DEARBORN — The Arab Student Union (ASU) at the University of Michigan-Dearborn is looking for businesses and community members to sponsor its third annual “Empowering the Youth” banquet.  The dinner will take place on Friday, March 21, 2008 at 6 p.m. at Bint Jebail Cultural Center in Dearborn. 

ASU says it is an organization that works locally to “increase positive awareness of the Arab American heritage,” and internationally to “help end the oppression of Arabs,” according to its president, Roula Daher. 

Daher is urging supporters to sponsor the group’s event in the hope of gaining greater mainstream exposure.

Daher said the involvement and support of students, families, community members and politicians is very important for the future of the Arab American community as a whole.

“I truly believe the future lies with the educated … of our community,”she said. 

“We have, and always will try, to articulate and demand the rights of Arab Americans,” she added.

ASU has played a major role in supporting local community members to become leaders in the Arab American community, Daher said.

“We organized and campaigned for Hussein Berry’s run for Dearborn School Board and are extremely proud to have campaigned for and helped to elect David Turfe for Dearborn Heights judge.” 

ASU also regularly holds on and off-campus protests, rallies and silent marches widely attended by students, faculty and community members to raise awareness about Middle East political issues such as the blockade of Gaza. 

“Our programming tends to promote the idea of Arab sovereignty, particularly concerning occupied states,” said Daher.     “It is angled through American perspectives and ideals of justice, democracy and independence.”   

The organization has also hosted events like the “End the Occupation” conference, which included over a hundred experts from across the country and examined U.S. policy towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It also conducts an ongoing lecture series called “The legacy of…,” featuring speakers who talk about the lives of historical Arab leaders like the late Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser and the prominent Lebanese figure Imam Sayed Musa El-Sadr. 

The group will host internationally acclaimed author and movie critic Dr. Jack Shaheen as the upcoming banquet’s guest and keynote speaker.

Shaheen is a former CBS news consultant on Middle East affairs who is an expert on the negative stereotyping of Arabs.  His books include the award-winning “Reel Arabs:  How Hollywood Vilifies a People,” “Arab TV,” and his latest “Guilty?”

“Shaheen, in a sense, personifies the Arab Student Union’s mission statement,” Daher said. 

“He dissects and analyzes the erroneous representation of Arabs in the Western media.”

She said she hopes that all community members will join the Union’s effort to build bridges of understanding among people of Arab American and non-Arab American backgrounds. 

“Our goal is to underscore the idea that what is good for Arab Americans is also good for Americans as a whole,” she said.     

Anyone interested in sponsoring the Empowering the Youth Banquet can contact ASU President Roula Daher at rdaher@umd.umich.edu or 313.623.7617.

Details and a sponsorship form are available at www.arabstudentunion.org.