Read Goldstone’s report on Gaza
Editor's note: the following oped by Rep. Keith Ellison appeared in Politico.com the morning of the vote in Congress to dismiss the Goldstone report. Who is afraid of Richard Goldstone? No one should be. Not even the U.S. Congress — yet it is poised on Tuesday to condemn the United Nations Human Rights Council's Goldstone report on...What’s in a name?
As parents, one of the first decisions we make is what to name the child that we have been entrusted with. This decision is never made lightly. Aimee Blackburn For some, a name is chosen for the old-world meaning, for others as a tribute to someone famous, and for many, names are handed down through the generations as a...A campaign for all
I would like to thank the community for supporting me throughout OUR campaign. Ali Sayed Your support, generosity, and commitment to this campaign was, without a doubt, something special and really humbled me as an individual. I emphasize the word "our" because this campaign was not about Ali Sayed running for city...
Lessons from election day
November 7th, 20090 As the dust settles from Tuesday's municipal election in Dearborn, I, like many who analyzed the detailed numbers, see good news and bad news. And from what I have heard since Tuesday, it is clear that the individual candidates and their supporters have their own views on what went well and what went bad. Tarek...
Our endorsements for 2009
November 3rd, 20090 The municipal elections being held Tuesday, November 3, provide an unprecedented opportunity for Arab Americans, particularly in Dearborn. While the election is important because it decides who will be making the decisions that affect our everyday lives — running the city, running the schools, protecting and maintaining neighborhoods...Time for health insurance reform
Who among us hasn't heard the stories of small businesses struggling to balance their books forced to cut jobs because they can't afford the rising cost of insuring their employees? Perhaps you're the small business owner having to make these tough choices; or the parent deciding whether you can afford to get your children their flu...Democratic discourse needed
This weekend, J Street, a new Jewish "Pro-Israel, Pro-Peace" Washington-based public action committee, is holding its first national conference. The two of us, along with another artist, were scheduled to perform and read poems at several sessions during the conference. Specifically, we were invited to lead a workshop on how culture and...
Pilots on food stamps
October 16th, 20090 We're on the descent from 20,000 feet in the air when the flight attendant leans over the elderly woman next to me and taps me on the shoulder. Filmmaker Michael Moore "I'm listening to Lady Gaga," I say as I remove just one of the ear buds. I know not this Lady Gaga, but her performance last week on SNL was...Turkey-Israel rift good for Palestine
RAMALLAH — Turkey's cooling relationship with Israel comes in tandem with its improving relations with the Arab and Muslim world, and this development is expected to impact positively on Palestinian politics. "The Turks appear to be implementing a major policy shift in the region as they look towards the East as a possible...Abbas’s loss is Palestinians’ gain
There is a famous Arabic expression, "la yokarrem nafsaho la yokarram," which means "he who doesn't respect himself shall not be respected." Palestinians take part in a Fatah rally in support of President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah October 8, 2009. Palestinian leaders on Thursday called for a one-day general...Answering critics of the boycott movement
Over the last three years, the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel has been gaining stride. Individuals around the world have been joining this call, from organizing actions in supermarkets in France and Great Britain protesting Israeli products made in settlements, to filmmakers withdrawing movies from film...The lying game goes on
The current drum-beating for war against Iran is based on a fake "nuclear threat" with the manufacture of a sense of false crisis which is what led to our invasion of Iraq and the deaths of 1.3 million people. In 2001, the Observer in London published a series of reports that claimed an Iraqi connection to al-Qaeda, even describing the...Letters: Investigate the torture
In a guest editorial in last week's issue of The Arab American News, Kareem Shora, executive director of the national American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, called on the Obama administration to "correct the mistakes born out of the Bush-Cheney counterterrorism policies, including the CIA's use of torture." Shora's call came on the...Disability awareness in Dearborn
To the editor: After the events of September 11, 2001 and Hurricane Katrina, it was realized that emergency response plans lacked insight into the needs of some of our most vulnerable citizens, the disabled and senior citizens. The Dearborn Commission on Disability Concerns is partnering with the Dearborn CERT Team in order to...CIA report presents historic moral leadership opportunity
With the release of the CIA report detailing torture methods in secret prisons, we are at a critical juncture with an opportunity to regain our nation's credibility in the world. The acts described in the report are morally reprehensible and a direct affront to our American values and international human rights. CIA Director......
Michigan residents deserve fair and affordable insurance
The national average annual car insurance is $949. Take a stab at what the average is in Detroit. $1,500? $2,000? $3,000? Try more than $5,000. These are the highest rates in the nation, in one of its poorest cities. In fact, in the next most expensive city to insure a car – Philadelphia – the average is $3,700, 25 percent...
Turning 25
September 12th, 20090 The Arab American News was founded 25 years ago, as of this past week. The newspaper's purpose was two-fold. We wanted to provide a source for objective, comprehensive news and subjective views on a region of the world not covered by mainstream media. We also wanted to help shape the identity of a vibrant, evolving Arab American......
9/11: We will never forget
Eight years have passed since that fateful day in 2001 when foreign terrorists attacked the World Trade Center in New York, causing the deaths of almost 3000 innocent Americans. Daily we remember that horrific event. Daily we pray for all those families touched so tragically by those reprehensible attacks. Daily we search for ever more...
This Ramadan, give without fear
September 5th, 20090 American Muslims face unique and troubling challenges in trying to fulfill their religious obligations to give charity or zakat. The laws meant to serve the legitimate purpose of preventing the diversion of humanitarian aid to terrorist groups are, instead, overly broad, ambiguous and constitutionally suspect. Sweeping powers granted to...
Why Israel will thwart Obama on settlements
August 29th, 20090 The idea that the Obama administration can advance the Middle East peace process by having Israel freeze its construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank stretches credulity. A Palestinian laborer walks near an Israeli settlement. Does any serious observer of the region believe that Israel's appetite for land –...Why is development evading the Arabs?
Arabs face stubborn obstacles to social change. They recognize their problems but do not settle on alternatives; and they are worried about replacing their autocratic political regimes. Change, they fear, may lead to even worse circumstances. Responding to the challenge, Arab scholars have collaborated over the past seven years in......
Nader was right: Liberals are going nowhere with Obama
August 15th, 20090 The American empire has not altered under Barack Obama. It kills as brutally and indiscriminately in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan as it did under George W. Bush. It steals from the U.S. treasury to enrich the corporate elite as rapaciously. It will not give us universal health care, abolish the Bush secrecy laws, end torture or...The 2010 Census: What’s in it for Arab Americans?
In less than a year, the nation will conduct its once-a-decade census of the U.S. population. The 2010 Census will ask just ten basic questions about each household — like the name, age, gender, and race of each person living there. Arab Americans, who are not a legally recognized racial or ethnic minority, have no "box" to check and......
Our excuses outnumber our votes
August 7th, 20090 It's hard times for Arab American candidates for public office in Dearborn. From the incumbents to the first-timers, they have found it next to impossible to break through the stigma and hesitation that many of the city's majority-white electorate have displayed in historical voting patterns. Thus, they greatly underperform amongst the...
Get out and vote!
July 31st, 20090 Voters go to the polls next Tuesday, August 4, for the city of Dearborn's primary election. Twenty five candidates will vie for 14 spots on the ballot in the November 3 general election, when seven of them will be voted in to seats on the city council. An unprecedented eight candidates are of Arab descent in the city council primary.......
