Qasim Rashid for Illinois 11th Congressional District

Last month, 3 old friends from Illinois, the 3 people I trust most there, each told me that I had to get in touch with Qasim Rashid because he was running for Congress against corporate shill and Wall Street lackey, Bill Foster. All three were backing Rashid. I told them I already knew Rashid from years past and that Blue America would be likely to back his bid. And today we've officially endorsed him. The first of my Illinois friends to have alerted me to the race was state Senator Rachel Ventura who emphasized what an impressive candidate he is. "He understands the struggles of Americans today," she wrote. "His drive for justice, healthcare, and environment are a just a few reasons I support him. He understands that the bought and paid for political system is destroying the American Dream for families across this country. We have to elect people who will support policies that strengthen the economy for the middle and working class, who will move us toward a sustainable planet, and provide real healthcare for everyone. Qasim is intelligent, compassionate, and a hard worker but beyond that he lives and breathes the change we need. I’m honored to support him."

The second Illinois pal is union carpenter/activist and Aurora Alderman-at-Large John Laesch, one of the first candidates Blue America ever endorsed, back when he ran against then-Speaker of the House Denny Hastert, the beginning of a process that led to Hastert retiring and eventually going to prison. Much of this new district is that district. And this weekend Laesch is spending the day organizing a petition drive for Rashid.

Rashid is non-stop energy and I get the feeling he's going to meet every person in the 11th district-- most of McHenry and Kane counties, and parts of Boone, DeKalb, Cook, DuPage, Will and Lake-- before this is over. It's a safely blue district and the Democratic primary determines who goes to Congress. Biden beat Trump by over 15 points. The PVI is D+5 and the district has a D+10 partisan lean.

Foster's lifetime voting record is rated "F" by ProgressivePunch, pretty much tied with fellow New Dem member Brad Schneider, the only Illinois Democrat who votes as badly as Foster does. Foster is a member of the House Financial Services Committee and has taken immense amounts of money (legalistic bribes) from the industries the committee oversees. It took a while but I finally got Rashid to sit down and write a guest post re-introducing himself to DWT readers. Please read it and please consider contributing to his campaign here.

Justice Can't Wait

-by Qasim Rashid

My story of the American dream began with what is probably my favorite photo. A 1978 photo of my father taken 4 years before I was even born. Young, healthy, and fit, he stood smiling on a ferry in the New York Harbor— behind him is the iconic Statue of Liberty. A few months ago I found myself in NYC and decided to recreate the photo as best as I could.

I don’t know what hopes he had for his family, for his children as he stood there nearly half a century ago. But I’m sure the idea that his second child, and best looking son, would one day become a human rights lawyer and then one day run for U.S. Congress was something he could only dream of.

My story in DuPage County, IL began in 1988, when my family immigrated here from Pakistan. We left a country that persecuted us for our faith, and arrived in a new country committed to justice and freedom, a nation with a new language, a new culture, and in a new world. My parents had a decision to make. Would we insulate ourselves, or would we immerse ourselves?

My parents, both teachers, chose the latter. They pushed us to immerse ourselves in our schools and our communities. In our neighborhoods and our libraries. In our local mosques, churches, and synagogues.

It wasn’t easy. In fact, like many low income families, we struggled. I remember growing up in a very small, section 8 apartment in Glen Ellyn, IL with my three siblings. I remember getting my first job, a Union Job, at the local Dominick’s while I was still a student at Glenbard South High School.

But out of that struggle, so much good has come. With the support of our neighbors, with our faith, and yes with the social protection programs that Americans fought for decades ago, my family rose out of that struggle of poverty. All three of my siblings and I are thankfully successful in our careers, and my older brother also proudly served in the United States Marines.

I attended North Central College in Naperville at a very different time in our country. After graduating from the University of Illinois and working downtown, my journey took us to Virginia to the University of Richmond to pursue my law degree. And since then, I’ve spent the last 15 years of my life in human rights law, supporting survivors of domestic and sexual violence, mentoring returning citizens looking to rebuild their lives, demanding racial and economic justice, and representing low income communities.

And in this story, my story of the American dream, we’re just getting started. Because the fierce urgency of now means justice can’t wait. Consider this.

Now, 25 years after my childhood in that struggling Section 8 apartment, we live in a system where the wealth gap has expanded, and income inequality has expanded. Economically we are headed in the wrong direction.

Now, even though we’ve known climate change has been an existential threat for decades— disproportionately decimating low income and Black and brown communities— we live in a system where our elected officials fail to act and give us lip service, all while taking fossil fuel money, increasing climate injustice. Meanwhile, climate change disproportionately impacts Black and brown communities, and we don’t have representation at the table to demand justice.

Now, as the opioid crisis ravages our communities— our system enables politicians to take big pharma money from the same corporations who have helped quadruple that death toll over the last 15 years.

Now as the immigration crises continues to get worse, we have Democrats in office who proudly called out Donald Trump’s cruel immigration policies, but are silent when a Democratic President continues them. If you’re only willing to speak up against injustice when the other guy does it, then you don’t get to say you stand for justice.

Now, with rising economic injustices making life harder for working people and small businesses— our system enables politicians to deregulate the big banks, watch them collapse, bail them out on taxpayer dollars—all while our neighbors continue to struggle.

Now, a world in which Black Americans are denied reparations, women are denied equal pay and bodily autonomy, LGBTQ Americans are denied equal rights and legal protections, Indigenous Americans are denied equal justice, Americans with disabilities have their rights voted away, and immigrant Americans are denied equal access— we live in a system that was supposed to be built on justice, but fails to meet that promise.

I struggled through those trenches in my youth, and now for decades I’ve advocated for marginalized people still struggling through those trenches. And if there’s one lesson I’ve learned in those decades— it is this. These unjust systems aren’t broken— they were built this way. And that’s the scariest truth of all.

But rather than succumb to that fear, I’ve chosen to keep fighting for that more perfect union our founding documents call us to fight for. And here’s what that looks like— and I want your participation. Ask yourself if you agree with these values.

Like 95% of Democrats, do you want corporate and billionaire money out of politics? I’m the only candidate in this election rejecting corporate money because Americans want public servants accountable to working people, not to billionaires.

Like 98% of Democrats, do you believe Climate Change is real and you want fossil fuel money out of politics? I’m the only candidate in this election rejecting fossil fuel money, because I value science, not climate denial.

Like 95% of Democrats, do you stand by President Obama and Biden’s bank regulatory measures to protect our economy? I’m the only candidate in this election who didn’t vote with Donald Trump to strip away bank regulations, and then take tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the Big Banks.

Like 95% of Democrats, do you agree that we need to strengthen the Americans with Disabilities Act and strengthen 4th Amendment right to privacy protections? I’m the only candidate in this race who has fought for both those rights, rather than vote with Republicans to strip them away.

Like 95% of Democrats, do you want the money from the big pharma corporations enabling the opioid crisis out of Congress? Do you believe healthcare is a human right, and people should not go bankrupt because they got cancer, or are taking care of an elderly parent, or a sick child? I’m the only candidate in this election rejecting pharma and health insurance money, because I value compassion and guaranteed healthcare, not corporate campaign donations.

Here’s the truth. Whoever funds a candidate’s campaign when they run for office, is who that politician will serve when they are in office. I am the only candidate in this race who is 100% funded by We the People. And once elected, I will be 100% responsible and accountable to my constituents.

As a human rights lawyer, my life’s purpose is to fight for marginalized communities, and to demand better. I ask you to choose a new Congress, and to trust me to be your fighter in Washington. Because I’ve lived in those trenches, and I’ve advocated for those still in those trenches. I don’t need to tell you that the urgency of now cannot be ignored any longer. It is up to us to conquer this impossible path.

The late, great James Baldwin said so beautifully, so perfectly, so courageously - “I know what I'm asking is impossible. But in our time, as in every time, the impossible is the least that one can demand-and one is, after all, emboldened by the spectacle of human history in general, and the American Negro history in particular, for it testifies to nothing less than the perpetual achievement of the impossible.”

I am running for Congress because I benefited from the American dream. I am running to protect the American dream. And I am running to give true access to the American dream to those who’ve been denied it for generations. Let us rise up to that challenge and meet the moment with the fierce urgency of now. Because Justice Can’t Wait. Together, we can fulfill that promise to form a more perfect union built on true justice for all.