DEARBORN  — On Thursday, April 25, BRIDGES (Building Respect In Diverse Groups to Enhance Sensitivity) held its periodic meeting at the Islamic Center of America, where dozens of local leaders, elected officials and law enforcement agents gathered to discuss the recent bombings in Boston and their potential impact on the community. 

BRIDGES is the outgrowth of an alliance that was formed shortly after 9/11, when John Bell, then the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Detroit Field Office, and Imad Hamad, Regional Director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, gathered government and community leaders to address backlash against the local Arab American and Middle Eastern communities in southeast Michigan.

Since then, the BRIDGES program has served as a forum of communication for the Arab, Muslim and Chaldean American communities, post 9/11.  Members routinely gather to discuss concerns impacting their communities and various federal agencies, such as border crossings, no-fly lists, charitable giving, cultural sensitivity, hate crimes, law enforcement policies and procedures, and immigration

At the start of Thursday’s meeting, a moment of silence was taken to commemorate the victims of the April 15 Boston Marathon bombing, which left three people dead and over 100 critically injured. Brief thoughts were also shared by Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano and Michigan Department of Civil Rights Community Liaison Charles Schoder.

Dozens of local leaders, elected officials and law enforcement agents gathered at the BRIDGES meeting held at the Islamic Center of America on Thursday.

U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade, also spoke to attendees about the potential for backlash towards the community locally, in the aftermath of the attacks.  McQuade said that she hasn’t heard of any thus far, but ensured that the U.S. Department of Justice would be vigilant in prosecuting any groups, or individuals who are looking to target the Arab American and Muslim communities. 

“We want to make sure that everybody knows what to do if they are victims of backlash, stemming from this event, or any kind of hate crime. We have the jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute hate crimes against communities, based on a number of factors, including religion. We can also prosecute people who communicate threats to kill, or hurt individuals.  We want to make sure that this community has an open line of communication, and we want to let you know that we are here to protect you, if any of those events should occur,” McQuade said.  

McQuade, along with the two co-chairs of BRIDGES, Hamad and Supervisory Federal Air Marshall Patricia Fantazian, presented Arab American News Publisher Osama Siblani with a Certificate of Appreciation in honor of his induction into the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame in Lansing last Sunday. 

Other local leaders also shared their thoughts with regard to the bombings in Boston.  Hassan Nawash, founder of the Palestine Cultural Office in Dearborn, pointed out that Arab and Muslim communities have suffered backlash in this country, as a result of U.S. foreign policies. Latest news reports have indicated that Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev cited the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as motivating factors for him and his deceased brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, to carry out the attacks. 

“While we mourn the loss of our fellow citizens, I need to have my community know that our policies in Iraq, in Afghanistan and in Palestine, are hostile to our American culture, and that continues. Yet who mourns for the million Iraqi’s, or the refugees suffering in Syria, or the refugees in Gaza?,” Nawash asked the crowd. 

The next BRIDGES meeting, initially scheduled for October 16, has been moved up to September 18, in an effort to host a special gathering to honor the anniversary of 9/11. BRIDGES co-chairs are working to coordinate the gathering in advance and would appreciate input from community members on how they could better address the continued challenges the community faces in a post-9/11 climate. 

To learn more about the BRIDGES program visit: //www.adcmichigan.org/content/bridges.