sitting there...and I was actually frustrated, and I said, ‘if we can't find someone else to run, I'll run...' [I]ssues came to peoples' minds about me being Muslim, could I run because of the history of the Black Panther Party.
"If I ran, I wanted to win, because the thing is, the same issues I'd fought for in my teenage life were the same issues I'm talking about now as an adult. Now you're talking about 1968-69, and now we're talking about 2003, and we're talking about the same issues. There |
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