DEARBORN — A young Arab American woman and her family are demanding that Dearborn’s Henry Ford Centennial Library temporarily ban a middle-aged man who directed racial insults toward the girl at the library last month. 

Alia Sareini, 17, said an older white man told her, “Your heritage is all about terrorism” while she was heading to the library’s second floor on Jan. 13.

Sareini was wearing a t-shirt containing Che Guevara’s portrait. The man asked her if she knew who Guevara was. “He is a revolutionary,” she replied. He responded by saying that Guevara was a terrorist. The conversation escalated, ending in the man insulting the 17 year-old’s racial background after telling her that she should learn more about history.

Guevara was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary and author, and he helped and led insurgencies against capitalist regimes in Latin America and Africa. He was captured and executed in Bolivia in 1967 while trying to organize an armed revolution against Bolivian President René Barrientos’ CIA-backed government. Guevara is revered by many people around the world as a symbol of defiance and rebellion.

Sareini said the status of historical figures is “subjective.” She added that she felt insulted and disrespected by the man’s remarks, which she described as “verbal abuse.”

She said she demands that he receive a temporary ban from the library, “so he knows that what he did is wrong.”

Sareini alerted a security guard about the altercation shortly after the incident, but the man had left. Police came to the scene after the arrival of Sareini’s mother, Samia Hamid-Sareini, who is the field director at the Arab-American Civil Rights League (ACRL).

“The security personnel reassured us that he will be banned from the library for some time once he is identified,” said Samia.

 However, the man returned to the library and no actions were taken against him, as he was not found to be in violation of any law or the library’s code of conduct.

“That’s not right,” said Samia. “We know what he did does not constitute a hate crime. We never asked for him to be charged. But the library is taking the matter very lightly. It is not freedom of speech when you verbally abuse others at a public library. We demanded that he gets banned from the library for 30 days to send him a message that this behavior will not be tolerated.”

Samia added that she also voiced her demands to the mayor’s office to no avail. 

She said her daughter was the victim in the incident. “My daughter is not confrontational. She is not a troublemaker,” she stated. “She was in the library to work on a school project.” 

Maryanne Bartles, the director of the Centennial Library, said she took the issue seriously and contacted the police after the man was seen at the library a few days after the incident. According to Bartles, the police chief was made aware of the situation and a detective spoke to the man, who was “apologetic.”

“We turned the matter over to the police. The man was not charged with any crime, and he did not violate our code of conduct,” Bartles said. “We cannot ban somebody when no crime was committed.”

The library director added that she does not “condone” the man’s comments, describing them as “unfortunate.”

She said the man’s remarks would not be considered harassment. “By definition, harassment has to be repeated,” she explained. “It was not a prolonged or repeated incident. He did not follow the young woman. Their conversation lasted for two or three minutes. Then, he continued and exited the building. Nothing escalated to the word ‘harassment.’ It was rude, but it didn’t escalate to that point.”

Bartles said banning a person from a public building is a serious matter that cannot be taken lightly. “We don’t have the authority to ban him,” she stated. “He didn’t break any rule.”

The library director added that she offered to have the man directly apologize to Alia Sareini and her mother, but that did not want to come in contact with him. 

When asked what measures can be taken to prevent similar events from happening in the future, Bartles said she cannot control what people say or do.

However, she highlighted the library’s efforts to promote diversity in Dearborn, including a reading series on Islam, acquiring Arabic books and programs to help English learners.