My sincere condolences to the family and friends of Jamal Dabaja, the young man we lost on April 7. My deepest sympathy goes to his parents, siblings and friends.

It is personally painful to me when our community members die prematurely to preventable issues— gun violence, drug abuse, depression, suicide or negligence.

Over the past two years, we have witnessed too many young Arab Americans depart this world too soon.

We simply can’t remain silent.

I know people have different opinions about how The Arab American News should be dealing with breaking and publishing news about these sensitive topics, especially during times of mourning. I respect those opinions and we are willing to listen to different perspectives.

But, as a newspaper, we have a duty and responsibility to tell the truth as we know it, when we know it, after gathering the facts.

It is not easy for me as a publisher and for the rest of our team of professional journalists to deal with subjects that are considered a taboo in our community.

It takes courage and dedication to the readers and the profession to tell it the way it is, despite the expected backlash.

That, I promise, we will continue to do.

We are not in the business of reporting false information. Much has been made of the statement that Dearborn Police released Friday, saying Dabaja’s death is still under investigation, while we reported the incident as a suicide.

The police statement indicated that there was no foul play in the unfortunate events that led to the young man’s death. No foul play means no other person was involved.

It was a suicide.

Many of those attacking us failed to read between the lines. A high ranking source privy to the investigation confirmed to me personally on the evening of Thursday, April 7, that Dabaja died of a self-inflicted gunshot.

Although Dearborn Police claimed the investigation is ongoing despite their own confirmation to us that the death was a suicide, Lloyd Jackson of the Medical Examiner’s Office also told The Arab American News that the autopsy shows that Dabaja killed himself.

Drugs abuse, depression and suicide are some of major problems we are facing in this community; they can’t be ignored anymore. Help us bring them to the forefront, deal with them collectively and save lives, before it is too late.

We need to recognize the disease in order to start the healing process.

Another reason why it was important for our newspaper to reveal the truth about the tragic incident is that rumors, fueled by popular social media pages, had been spreading about the tragedy. Popular gossip pages on Instagram and Facebook had both reported that the young victim had been shot after an altercation.

The false news started spreading in the community, with some people identifying the last name of the non-existing assailant.

When our reporters called the police department to inquire about the supposed shooting, they were told by a police official there has not been a shooting that week, but there was a suicide. We did not report that Dabaja shot himself until we received specific confirmation with his name.

That is what makes us professional journalists. We seek the facts. We don’t spread rumors — rumors that could have turned dangerous and ignited family feuds.

The irony is that none of those objecting to our reporting the truth had a problem with the fabrications that Dabaja was shot by a fellow teenager.

I reiterate my condolences to the stricken community. We have reached out to the Dabaja family and offered to listen to their grievances. 

Our commitment remains to the truth and to the community as a whole.