Saafir Rabb

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Saafir Rabb is a business strategist, community activist and former advisor to Barack Obama, serving on his transition team in relation to public diplomacy. His career has involved promoting social enterprise, as well as working with ex-convicts and other vulnerable people on issues such as addiction recovery and building low income housing. He is also CEO of Interculture, a strategic consulting firm that advises businesses on cultural competency.

Personal life[edit]

Rabb was born in Baltimore, Maryland and grew up between Baltimore and Howard County. He is the son of a teacher and a union steelworker.[1] He graduated with a bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland in Government & Politics in 1998. In 2009, he earned an MBA from Johns Hopkins University's Carey Business School.[2] He lives in Howard Park, in Northwest Baltimore, with his wife and three children.[3]

Non-profit work[edit]

In a 2020 voter guide from The Baltimore Sun, Rabb said he had helped thousands of people to recover from addiction as the Chief of Operations of I Can't We Can, a local Baltimore recovery program.[4] In a 2009 article, the newspaper described I Can't We Can as a network of halfway houses and clinical services which treat those suffering from drug addiction.[5]

Rabb is also a member of foreign policy group the Pacific Council on International Policy, and a board member of Educate Girls Globally, a charity operating in the developing world.[6] He is a Trustee of Bayan Claremont, a graduate school operating since 2011 at the Claremont School of Theology, which educates American religious leaders.[7]

Political work[edit]

Saafir Rabb helped to organize President Barack Obama's first visit to a mosque, which took place in Baltimore,[8] and was a member of Obama's transition team.[9][10][6] He was an unsuccessful Democratic primary candidate for Maryland's 7th congressional district in both the April 2020 special election, held following the death of incumbent Elijah Cummings, and the subsequent November 2020 election.[11][12][13][14] His campaign was endorsed by Keith Ellison, the current Attorney General of Minnesota, Dr. Yusef Salaam (a member of the exonerated five in the Central Park jogger case), and Hasim Rahman a two-time world heavyweight champion.[15]

Views[edit]

In 2016, Rabb was a strong proponent of the need for government and communities to tackle what he believed to be a rising trend in bigotry and hatred across the United States.[16]

Writing in the Baltimore Jewish Times, Rabb has advocated closer collaboration between Baltimore's Jewish and African American communities. He claimed that violence afflicting black communities, including in Baltimore, and attacks on Jewish communities, come from the same "ideology of hate that has gripped America these past few years." Apart from calling for Jewish and African American communities to find more ways to work together, he also criticized "Racialized policing, mass incarnation, and a lopsided law-enforcement driven approach" which he said "will inevitably aggravate the root causes of violence, leading to much bigger challenges down the line."[17]

In an interview about his political views, he said that a Green New Deal is needed "to address fundamental issues of environmental health, which have gone unaddressed or under addressed by our government." He also called for a reinstatement of "Obama-era protections for our natural resources."[11]

The Baltimore Sun quoted Rabb describing the first impeachment of Donald Trump as "necessary to ensure compliance with the constitution and to preserve democracy." He also told the paper that he opposed 2017 federal tax cuts, which he said have threatened basic federal safety net programs, and called for "tax reforms" designed to ensure that the "richest citizens must pay their fair share." He supported gun control legislation to prevent ordinary citizens purchasing military-grade weapons, but advocated that should not be done in a way which infringes the Constitutional right to bear arms. Rising income inequality across the US should be addressed by the federal government with more resources to support state and local government, he also said, including more support for "homeless and housing assistance programs, food vouchers, education, and employment programs."[4][18]

According to WBAL-TV, Rabb is in favor of unionizing jobs and increasing access to unions. He believes that federal subsidies are essential to help create local jobs[19] and supports an increase in the minimum wage to $15 an hour as well the establishment of a living wage.[20]

During a 7th Congressional District debate, Rabb endorsed the Democrat candidates Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders as his favorites for the US presidency.[21]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Meet Saafir". Saafir Rabb for US Congress. Saafir For Congress. 2020. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  2. ^ "Saafir Rabb II - CEO - Interculture". LinkedIn. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  3. ^ Hall, Tom; Cahill, Kathleen (January 17, 2020). "Saafir Rabb: Candidate for Congress (MD 7th District)". WYPR. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  4. ^ a b "Voter guide: Saafir A. Rabb". The Baltimore Sun. January 6, 2020. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  5. ^ Bykowicz, Julie (June 11, 2009). "RECOVERING ADDICTS PROTEST FUNDING CUTS". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  6. ^ a b Khan, Saliqa (February 4, 2016). "President Obama visits mosque in Windsor Mill". WBAL-TV. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  7. ^ Mirza, Suhail (2015). "Leadership". bayanclaremont.org. Bayan Claremont. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  8. ^ Nisa Islam Muhammad (February 13, 2016). "President Obama's mosque visit gets mixed reviews". The Final Call. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  9. ^ "Saffir Rabb, Member of Pres. Barack Obama Transition Team". YouTube. August 9, 2011. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  10. ^ "Who Attended the Private Discussion with the President?". The Muslim Link. February 21, 2016. Archived from the original on March 2, 2016. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  11. ^ a b Snowden-McCray, Lisa; Soderberg, Brandon (December 10, 2019). "Real Talk Tho Questionnaire: 7th Congressional District candidates respond". Baltimore Beat. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  12. ^ Portnoy, Jenna; Cox, Erin (November 29, 2019). "Elijah Cummings: Here's who is running to fill his seat in Maryland's 7th district". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  13. ^ "2020 Special Primary - Congressional District 7 Election State Candidates List". elections.maryland.gov. Maryland State Board of Elections. February 3, 2020. Retrieved January 26, 2021.
  14. ^ "2020 Presidential Primary Election State Candidates List". elections.maryland.gov. Maryland State Board of Elections. May 30, 2020. Retrieved January 26, 2021. Representative in Congress, Congressional District 07
  15. ^ "Episode 81 with Keith Ellison & Saafir Rabb". Elevate Maryland. January 12, 2020. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  16. ^ Fritze, John; Duncan, Ian (February 3, 2016). "President Obama at Maryland mosque: 'You fit in here'". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  17. ^ "Violence Afflicting America's Jewish and Black Communities Stem From the Same Social Ills. Unless They Unite to Tackle Them, 2020 Could Be Worse". Baltimore Jewish Times. January 8, 2020. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  18. ^ "The El-Hibri Foundation Celebrates President Obama's First Visit to an American Mosque". www.elhibrifoundation.org. El-Hibri Foundation. February 3, 2016. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  19. ^ Hinson, Ashley (January 21, 2020). "Democratic primary candidates vying to succeed Cummings take part in debate". WBAL-TV. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  20. ^ "Issues". Saafir Rabb for US Congress. Saafir For Congress. 2020. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  21. ^ Round, Ian (January 21, 2020). "Tough questions few and fleeting at 7th Congressional District debate". Baltimore Brew. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
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