In These Times magazine, The Forge News, Convergence Magazine, and The Real News Network have joined forces to produce “Left Out: The Missing Election Narratives.” This package, which is available online and in magazine form in the the latest printed edition of In These Times, brings together essays, reporting and conversations by and with organizers, writers and cultural workers across the country. What you are about to hear is an audiobook version of one of the featured articles in this collection: “Michigan’s Muslims Take Matters Into Their Own Hands,” by Malak Silmi, read by Nashwa Bawab.

For more than a year, community organizers, activists and students in Michigan tried to leverage their votes in a swing state in return for any serious commitment by the Democratic Party around a ceasefire or an arms embargo, but to no avail. Feelings of betrayal and helplessness cast a shadow as election day approached. Malak Silmi spoke with 10 Muslim voters from Metro Detroit, just before the election and in the weeks after, about how they came to their voting decisions and where they are focusing their organizing against genocide going forward.

This article is a part of Left Out: The Missing Election narratives, a collection of unreported histories by publications inside of the Movement Media Alliance.