Three decades ago, this week, Osama Siblani established The Arab American News with the help and support of a small number of journalists who shared his vision. Although the paper did not publish its first issue until January 23, 1985, the foundation of the publication was incorporated on September 7, 1984. 

For the following three decades, this newspaper has been chronicling the stories of the Arab American community and amplifying its voice to make its concerns heard.

As we witnessed our community grow, we archived and encouraged its successes, but we have never shied away from pointing out its shortcomings.

For 30 years, we have posed our questions and those of our communities to those in power; given a platform to different voices that are usually muted by the mainstream media and reported on the civil rights issues with convictions unfiltered by political and special interests. 

This paper was founded to report balanced and fair news about the Arab World, following the mainstream media’s disastrous, biased coverage of the Israeli invasion of Beirut in 1982 and the continued oppression of the Palestinian people at the hands of the Israeli occupation. 

We are currently witnessing a very critical time in the Arab World, our homeland. The rise of extremism, foreign intervention, sectarianism, fragmentation of the Arab societies and lack of freedoms are endangering the very existence of Arab civilization and identity.

The suffering of our people overseas does not depart from our consciousness. We cannot disassociate ourselves from the tragedies of our homeland, as the pain continues to unfold before our eyes. 

Our newspaper has placed Arab issues in the forefront of its editorial stands, from the Palestinian Cause to combating the rising of sectarianism and extremism. 

Criminal, masked militants who behead captives and persecute Muslims and non-Muslims do not represent the Arab and Muslim values; they especially do not represent our community here. We have worked relentlessly through our paper, website and social media to convey to the entire world Arab Americans’ condemnation to the crimes of extremists. We strongly believe they are unjustified and should be utterly rejected. 

Locally, our objective has been and continues to be reporting the news to the best of our abilities. Our mission is to report the facts and uncover what our readers need to know. We owe the truth to both our community and our profession.

Recently, we have come under criticism for covering the frightening trend of suicides in the community. Understandably, grieving families do not want to see the names of their deceased beloved ones in the newspaper. However, suicides are news. And aren’t exclusive to our community. 

Suicides are a matter of concern to the entire community and our readers have the right to know about such events of significant consequences in their cities, societies and neighborhoods. 

With four suicides and one homicide involving Arab Americans in Dearborn and Dearborn Heights over the past eight months, it is clear that we have mental health and gun problems in the community. We will shine a light on these issues, while staying away from gossip and sensationalism. 

If a situation is newsworthy, we will report on it, regardless of whom it involves. That is our job and our responsibility. We assure our readers that we will continue to put our professional duties ahead of personal relations, politics and any calculations. 

In the land of the First Amendment, we will not censor ourselves to avoid telling people what they don’t want to hear.

The flow of information that eventually ends up on our pages is not, however, a one-way stream. Our office doors are literally open to any person who would like to walk in and share his or her input. Our phones are constantly ringing with calls from our community members who want to tell their stories. Our reporters often gather notes and raw material for their articles from readers. Our editorial pages are open to anyone with any opinion, as long as it satisfies journalism standards. 

Bottom line, we are writing stories lived and told by you. Hence, we encourage our community to keep making history and providing us with positive stories to recount for our readers.

In every article we write, we try very hard to reach out to all sides involved, but when press time comes, we have to publish what we have. If individuals decide not to respond to us, they are doing themselves and their cause a disservice, as their version of the story will be missing from our depiction of the events. 

The Arab American News will continue to advocate for our common cause, write our community’s success stories and point out its shortcomings. We will continue to promote dialogue and acceptance among each other and fight bigotry and discrimination wherever they exist. 

We will continue to fight for our civil rights and to protect the Constitution and the rights of immigrants. 

As we take a moment to mark the 30th anniversary of our establishment, we must thank, first and foremost, our readers, who have given us a reason to continue writing over the last three decades.  We also thank our advertisers, who have allowed us to circulate our publication and improve upon it with every issue and most importantly to maintain our independence and freedom. Our hope is that our readers will return their generosity in kind by supporting their businesses and patronizing them.

And finally, we extend our appreciation to our current and many former staff and colleagues, whose dedication to the paper and the profession has been the driving force behind our success. 

We can’t let this occasion pass without remembering one of our fighters, the longtime executive editor of our paper, the late Marianna Kay Siblani, who left a legacy of strong journalistic history and uncompromising integrity on every issue of the paper published during her 28-year tenure. She lost her fight with breast cancer and left us heart broken on January 1, 2013. 

Her legacy lives on.