DEARBORN—The approximately 800 people who

attended The Arab American News’ 30th anniversary banquet Thursday, April 23 at
the Bint Jebail Cultural Center serves to demonstrate the degree of the
admiration, respect and love the community has for the publication.

The event— emceed by Dearborn Public Schools
Board of Trustee Mariam Bazzi— was well attended by dignitaries, community leaders
and media representatives.

The paper is the largest and oldest bilingual (Arabic-English)
Arab American newspaper in the country and the gala reflected the publication’s
strenuous history while highlighting its achievements in journalism.

Detroit News publisher Jonathan
Wolman said he is an admirer of The Arab American News, the role it plays every
day, the platform it gives to the community and the “heroic journalism”
conducted by the staff and publisher Osama Siblani.

Wolman called the paper one of the most important community
newspapers in Michigan. 

“Looking at recent copies of The Arab American News, the
attachment between the community and the newspaper is crystal clear,” Wolman
said. “Like no other paper in Michigan, its community is near and far.”

He also noted the paper’s vigorous investigations into the
harassment and discrimination still faced by Arab Americans and Muslims and its
commentaries about the action needed to create a more tolerate society.

“The paper never ignores the turbulence of its readers,” he
said.

Wolman added that if he were critiquing the newspaper with a
journalist’s eye, he would note that the pages are always clean and colorful;
the writing is crisp; stories are well edited and presented with impact.

In a video presentation at the start of the program, Sen.
Gary Peters (D- Mich.) congratulated the paper on its 30 years of success and
said Arab Americans make our state better.

“The work The Arab American News is doing to connect local,
national and international issues to the community and vice versa is critical,”
Peters said. “I’ve come to know the Arab American
community closely. I truly cherish the friendships I’ve developed over the
years. By prioritizing family values and the importance of strong education the
community has made Michigan the hard working diverse state that it is today. As
doctors, engineers, small business owners and entrepreneurs, Arab Americans
have enriched our state in countless ways.”

 U.S. Rep Debbie Dingell (D- Dearborn) told the attendees
that a flag flown over the U.S. capitol that same day in the paper’s honor
would be given to Siblani.

She also said The Arab American News was initially
established to provide unbiased, balanced coverage of events in the Middle East;
and that in the years since it has become the most widely circulated Arab
American publication in the United States.

Republicans were in attendance including, Ronna Romney
McDaniel, chairwoman of the Michigan Republican Party. Paul Abbate, special
agent in charge of the Detroit FBI was also present. 

Siblani discussed the paper’s strenuous history

Judge Gerald Rosen, chief judge of the U.S. District Court
for the Eastern District of Michigan, said that since becoming chief judge he
has learned to appreciate and grown to admire and respect the work the newspaper
does for the greater community.

Rosen noted that the paper helped promote programs that were
held in Dearborn about the importance of jury diversity.

 Rosen said Siblani unites people together, highlights and sheds light on issues that are
of importance, and really strives to reach out even beyond this community to
other communities. He added that the court has been the beneficiary of that.

“You are not only a great journalist, a great member of our
larger community, but you’re a statesman,” Rosen told Siblani. 

Attorney Abed Hammoud discussed the paper’s influence
in getting Arab Americans politically active.

“The paper stood with candidates and community causes long
before there were 20,000 plus registered Arab American voters in Dearborn,”
Hammoud said.

He also said Siblani did not shy away from the idea of the
Arab American Political Action Committee; instead, Siblani embraced and
promoted it in the paper, even when doing so made him some enemies.

“In fact, around the year 2000 someone bought the entire
office building where he was renting space just to kick him out with only a few
days notice, hoping to shut the paper down,” Hammoud said.

He added that the paper stayed the course and did not miss
one issue during the six months it operated from an “undisclosed underground
location” until it moved into its current building.

Chuck Stokes, WXYZ channel 7 news and editorial director,
called Siblani courageous and fearless.

“When others say ‘no, we can’t rattle that cage’, Osama Siblani
says ‘it is my job to make those who feel comfortable uncomfortable,’” Stokes
said.

During the evening, Siblani and the paper
received several accolades.

“I feel very honored to present this
award,” Latino Press President and Publisher Elias
Gutierrez said as a gave a plaque to Siblani. “As a publisher, I can
tell you how hard it is to pay to maintain a publication.”

The Shatila family was presented with a plaque

Dearborn City Council President Susan Dabaja
along with Councilman Mike Sareini presented the paper with a citation by the
council and Mayor Jack O’Reilly.  Dabaja
said some of the community’s accomplishments are in large part thanks to The
Arab American News. She cited the paper’s urging people to get out and vote in
helping to get Judge Sam Salamey elected.

She also said that as a council member, she finds the paper
to be an indispensable resource.

State Rep. George Darany (D- Dearborn)
presented Siblani with a tribute signed by himself, State Reps. Julie Plawecki
(D- Dearborn Heights); Frank Liberati (D- Allen Park) and Harvey Santana (D-
Detroit); State Senators David Knezek (D- Dearborn Heights) and Morris Hood III
(D-Dearborn); and Gov. Snyder.

Wayne County Commission Chairman Gary
Woronchak presented Siblani with a resolution on behalf of the County
Commission, Wayne County Executive Warren Evans and Sheriff Benny Napoleon.

Woronchak said he had been a journalist for more
than 25 year and recalled a time when he was the editor of The Dearborn Press
& Guide. He said that when he learned about a newspaper called  “Sada Alwatan” opening an office in
Dearborn, he expressed doubts that it would last. 

“I said ‘I give them 30 days and they’ll
be out,” Woronchak said. “Well, 30 years later and the Press and Guide
doesn’t have offices in Dearborn anymore, no offense meant. But The Arab
American News is still the voice and the heart and conscience of the
community.” 

Community leader Ned Fawaz presented Siblani
with a plaque for his service to the community over the last 30 years.

“Today, the entire Arab American community and southeast
Michigan community appreciates the efforts as well as the honesty of The Arab
American News,” Fawaz said. “On behalf of the Arab American community, not only
in Michigan but throughout the United States, we offer our appreciation and
thanks.”

The paper also presented accolades of its own.

While at the podium, Siblani
presented a plaque in absentia to Kamel Bazzi, who is currently visiting
Lebanon. In 1995, the paper lost the first 10 years of it archives due to unforeseen
circumstances. Bazzi, a Dearborn resident, had kept every copy of the paper and
gave his copies to Siblani to replenish the paper’s lost archives.

“He kept every issue of the Arab American
News in his house,” said Siblani, who presented the plaque to Bazzi’s wife
and son. “Not only did he keep them, he archived every story in it
manually. When he knew that we needed the archives, he brought them in and said
‘nobody deserves this but you.’”

Siblani also gave a special recognition to the
late Riad Shatila— one of the paper’s oldest and consistent advertisers— and
his family. Siblani noted that Shatila Bakery has advertised with the paper from
the beginning.

“This entrepreneur started in a small
place on Schaefer and then he grew to become a household name all over the
United States,” Siblani said. “We helped a little, we hope. Unfortunately,
he is not with us. But he left a great family who is carrying the message,
holding the company and moving it forward.”

The plaque, which reproduced the Arabic and
English covers of an issue commemorating the first anniversary of Shatila’s
passing, was tearfully accepted by his widow, Zeinat, and his daughters, Nada,
Tanya and Batoul. Siblani told them that the paper appreciates their business
and their leadership.

Siblani also presented Joe Grimm, a journalism
professor at Michigan State University and a former Detroit Free Press editor,
with a plaque for his commitment to bringing greater understanding about Arab
and Muslim Americans through a series of booklets, “100 Questions and Answers
about Arab Americans”; his similar books that address other communities and his
work teaching journalism to students at McCollough-Unis Elementary School in
Dearborn among other schools.

Newspaper staff surprise Siblani with a cake.

“Journalists want to say that we give a voice to the
voiceless; seldom do they do that,” Grimm said. “In most news reports, we hear
from people who are far from voiceless and we hear from them again and again.
We don’t hear that often from the people who are voiceless. Here we have a case
of a strong voice rising from within the community and we learn— me and my
friends in the major media— that this never was a community without a voice; it
was a community that was not being listened to and now it is.

“Now the big media outlets look to The Arab American News to
find out what is going on in the community that they never picked up or paid
much more attention to,” he added.

Siblani attributed the success of the dinner
to the generosity of the local Arab and Muslim community.

“I just wanted people outside of our
community to know that this is a very generous community,” he said.
“This is far greater than what we expected and far more than what we
planned, with little effort. This is a great community and I am happy and
proud. My hands are in the air, but my feet are on the ground and my back is
behind a mountain called the Arab American community in Detroit.”

Siblani also thanked those who have molded the
paper to become the powerhouse it is today. He thanked his newspaper staff for
their weekly contributions in community news, national news, Middle East news
and world news coverage.

“I have a commitment,” he said. “I work
hard and love my people. But it is not me alone who made all of this a success.
There are people who work hard, stay with me all night and work harder than me to put the paper out. This success is not mine,
it is theirs as well.”

He also paid tribute to a person who helped
the paper during a time of crisis, Mustapha Hammoud who passed away last year.
“Mustapha Hammoud was an advisor, great friend and supporter. He is part of the
newspaper’s success, and we truly miss having him around,” Siblani said.

 He also thanked his wife and family for their
continued support. He spoke about his nephew Ali Siblani who he called a son
and dear friend. His nephew’s mother and father flew in from Lebanon just to
attend the event. 

Siblani also recognized the hosting committee
of the event, who met every Tuesday at paper’s office for over a month to
organize the anniversary dinner.  

He also thanked the readers, saying that
without them, the paper would not exist.

Siblani ended his speech by recognizing the
late Marianna Kay Siblani, co-founder and executive editor of The Arab American
News, who passed away on Jan. 1, 2013. She was one of the Arab American
community’s biggest advocates and her legacy lives on through the paper.

The program also included a seven-minute video
presentation which showcased footage of Siblani’s appearances on local and
national media outlets over the years. In the video, which got cheers at times,
Siblani is shown passionately defending the Muslim and Arab communities,
whether it be standing up for Palestinian rights against Israel, or defending
Muslims in the post-9/11 era.

At the end of the night, the paper’s staff
surprised Siblani with a cake that featured quotes from each staff member.