April 14, 2005
Election of Muslims a Start to Changing GOP's Image

by John Biemer
Chicago Tribune

No one would mistake a gathering of DuPage County Republicans for the United Nations, but the party took a significant step last week toward shaking its image as a party dominated by "old white-haired men" when Moin Moon Khan and Esin Busche were elected township trustees.

Party officials say as far as they can tell, Khan, an Indian-born longtime Chicago-area activist who works as a computer network administrator, and Busche, a Turkish-born chemist, are the first Muslim Republicans elected to public office anywhere in the state--and a symbol of the party's new outreach effort in a rapidly diversifying county.

"This is a small office, and for me it may be a very small individual achievement," said Khan. "However, I think it's a giant milestone for the minority communities in general and the Muslim American community in particular."

Rasheed Ahmed, coordinator of the Illinois Muslim Political Coordinating Council, also called their elections "an important milestone," but noted that there are hundreds of thousands of Muslims in Illinois--and an estimated 6 million to 8 million across the United States.

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