DEARBORN — It was a special night at Greenfield Manor in Dearborn last Friday as the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee held its 10th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Awards Reception.

First place Martin Luther King scholarship award winner Laya Charara (center at podium) reads a portion of her prize-winning essay as fellow honorees watch at the ADC’s 10th annual dinner at Greenfield Manor in Dearborn on Friday, January 30. PHOTOS: Nafeh AbuNab

Despite current financial troubles for the organization, the event was a high-class, glitzy affair attended by a large group that included some of the most powerful and influential politicians and civic leaders in metro Detroit. The dinner was also co-hosted by the NAACP.
 

 

ADC Executive Assistant Mariam Habhab talked about the huge turnout.

“This just shows that people around here are very interested in the youth and Dr. King’s message of diversity,” she said. “This year’s event was especially poignant in coordination with the NAACP because of the inauguration of Barack Obama and it is important for us to be involved with even more bridge building with them.”

Ten metro Detroit high school students received merit awards at the event while five others won awards for their MLK-themed essays. In addition, principal Nadia Youmans of Salina Elementary School won the Educator of the Year Award and Dearborn High School alumnus and Wayne State volleyball player Maysaa Bazzi won the Youth Leadership Award.

Longtime WXYZ news anchor Diana Lewis was the mistress of ceremonies, and well-known speakers and presenters included U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow, Dearborn Mayor Jack O’Reilly, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy and Reverend Oscar King III, pastor with the Northwest Unity Baptist Church in Detroit.

O’Reilly spoke about the significance of the work the ADC and its regional director/senior national adviser Imad Hamad do in the area.

“ADC has been a good friend to the city of Dearborn,” he said. “Imad Hamad is a great leader and the ADC does an incredible amount of work with a limited amount of staff, but the staff is limited in number only.”

Rev. Oscar King III of the Northwest Unity Baptist Church gave a stirring speech at ADC’s annual MLK dinner.

King gave his keynote speech last, relaying the passion of the civil rights movement to the crowd through relentless intensity and passion.
“This is about civil rights, it’s not just a black thing but a nation-building program,” he said.

King also brought up an example of how the U.S. was founded and taken from Native Americans immorally and that history has continued on to encompass many civil injustices that still occur today.

“The history books fail to tell us that the USA was already occupied when it was discovered, but for that, as a youngster I got a day off from school.

“Rampant, insipid racism still exists in this country, and that will not be changed by the election of Obama,” he said.

Habhab was impressed with the way King fired up the crowd, much as NAACP Detroit president Wendell Anthony did at the AAPAC dinner back in October 2008.

“His speech was great, it got the attention of the audience and he made some great points on both history and civil rights.”

While ADC continues to do great work in the community in the present, the future remains in doubt as financial troubles persist.

The Arab American News publisher Osama Siblani gave an impromptu speech urging people to give whatever they could afford to the organization as collection baskets were passed around.

The ADC is still lacking in funds for the completion of its new, partially-constructed, state-of-the-art Center for Civil and Human Rights in Dearborn.

Those who wish to donate can visit www.adcmichigan.org or call 313.581.1201.