There’s no such thing as a perfect Election Night, but for the Arab American community in Dearborn, this past Tuesday’s results, and the historic turnout in our community that made them possible, constituted something pretty close. 

First off, give yourselves a big hand. Despite the ongoing logistical challenges many in our community, especially the older generation and new immigrants, face in terms of language, travel, and cultural barriers, not to mention the complicated, lengthy ballot itself, a record number of votes were cast by residents from the heavily-Arab American precincts of Dearborn swinging the election in favor of highly qualified candidates that will directly benefit the city’s residents and your children’s futures. 

Many of them were spurred on by the campaign of newly elected 19th District Court Judge Sam Salamey, who did a masterful job of reaching out not only to Arab Americans but to every resident in the city, in what is considered an upset victory over incumbent Judge Richard Wygonik. 

His victory, along with other candidates’, once again demonstrated the major impact of the Arab American Political Action Committee (AAPAC), which was able to rally support through its volunteers and bilingual literature mailed to every Arab American household in the state’s battleground areas, including Dearborn. 

Salamey’s success proves that a qualified Arab American candidate can thrive in a major election, and become a strong competitor even in areas where Arabs are the minority, with a consistent, determined and principled approach, of course.  The impact of his landmark win will be felt for years to come. 

Schools were also a major focus of this year’s election due to the large Arab American contingent both in Dearborn and Dearborn Heights, and the importance of the re-elections of Aimee Blackburn and Mary Lane, two highly respected long-time members, to Dearborn’s School Board, simply cannot be understated. 

Most of the voters from our community were of course initially sparked by the glitz and glamor of the presidential election, but these are the results that will be felt on the ground almost immediately where we live and work. We hope this trend will continue in non-presidential elections, especially next year in the municipality elections for City Clerk, City Council, Mayor and more. 

The news was far different in Dearborn Heights, however, where two of our endorsed candidates, Zaineb Hussein and Hamid Soueidan, were defeated by large margins in a district where the majority of students are Arab American. Both lost their respective races fair and square, and our cherished rights afford us the opportunity to vote for whomever we wish, but the actions of the current board leading up to the race in calling for a special meeting simply to berate and cast suspicion upon an upstanding candidate like Soueidan shows that the specter of ignorance and racism still looms over some Crestwood School Board members, and just how hard  and long we have to struggle before a Dearborn Heights candidates from our community can feel comfortable about getting a fair shake. 

We urge our community in Dearborn Heights to continue the fight for equality and representation by being vigilant, engaged and proactive by building coalitions with enlightened individuals and groups in their city. 

The current political situation that Arab Americans face in Dearborn Heights is much like it was in Dearborn 15 years ago. In this regard, we are grateful for the campaigns of both Hussein and Soueidan as they are necessary to achieve the desired change down the line. We salute them for their efforts to pave the way for the future. 

We also salute the American populace for re-electing President Barack Obama for a second term. 

Now, hopefully, the country can move forward and a more secure, confident President Obama will start delivering on his original promises of change without having to appease special interest groups. He can now do what’s in the best interests of the country. He still has much to prove and many doubts to erase, but we view his re-election as a major step forward. 

And now, thankfully, America can also begin to move forward socially after the defeat of several candidates who stooped to the lowest level, by attacking American Muslims and other immigrants in order to garner cheap votes. Several Congressional candidates saw such rhetoric backfire, and now the Republican Party will likely be forced to move away from the sort of archaic, downright un-American thinking that made their primaries the source of international scorn and ridicule, and toward what we hope will be a new era of inclusion and more measured policies in general, returning to its historical standard as “The Grand Old Party.” 

We also hope that this election will serve as a precursor for even better things to come next time around, and that you’ll be with us to volunteer, cast your ballots,  run for public office and celebrate again in 2013.