Advocacy & Civic Engagement

Using advocacy and civic engagement to build political and community power. 

Investing in Our Political Futures 

MJF’s Advocacy work includes making demands of policymakers that are rooted in community demands. Our civic engagement work includes educating our communities about the political process and ensuring we are represented through census work, getting out the vote, and the voting process through development of voter guides. MJF also partners with other civic engagement organizations to hold educational forums on the civic engagement and voting process. 

Updates

Check here for general updates on our civic engagement work.

Featured
Muslims for Just Futures Statement on ICE Terrorizing Chicago Communities

Muslims for Just Futures condemns the ongoing acts of violence, harassment, and intimidation carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and federal agents throughout Chicago. Today, ICE operations once again brought fear and disruption to our communities—this time in the Lakeview neighborhood and the broader North Side—where at least nine individuals were detained, and federal agents deployed tear gas in a residential area.

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Featured
Muslims for Just Futures Statement on ICE Terrorizing Chicago Communities

Muslims for Just Futures condemns the ongoing acts of violence, harassment, and intimidation carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and federal agents throughout Chicago. Today, ICE operations once again brought fear and disruption to our communities—this time in the Lakeview neighborhood and the broader North Side—where at least nine individuals were detained, and federal agents deployed tear gas in a residential area.

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Muslims for Just Futures’ Statement on Designations and its Implication on Movement Infrastructure

Muslims for Just Futures’ Statement on Designations and its Implication on Movement Infrastructure

We condemn in the strongest terms the U.S. government’s expansion of sanctions against Palestinian human rights organizations. These politically motivated designations are a direct attack on movement infrastructure and the vital work of organizations committed to justice and human rights. By cutting off access to the global financial system, these sanctions choke nonprofits’ ability to operate, dragging countless groups into a punitive dragnet and threatening the survival of Palestinian-led organizing.

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Where the Levees Broke and the Bombs Fell

Where the Levees Broke and the Bombs Fell by Senior Organizing Fellow, Assata Dela Cruz

I was twelve years old when the War on Terror began, sitting in my seventh grade classroom having a snack as planes crashing continued to play on our little TV screen until an announcement came over the school intercom to turn it off and continue with our lessons.  I didn’t fully understand what was happening… how could I really?  But I could feel the shift in the air.  On September 12th, I watched my sisters and aunties remove their hijabs with trembling hands and tearful eyes.  At the time, I had been preparing to wear hijab myself with so much pride in stepping into a deeper expression of my faith and identity.  But that excitement was replaced by fear and the sound of glass shattering as the storefront my chosen family poured their labor and love into was vandalized with Islamophobic slurs that same week.  It was then that I realized not only was our family business a target, so were we.  To be visibly Muslims was to be marked and not even being a child could protect me from being perceived as a threat.

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