Novi resident Cristen Colleen (second from right) visits the Adonis restaurant in Dearborn

DEARBORN — The current political climate in the U.S. has lead minority groups to feel some discontent towards White Americans.

With the rise of Islamophobia and Donald Trump, growing resentments towards illegal immigrants and refugees, as well as escalating tensions between African American communities and the police, minorities might be feeling a little skeptical towards White American residents.

But contrary to popular beliefs, a majority of Caucasians are not raging bigots, or–to quote Hillary Clinton at a fundraiser last week where she summarized a portion of Trump’s supporters– “deplorable.”

With Arab Americans establishing a strong foundation in Dearborn, and many families finding their way into the surrounding cities, there are White folks who have genuinely embraced their foreign neighbors and the rich culture they’ve brought with them.

A larger number of Caucasians in the Metro Detroit region are especially good examples of such progressive residents.

Graham Liddell (left) with friends in Jerusalem.

‘Fixation’ with Arab culture

Graham Liddell grew up in a conservative Christian household in Livonia. He recalls barely ever hearing about Arabs or Muslims— until September 11 happened.

“In my community there was a lot of negative sentiments towards Muslims specifically,” Liddell recalled. “We would hear the negative things about Muslims and living through 9/11 and the Iraq war. It gave the appearance they were violent.”

But Liddell felt an obligation to banish those illusions. When he attended Grand Valley State University, he took a Middle East studies course. He became so fixated with the Middle East culture that he decided to study abroad in Morocco.

“I started studying Arabic and became interested in traveling to the Middle East,” he said. “It started as sort of a personal conflict of trying to dispel any discriminatory perceptions. I became really intrigued with the region and engaging with the Iraq war and all the problems with the Middle East.”

He ended up becoming a journalist and moved to Palestine, where he stayed for a year and a half. While there, he was able to sharpen his Arabic skills.

When Liddell returned to Metro Detroit, Arab Americans were astonished that he had engrossed such vast knowledge about the language and culture.

“People are surprised, but they are very nice about it,” Liddell said. “I’ve made a lot of friends that way. People are very welcoming and accepting of me. I’ve never felt unwelcomed.”

Liddell believes that while there are conservative communities in the U.S. that continue to stereotype Muslims and Arabs, there is also an increasing number of liberal White Americans who are combating such perceptions with their own movements.

“I think there’s a growing desire to understand the true experience of Arab Americans and Muslims in general,” Liddell said. “There’s a big backlash against the Islamophobia and stuff we see on FOX News. It seems pretty obvious to young, liberal White Americans that a lot of it is completely misconstrued. I see that as a positive sign. It’s not something that’s across the board, but I see it because I’m connected with a lot of young liberals.”

Angelica Martin (center) with two Iraqi-American friends.

Detroit resident Angelica Martin, 28, a Quicken Loans employee, had grown up around Arab and African Americans her entire life. 

As a White woman, she never perceived the Detroit region’s various ethnic communities to be peculiar. In fact, it was quite the norm for her. She was always the minority amongst her many Arab friends. 

But Martin faced a cultural shock when she left the Metro Detroit region and found herself among her own kind. 

“I think I am more exposed to the melting pot than the rest of America, just because this area is so diverse,” Martin said. “We have a lot of African Americans here and an unusually high concentration of Arab Americans.”

Martin believes a majority of Americans have a false depiction of Arabs and Muslims because the cultures are foreign to them. Coming across an Arab in Middle America is like finding a needle in a haystack.

“People don’t really get to interact with Arabs, especially if you leave this area,” she said. “No one knows what a Chaldean is. People don’t know what Arab culture is. I don’t think people hate Arabs and Muslims, I just think they don’t understand them. They see women in hijab and they don’t understand why they wear them. But as soon as you get to know them, it becomes very normal.”

Martin noted that with Trump’s presidential run and the media’s emphasis on covering the bigotry that’s ensued, White people are now being classified as a stereotype themselves.

“I do think that White people are perceived as being more racist,” Martin said. “I feel like that’s the perception. But it’s just like any other group that gets stereotyped. There are a couple of big mouths that draw all the attention and make us look bad. Trump supporters are shown causing riots, being crazy and hateful. That’s what everyone sees. But there are people like me who just live my life. Personally, I don’t know any White people who hate minorities.”

Martin noted that she’s attempted to mix her White friends with her Arab friends, and the results have been very positive.

“Sometimes White people will tell me, ‘All your friends are Arab,’ Martin said. “And then they hang out with them and they see that it’s super-normal. When you get to know people, you start to pay attention to their personality. Not what they look like or what they wear.” 

Novi resident Cristen Colleen visits the Adonis restaurant.

‘Lean In’

Cristen Colleen, an author, public speaker and language teacher, has turned her personal admiration for foreign cultures into a profession. 

Colleen routinely hosts workshops and training seminars encouraging everyday Americans to embrace diversity in order to use it to further one’s knowledge and enhance their professional networking opportunities.

Originally from a small town in northern Michigan, Colleen told The AANews that she first had a taste of diversity when she studied across the border in Mexico as part of her major in Spanish and minor in bilingual and bicultural education.

Colleen’s fascination with foreign cultures inspired her to obtain another degree in international relations. She moved to Washington D.C., where she taught English as a second Language (ESL) to both school children and ambassadors.

During her time there, she was exposed to Middle Eastern culture after becoming roommates with four Muslim Turkish women.

“Everything I was doing, living and breathing was in the unknown,” Colleen said. “All my friends were Muslim. I went to Turkish parties. I understood their community and learned the language. I learned conversational Arabic and Turkish.”

Colleen would eventually move to Brazil for several years to teach English and Spanish. She returned to the U.S., where she resided in Chicago and married a Serbian man and had three children. However, after tragedy intervened, fate found her humbled once again as a single parent. She moved back to Michigan and now resides in Novi among a thriving Indian community.

Colleen said that while her open mind has led her to numerous countries around the world and has connected her with a wide range of people of various backgrounds, not all Americans might be able to challenge themselves to that capacity.

She noted that some Americans are hesitant to explore such uncharted territory out of apprehension.

“I think the main principle of that is the fear of the unknown,” Colleen said. “Whenever we don’t understand something, it can be fearful. One way is to lean in and say you want to learn more. But for many, it’s easier to just run away.”

Colleen plans to publish a book titled “Fast-tracking Relationships Building Across Cultures”, where she’ll share her journey of intermixing with various cultures and languages–leading her to a path of compassion and admiration. 

But Colleen noted she still has a lot to learn and embraces that fact wholeheartedly.

Just this week, she randomly connected with a large Muslim family who sat at a table next to her while she was dining with co-workers at a Japanese restaurant in Novi.

She learned that the family was there to celebrate the Eid. 

“I leaned in and asked them, ‘Are you celebrating something today?’ Colleen said. “I expected them to say someone’s birthday. They said it was Eid al Adha. I told them, ‘I don’t know what that is.’ Now I know it’s a festival of celebration. I had never heard of it before that.”

Colleen recalled bonding with the Muslim family and learning how to say ‘kol ‘am wa antum bikhair”, a common Arabic phrase widely used during the holidays, which translates to, “I wish you well.”

At the end of her sit-down with the Muslim family, she had an emotional moment with the elderly man of the group, who came up to her to wish her well.

“He came over and said, ‘Alhamdullilah,'” Colleen said. “I started crying. He said, ‘Thank God for you.’ They thought, ‘Here is this Caucasian woman who is so excited about what we are celebrating.’ I went home and told this story to my children. It wasn’t about religion. It wasn’t about color. It was about eating Japanese food at a local restaurant and celebrating life together. It was an explosion of love, humanity, connectivity and community.” 

Colleen is looking to connect with more Arab residents. She can be reached at GlobalLanguageAndCultureStrategies@gmail.com.