WEST BLOOMFIELD — Members of the West Bloomfield Township Board of Trustees are accused of making racist remarks about Chaldean Americans. 

Board members were confronted about the allegations at a meeting held at the West Bloomfield Township Hall, 4550 Walnut Lake Road, on Monday. 

“There have been allegations that a member of this body said Chaldeans cannot be trusted, Chaldeans are not people we should hire within this township, that Chaldeans are a bunch of crooks,” Martin Manna, president of the Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce, told board members.

In a statement released by the Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce, Manna said other negative statements have been made about Chaldeans, but he has yet to confirm them.

An item to remove Zia Oram, a Chaldean American, from his position as the new executive assistant to township supervisor Michele Economou Ureste was expected to be discussed at the meeting, but was never presented. 

Members of the board are accused of trying to remove Oram from his position because he does not have a college degree, even though the previous employee also didn’t have one. 

Oram is the third Chaldean working for the township.  Manna said Oram’s hiring has irritated a few members of the board who have said they “cannot trust Chaldeans” and “don’t want them hired in our township.” 

West Bloomfield Clerk Catherine Shaughnessy and trustees Lawrence Brown and Howard Rosenberg are accused of making the statements. Shaughnessy and Brown have both denied the allegations. 

“One of our elected officials basically wanted me not to put any nominations forward for Chaldeans on boards and commissions,” Ureste told FOX 2 news. “That they would not be confirmed or ratified.”

Ureste said the three members could not confirm seven of her planning commission appointments who were minorities. 

John Oram, the father of Zia Oram, said Shaughnessy told Ureste the township didn’t want Chaldeans because they are corrupt. Ureste said in addition to racist remarks, racist practices are being carried out against minority applicants and workers by board members. 

According to Manna, over the past several years community members have been informed of many alleged discriminatory practices being committed against Chaldeans and other minorities. 

Manna said he was hoping the allegations were untrue, but more recently a township employee and others have come forward detailing some of the ongoing discriminatory acts against members of the Chaldean community and other people of color. 

Chaldeans, who make up approximately 20 percent of West Bloomfield Township’s diverse population, are indigenous Iraqi Christians and don’t identify as Arab. Many other minorities, including African Americans, Arabs, Asians and Indians, are represented as well, but the makeup of the township’s employees does not reflect this. Of the 250 employees, Oram and two individuals hired by the police department years ago are the only Chaldeans. 

Manna said that according to one township employee and others who have applied for positions, several minority candidates weren’t given a fair shot. He said the township’s appointed commissions and committees also lack diversity. 

The Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce has been working with several qualified members of the community to launch an organization that will help defend the rights of those facing discrimination.

While other minority groups in metro Detroit have civil rights organizations to turn to when they face discrimination, the estimated more than 120,000 Chaldeans in the region do not; although the American Arab Anti Discrimination Committee of Michigan (ADC-MI) came to the defense of Chaldean American Naseem Shayota in 2012 when he was accused of assaulting others in West Bloomfield. 

The Detroit chapter of the Anti-Defamation League protects the Jewish community from discrimination; Arab Americans have the American Arab Anti Discrimination Committee of Michigan and African Americans have the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. 

Chaldeans have faced discrimination elsewhere in metro Detroit over the years. Mazen Barash, a Chaldean American SMART bus mechanic from Farmington Hills, faced discrimination after 9/11 and again following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. 

In 2012 the words “ur dead” were spray painted outside the St. Joseph Chaldean Catholic Church in Troy. 

This past summer, a young Chaldean man was stopped in traffic and called a “sand ni…..” by a woman who kicked his car and told him to go back to his country. She said she would take a gun out and shoot him and that it would be okay with the police.  

As for Oram, he will keep his position, but said he will not hesitate to take legal action if more discrimination occurs.