Other Voices
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Hamtramck Public Schools: Feeling thankful this November
November 23rd, 20220 By Hamtramck Public Schools Interim Superintendent Nabil Nagi At Hamtramck Public Schools (HPS), we are fortunate to have a community full of teachers, leaders and partners eager to create the best educational environment for our students. It is special to know we have so many generous and encouraging individuals cheering our students...
Resilient Neighborhoods: East Side nonprofit’s big plans include community hub and housing project
November 19th, 20220 By David Sands. All photos: Steve Koss Bishop Daryl Harris has fond memories of his formative years in the area now known as Detroit's Osborn neighborhood. A longtime resident whose Total Life Christian Ministries church is headquartered there, he remembers when it was full of commerce and activity. "Back in the '70s and '80s,...
Has the honeymoon ended?
October 28th, 20222 - Muzammil Ahmed serves on the boards of Emgage MI, CAIR MI and is the former chair of the Michigan Muslim Community Council. The opinions expressed are his own. When the Muslim community and the progressive forces came together after 9/11, it was a marriage of convenience. Arabs and Muslims needed to be loved and the Progressives...
Retired military officials say GOP secretary of state candidate threat to national security
October 26th, 20221 The following op-ed was submitted by James Pocock, major general, U.S. Army, retired; Thomas N. Edmonds, brigadier general, U.S. Air Force, retired; Axel A. Johnson, III, brigadier general, U.S. Army, retired; Mark A. Montjar, brigadier general, U.S. Army, retired; Donald Schenk, brigadier general, U.S. Amy, retired and Valerie...
TikTok provides an outlet for health education; there’s more to be done
October 24th, 20221 This article was contributed by Sumaiyah Ahmed, MHA, public health coordinator for ACCESS, and has been edited for style TikTok is a popular short-video app best known for its trendy dances and outlandish humor. However, it has also become a venue for healthcare providers to share health and wellness information with younger...
Hamtramck schools: Esports is more than a video game club
October 13th, 20220 Will Kim is the Hamtramck High School science teacher and Esports coach. This article has been edited for style. At Hamtramck Public Schools (HPS), we encourage our students to play video games. In the fall of 2019, we launched the first HPS Esports program in district history to give students what they were asking for: A safe way...Starting out the school year strong
August 22nd, 20220 — Nabil Nagi is the interim superintendent of Hamtramck Public Schools. The article was edited for style. While saying goodbye to another incredible Michigan summer is always difficult, our team at Hamtramck Public Schools (HPS) is thrilled to see the seasons changing! It brings us that much closer to welcoming our students back into...
The average Michigander would give up four years of their life to keep eating fast food, survey reveals
August 19th, 20220 - This article was contributed by DrugGenius, a website dedicated to providing medically reviewed information about prescription drugs, health conditions, nutrition, supplements and more. It has been edited for style. Live fried, die young? There are many behaviors and habits many of us developed and continue, despite studies...
Hamtramck: Building community at the Family Fun Fair
August 18th, 20220 — Liz Alpert, Hamtramck Public Schools school and community facilitator, contributed this article. It has been edited for style. The best part about heading back to school is getting to see friends, neighbors, teachers and staff after a long summer away. For me, catching up on what everyone has been up to is always a highlight. I...
A unique pathway to success: Recognizing Amal Al-Sabahi’s experience
August 8th, 20220 — This article, contributed by Nuo Ivesaj, principal of Horizon High School at Hamtramck Public Schools, has been lightly edited for style Among the many excellent students attending Hamtramck Public Schools (HPS), Amal Al-Sabahi, a recent Horizon High School graduate, has combined interest and opportunity to create success for...
Anti-boycott laws are an affront to free speech. They also don’t address anti-Semitism
July 29th, 20220 — This article by Hamzah Khan, legal intern at the the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ New Jersey Chapter, was first published by the New Jersey Record and USA TODAY Network. It has been edited for style In a world where there are hundreds of companies manufacturing and selling the same product, the freedom to choose a...
The pox on our house
July 27th, 20220 — This article by Abdul El-Sayed originally appeared in the newsletter The Incision. It has been edited for style. Subscribe to The Incision here: incision.substack.com Over the weekend, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared monkeypox a “Public Health Emergency of International...
Op-ed: Andy Levin is the right choice for a more united and understanding future
July 15th, 20220 — Rex Nazarko is a staffer with the Emgage Michigan team This past June, our team at Emgage and our allies came together in a celebratory event on Capitol Hill to honor and inspire Muslim American civic engagement. As our event was about to begin, we encountered heightened security measures on the Hill, which brought about...
The new age of learning is here to stay: Hamtramck Public Schools Virtual Learning Institute
July 12th, 20220 —This article was contributed by Dr. Adnan Aabed, the director of Hamtramck Public Schools Virtual Learning Institute. It has been edited for style. COVID-19 brought many changes to the education landscape and now we realize that some of those changes are here to stay. To produce the best learning environments for students across...
What Michigan’s Yemeni community can teach Democrats
October 22nd, 20210 — This article by Abdul El-Sayed originally appeared in the newsletter The Incision. It has been edited for style. Subscribe to The Incision here: incision.substack.com About a month after my 2018 Michigan gubernatorial campaign ended, I sat among Yemeni American community leaders in the enclave of South Dearborn. With large,......
Colin Powell, not a hero
October 22nd, 20210 — Iqbal Jassat is an acclaimed writer, analyst and commentator and one of the founding members of Media Review Network. This article, edited for style, also appears in the Palestine Chronicle Will Colin Powell be remembered as America’s hero or as a war criminal? Since his death a few days ago, there appears to be a rush to...
In redistricting, minority communities have a chance to demand fair representation and resources
October 16th, 20210 – Dr. Hayg Oshagan is a professor at Wayne State University, co-chair of the Detroit City Council Immigration Task Force and the director of New Michigan Media We are entering the final phase of the redistricting process in Michigan. As you know, Michigan voters passed a law in 2018 that redistricting in our state would be done by......
Detroit voters should vote YES on Proposal P on August 3
August 1st, 20210 - Hayg Oshagan is a professor at Wayne State University, co-chair of the Detroit City Council Immigration Task Force and the director of New Michigan Media On Tuesday, August 3, Detroiters will have the opportunity to vote YES on Proposal P. Prop P is the set of revisions that are being proposed to the Detroit City Charter. The...
Dearborn voters should vote YES on Proposal A
July 28th, 20210 – Hassan F. Abdallah is a candidate for the Dearborn City Charter Commission, a Corporate and Regulatory Compliance Officer and community activist. On Tuesday, August 3, Dearborn voters will be faced with making several key decisions that will shape the future of the city for many years to come. Voters will be electing a new City...
Let’s talk about mental health in our community
June 20th, 20211 A letter to The Arab American News: Do you think our leaders in Dearborn have done enough to promote mental health within our community? Every single one of us know at least one person struggling with depression, anxiety or other types of mental health problems. Why is it that we as a community turn away from the one issue that is...
Don’t send them money
June 18th, 20210 Instead of telling you a ghost story around a summer campfire, we have an all-too familiar tale to share: Myra’s grandson, Jon, is in Mexico for the summer. They video chat every week. One day, Myra gets a call from someone who says he’s Max, a friend of Jon’s: “He was arrested last night and needs $500 for bail.” Max says the......
Fun summer programs at Hamtramck Public Schools combat learning loss
June 9th, 20210 The global pandemic caused significant disruptions in education across the country over the past two years. As a result, Hamtramck Public Schools is offering a robust summer education program to reduce learning loss in advance of the new school year in September. This modern summer program incorporates fun and innovative ways to support...
Redistricting: What is it and why it matters
May 29th, 20210 By Hayg Oshagan What is it? Every 10 years, every state redraws all of its district election maps. For Michigan, that’s 110 House district maps, 38 Senate district maps and 13 U.S. Congressional district maps. Once these are drawn, you elect your Michigan House, Michigan Senate and U.S. Congressional representatives based on......
Yemenis in the San Joaquin Valley: The embodiment of pride, duty and loyalty
February 22nd, 20210 By Nikhil Misra-Bhambri Most visitors to California, “The Golden State”, are unfamiliar with the large swath of barren farmland covering the state’s entire interior. Among the hardy immigrant laborers working the farms in the interior are a group of men from Yemen who started arriving in the 1950s to flee their nation’s...
Arab American votes can make a difference in this election
October 23rd, 20200 With less than two weeks left in this election season, by now many in our communities have already cast their vote. According to the Michigan Secretary of State’s office, more than 1.5 million Michiganders have already turned their absentee ballots in. That is phenomenal news. We have been working diligently to ensure that all......
