Who is hurt by some Arabs sitting in their garages, passing the time? 

Some White residents of Dearborn might not understand that our mothers and wives turn our houses into museums, prohibiting us from bring our friends inside. It doesn’t matter whether or not we men own the house. 

See, you don’t have to believe Fox News. Arab women are in charge. Also, the reason the garage becomes an auxiliary space is because we live in Michigan, where we can only sit outside for fifteen minutes a year. If we lived in California, we would use the patio, but, alas, we don’t. But some White residents didn’t understand or like this lifestyle, so the city council told us there were “safety concerns.”

But one does wonder. If the only people who liked to hang out in their garages were White, would it be so illegal?

And so we come to the pending smoking ban in Dearborn’s public parks. The city is seeking to become the first in Metro Detroit to place a total smoking ban in such areas.  

Sure, the environment is changing and anti-smoking ordinances are popping up everywhere. And, yes, smoking is bad. And, sure, hookahs don’t define Arab culture. But they are a visible marker of our presence. As it turns out, some people don’t like that.

Arabs fill up the Dearborn parks on a nice day (which, as I noted above, is all too rare). We bring our way of life, complete with kabobs, sunflower seeds, loud conversations and hookahs. We definitely make our presence known. And that has made some people uncomfortable.  

Let’s not forget that the highly popular mayor Michael Guido ran his first campaign in 1985 based upon his promise to solve the “Arab problem” in Dearborn. He won six elections before he passed away from cancer in 2006. One might say, “Well, that was 30 years ago.” And I might agree, except for the fact that burning Black churches used to be a relic of the past, too.

White people have been smoking cigarettes in Dearborn public parks forever. In fact, council member Bobby Abraham (an Arab, technically) tried to exempt the public golf course so that White guys could continue their cigar smoking while uselessly hitting around a small white ball into a small white hole. 

So what is it about our hookahs that makes them so uncomfortable?

Simply put, it’s not the hookahs. It’s the people smoking them. One of the defining characteristics of racism in today’s America is that it takes on a less explicit form. It can be bureaucratic, couched in euphemisms like “safety hazards”, “traditions” and “public health.” They tell us they are trying to “protect” us.

Public smoking bans; 10 p.m. curfews; garage ordinances. These measures all disproportionately affect our community. If seen individually, each of these actions might not look that bad. But collectively, they are no less than an attempt to “de-Arabize” Dearborn.  

They are a thinly veiled assault on Arab American life. They are a not-so-subtle way of telling us Arabs to stop making Dearborn so Arab. Of course, no one was complaining when we transformed East Dearborn from a ghost town into one of Michigan’s most stable and vibrant economic neighborhoods. 

We celebrated when our city council became majority-Arab back in 2013. But these ordinances have all been passed on their watch, including that of Council President Susan Dabaja. Councilman Mike Sareini has been strong on our issues and he should be commended for that. He has attempted, unsuccessfully, to stand up for our interests. Dabaja, as the council’s leader, has tried to foster balance. But there can be no nuance or compromise when it comes to measures that disparately impact our community.

Perhaps Dabaja is afraid of being “too Arab.” Hopefully, she can shake this fear and truly represent the Arab community that propelled her to the top spot in the last election. People voted for her because she is an Arab; and it would do her well, politically and morally, to always remember that. And we would not be wrong to constantly remind her of it.  

Of course, she is markedly nobler than Councilmen Bobby Abraham and David Bazzy, who only proclaim their Arabness during election season, spending the rest of their time actively discounting our interests. Dabaja and Sareini should be a bit weary that they don’t just provide political cover to the rest of the council to pass anti-Arab measures in Dearborn. “Hey, look, four out of the seven council members are Arabs. We can’t be racist!” Yes, you can.

Of course, on the other hand, this could all be our fault. We are being overly “Arab” in everyone’s face. We need to understand that we are living in a city that memorializes (literally) a former mayor who was the most celebrated segregationist north of Virginia.

Maybe we should dial back our culture a little bit. We shouldn’t have so many people over. We shouldn’t clap in unison when more than 10 of us are together. We shouldn’t wave our hands when we talk. Maybe we should eat our shawarmas and falafels behind closed doors.  And we shouldn’t smoke hookahs publicly. 

Dearborn, after all, has an image to uphold.

-Amer Zahr is a community activist, comedian, law professor, author and movie maker. He formerly worked as an editor at The Arab American News.