Kevin Matthews’ mother speaks at a protest in front of the Dearborn Police Department. Photo: Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press

“Black Lives Matter” has hit home. The case of Kevin Matthews, the 36-year-old man shot to death by a Dearborn police officer on Dec. 23, has started a much-needed debate in our city.

Police claim that Matthews was struggling for the officer’s gun when he was shot. Those who knew Matthews say he was “harmless” and suffered from mild schizophrenia. But what brought protestors to the streets of Dearborn is the one factor that makes this shooting victim like so many others before him throughout America: Kevin Matthews was an unarmed black man killed by police.

Like Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Walter Scott, and Laquan McDonald before him, Kevin Matthew’s death highlights the alarmingly high rate at which unarmed Black men are killed by law enforcement. According to the Washington Post, while black men represented only 6 percent of the U.S. population, they made up nearly 40 percent of those who were killed by police while unarmed in 2015.

But perhaps more disturbing than those numbers is the venom that accompanied the protestors when they came to Dearborn. And I’m not referring to the venom coming from the protestors themselves, but rather the verbal wrath that come from many in our Dearborn and Arab American communities. 

We heard some of the age-old tropes hurled at the mostly-Black crowds. “Instigators.” “Agitators.” “Thugs.” I should also note that many in the Dearborn community, including many Arab Americans and the advocacy group “Take On Hate,” joined the protestors in solidarity. 

But to those protesting the protestors, I ask you sincerely: What bothered you so much? That they shut down traffic on Michigan Avenue for a short time? That they caused a short, nonviolent scene in Kroger’s? Don’t we Arab Americans protest loudly when we are decrying Israeli actions? Or when we’re demonstrating against Islamophobia? 

Loud, nonviolent protests that disrupt the normal flow of life for a few minutes are about as American as it gets. And we are quite familiar with them.

And for any who assert as much, no, the BLM protestors are not anything like Terry Jones or the armed Islamophobes that periodically visit our city. While the latter proudly profess hate and white supremacy, the former are screaming for justice, without hate toward any ethnic or racial group. 

And how can we blame them for their raucous suspicion, when we have seen police actively cover up and lie about the murders of unarmed Black men like Laquan McDonald and Walter Scott? How can we criticize their visible anger, when we have seen prosecutors refuse to even try the killers of Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland, and Eric Garner?

We Arab Americans love Dearborn. The city has a long history, not all of it pleasant, especially when it comes to race. But must that love translate into simply blindly believing whatever police and elected officials proclaim? No. On the contrary, being an active citizen means possessing a healthy skepticism of authority. 

Arab Americans once rebuilt much of this city from a virtual ghost town into a thriving economic corridor. We can now be beacons to move Dearborn forward once again, urging it to engage in honest, difficult discussions about race, and, eventually, about who we really want to be moving forward.

Should we stand by the police? Sure, but not blindly. The arms of law enforcement deserve our solidarity when we are fully confident that they are working in the interests of equality and justice. Ultimately, when you stand with those crying out over the killing of Kevin Matthews, that’s precisely what you’re asking for.

-Amer Zahr is a comedian, activist and movie maker. He has a law degree from the University of Michigan. He is the former editor of The Arab American News.