Statement on Todd David’s Attempts to Attack and Smear Me
“It was abusive and intentionally cruel: Todd stoked division within a faith community while simultaneously attacking and smearing one of the only Muslim women in local politics.”
Some people are willing to go very low for political gain.
This past October, an attempt was made to attack and smear me, one of the most vocal advocates for Palestinian human rights within San Francisco politics.
That month, I published an endorsement write-up for the November 2024 election which was written from a SWANA (South West Asian and North African) and Muslim point-of-view. Although the lion’s share of the feedback and comments I received were positive, advocating for Muslim and Arab communities that have been effectively ignored in the local political sphere for years pissed a few people off — including Todd David, the Political Director of Abundant San Francisco.
Todd tried to use my endorsement against a Jewish candidate in the Mayoral race by attacking that candidate within his own community. While also putting a target on my back in a WhatsApp group of 400+ people, who for the most part, had no idea who I was up until that point. It crossed a line, was abusive, and was meant to be divisive.
What followed was a lot of hate. From a lot of men, specifically.
But the pile on eventually subsided, and although I knew exactly what happened and what Todd had done, I made the decision to not publicly speak out about what had been done to me until a reporter called me last week and already had all the sordid details of what had happened.
And now that it has been reported on, everyone in San Francisco knows that Todd’s own hateful, racist, Islamophobic, and spiteful actions have not only marginalized him politically, but they have also marginalized the organization that he works for: one of the people he attacked in October is now the current Mayor of San Francisco, and the Mayor will not work with Todd because of his actions.
Remember, the energy you put out into the world, including your bad deeds, will come back to you 100x.
Vocally advocate for what you believe in no matter what. Your haters may cause some bumps along the way, but they will ultimately get the outcome they deserve.
The reporting of this incident by Josh Koehn at the SF Standard is available here.
