DEARBORN — According to an editorial, published by Al Jazeera this week, a few women working at the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee’s (ADC) national office in Washington D.C. have been on strike since Oct. 21.  The move follows the completion of an investigation by the group that found “insufficient” evidence to prove Imad Hamad, the former regional director of ADC Michigan, sexually harassed several women over the years. Hamad remains employed with the organization as an advisor. 

According to sources, four women are on strike and, this week, a meeting was held in Washington D.C. to address the issue.  A source thinks the women will come forward soon to explain their position. ADC National didn’t return calls from The Arab American News asking for comment. 

The report was published as an opinion piece by former ADC members, chapter presidents, donors, interns and supporters of the organization.  

A section in the piece reads, “ADC’s chairman dismissed their concerns, as if charges of sexual harassment in the organization are none of their business. Telling them their opinions do not matter is hardly the response one expects of a grassroots, civil rights organization’s head. By refusing to work, they lose their salary and risk their jobs and livelihood. They have so far stood on nothing but the strength of their convictions.”  

The editorial was published Tuesday.  At that time, the strike was already underway. Concern was also raised about Raed Jarrar, ADC’s former communications and advocacy director, who was terminated by the group’s chairman, because he, along with his co-workers, inquired internally about the sexual harassment investigation and raised concern about the board’s decision. 

Nadine Naber, a former intern of ADC, who served as a board member of the San Francisco chapter from 1999 to 2000 and also taught an Arab studies program at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, praised the women who have come forward courageously with allegations of sexual harassment and those at ADC National, who are currently on strike. 

“These women — the ones who came forward locally and those on strike in Washington D.C. — they are heroes of our community. They should be honored and supported. They should be recognized as people who have taken major risks in support of social justice, even though they may be paying a heavy price,” Naber said.  

She says some of the students that she had in the Arab American studies program were interns at ADC Michigan where they got exposed to the culture of sexual harassment. 

ADC has come forward in the wake of the scandal, saying that it has zero tolerance for sexual harassment, but Naber says the group needs to take action and prove that, by instituting an official policy against sexual harassment in the workplace and creating a structure where sexual harassment claims are properly responded to.  Even further, they need to prevent it from reoccurring. 

Khaled Beydoun, a professor at the UCLA School of Law, who was on the executive board of the now defunct University of Michigan ADC Chapter and a former ADC intern and longtime member, says the fashion in which ADC National handled — or mishandled — the sexual harassment claims, not only amounts to malfeasance, but also endorses sexual violence toward women.  

“ADC National’s rhetoric conflicts with its behavior, and its commitment to ‘zero tolerance for sexual harassment’ extends no further than the four corners of a sheet of paper.  Imad Hamad harassed a number of women, with impunity, for many years.  Fortunately, brave voices, like Rana Abbas and Rashida Tlaib, have come forward to highlight that their incidents with sexual harassment were not aberrations, or isolated, but part and parcel of an institutional culture that needs radical reform.  Female voices are not respected within the organization, which leaves female bodies vulnerable to violence,” Beydoun said.