August 11th, 20170HAMTRAMCK — Even though 33 percent of Hamtramck's residents are Yemeni, only one Yemeni candidate— Mohammad Al-Somiri— made it to the general elections this year.
Yemeni American Councilman Saad Almasmari said the community was hoping educator Akil Al-Halemi would make it through the City Council primary race because of his high...
August 11th, 20170DEARBORN HEIGHTS — On August 8, Dearborn Heights held its municipal primary elections for mayor, City Council, City Clerk and treasurer. Mayor Dan Paletko won first place in the mayoral race, followed by Councilwoman Lisa Hicks-Clayton who came in second. The two candidates will face off in the general election on November 7. Eduardo...
July 28th, 20170DETROIT— In the dark hours before sunrise on Sunday, July 23, 1967, no one knew that Detroit would be ablaze for the next five days , leaving countless citizens injured and 43 dead.
The summer of 1967 changed Detroit forever.
Before any looting, arson or fighting began that day, the Detroit Free Press reported that an undercover...
July 28th, 20171As Dearborn Heights' community and economic landscape transforms to reflect its neighboring city of Dearborn, so must the city's government transform to reflect its constituents.
Over the years, many Arab Americans have steadily moved from Dearborn to Dearborn Heights, a bedroom community whose obstacle to tremendous ambitions has...
July 27th, 20170DEARBORN — The outcries of thousands of Arab and Muslim American men, women and children from outside Dearborn’s City Hall could once be heard throughout the nation.
While demonstrating in a mosaic of green, red and white, Dearborn’s Arab Americans were branding a newfangled Arab unity, amid divisions in their...
July 21st, 20172DEARBORN — Michigan first welcomed Arabs back in the 1880s when Lebanese and Syrian immigrants arrived in the city of Detroit seeking employment.
The Arab American community has continued to grow, and with it their mother tongue. It's now the most popular foreign language in the state.
Weekend Arabic programs for kids formed...
July 14th, 20170It is a known fact that Dearborn has the highest concentration of Americans of Arab descent, some thriving more than others, in part due to their long history in this nation. For many reasons, internal segregation, which tends to stem from religious separation, politics and tribalism, has truly become a community concern.
Last week,...
July 14th, 20170HAMTRAMCK — As Michiganders mull over who to elect or reelect to various government positions, a town with a growing Arab American population is also preparing for the upcoming elections.
Hamtramck is facing shifting demographics, reflecting that of its neighbors, Dearborn and Dearborn Heights. It's also where an unprecedented...
July 14th, 20171DEARBORN — After a lengthy process, the Arab American Political Action Committee (AAPAC) endorsed candidates for various positions in Dearborn and Dearborn Heights' for the August 8 primary elections.
For two days, the group interviewed candidates running for mayor and City Council in both cities, and for city clerk in Dearborn....
June 30th, 20170DEARBORN HEIGHTS — In mid June, Crestwood High School sent 312 graduates on a life-altering path that will ultimately result in an even more prosperous new chapter as 178 of them have been offered a combined $13.6 million in scholarships and awards.
All the graduates applied to college.
Principal John Tafelski expressed his...
June 23rd, 20170DEARBORN — Last week, 1,369 students of diverse ethnicities and backgrounds graduated from the Dearborn Public School District on one path— success.
Superintendent Glenn Maleyko said he's proud of the overall 93 percent graduation rate.
"All of our high schools have been recognized for preparation of students for college and...
June 16th, 20170LANSING — Activists and local officials made their final impassioned plea before a Michigan House committee passed bills on Wednesday, June 7 that prevents any city or county from passing "sanctuary" laws.
The two bills, introduced by State Reps. Pamela Hornberger (R-Chesterfield Twp.) and Beau LaFave (R-Iron Mountain), passed in...
June 13th, 20170DEARBORN — Elected officials, candidates, community members and organization and religious leaders of different faiths broke bread together at an iftar dinner hosted by Mayor Jack O'Reilly at Byblos Banquet Hall on Wednesday, June 7.
The dinner's standing-room-only attendance was a testament to solidarity amid the trying times...
June 9th, 20170DEARBORN — A Dearborn man whose home was raided by the FBI on June 1 was arrested in Livonia later that night on suspicion of links to Hezbollah, a U.S. designated terrorist organization, the Justice Department announced on Thursday, June 8.
Both Samer El Debek, a Lebanese American truck driver who moved to Michigan from New York a...
June 6th, 20170DEARBORN ― The Dearborn Board of Education is seeking to fill a seat vacated by former Trustee Mariam Bazzi.
Bazzi resigned on May 22 after she was appointed by Governor Snyder as a judge in the Wayne County Circuit Court. She was a Lead Prosecuting Attorney in the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office, and elected as a trustee in...
LANSING — The number of refugees re-settled in Michigan has dropped sharply over the past six months, mirroring a national trend, according to new analysis of U.S. State Department data from the Pew Research Center.
Last October Michigan re-settled 563 refugees. As of April, that number has fallen to 168. Nationally, 9,945 refugees...
June 2nd, 20170PORTLAND/DEARBORN — On May 26, a man aboard a commuter train in Portland, Oregon slashed the throats of three passengers for heroically standing up for and protecting two teenage girls from his White supremacist, anti-Muslim tirade.
Ricky John Best, 53, reportedly died at the scene, while Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche, 23, died...
June 2nd, 20171DEARBORN ― On June 1 at around 5 in the evening, the silence of a Dearborn street was broken when a large FBI task force raided a home, just as some residents were preparing to break their fasts.
The FBI said it was conducting an operation related to a "national security issue" at the home on Jonathon Street near Warren Avenue, but...
May 19th, 20170DEARBORN HEIGHTS — As the Arab American community continues to grow in Dearborn Heights, the city hopes to recruit more representatives to its police department.
Recently, a fourth Arab American was added to the police force, which comprises 82 police officers in total.
Chief Lee Gavin expressed concerns that none...
May 19th, 20170DETROIT — On May 10, Detroit native Rawan Latif, 24, became a captain in the United States Air Force. That is only one of many ways in which Latif has served both her local community and the United States at large.
Latif, who is stationed at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, comes from a family involved in service, with an uncle who...
May 19th, 20170SANAA, Yemen — Spilling into the hallways of crowded Yemeni hospitals, children writhe in pain from cholera. Displaced villagers roam baking hot plains and barren mountains to evade warring militias.
The escalating outbreak of disease and displacement of tens of thousands by recent fighting has inflamed one of the world's worst...
May 19th, 20170DEARBORN HEIGHTS — In the increasingly diverse Southeast Michigan region, markets catering to the cuisine of one's homeland can be far and few.
Dearborn, which harbors the highest concentration of Arab Americans in the country, has overcome that problem, as streets like Warren Avenue are lined with Mediterranean grocers.
A...
May 18th, 20170DETROIT ― Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon has ordered his staff to deny requests by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to turn over immigrant inmates without a warrant signed by a federal judge or magistrate.
In an April 28 memo from Napoleon obtained by The AANews the sheriff wrote: “Recent court decisions have...
May 12th, 20170DEARBORN — A lack of language for gay identity in religious doctrine reflected the stigmatization and eventual pathologization of it in Western discourse, where homosexuality was recognized as a mental illness from the 19th century until its removal from the DSM in 1973.
Ironically, Arabic and Islamic-era words articulating...
May 12th, 201715There was a festive spirit in a Syrian neighborhood, decades before children were acquainted with desolation — a young boy was growing fretful as the moment for a special occasion approached.
An entire neighborhood, where mere residence equaled family, knew why Mohamad, 12, along with a few of his brothers and cousins, were going to...
May 5th, 20171DEARBORN — Ali Bazzi, Hamadeh Educational Services' (HES) assistant superintendent of all four HES schools and principal of Star International Academy (SIA), is one of five finalists nominated for the 2017 Michigan charter school administrator of the year.
Awarded by the Michigan Association of Public School Academies (MAPSA), the...
May 5th, 20170DEARBORN — A bar in west Dearborn criticized by a city official last week for attracting unruly crowds will face a hearing that could result in the revocation of the business' liquor license.
City Council President Pro Tem Tom Tafelski has called Post Bar, located on Michigan Ave., a "public nuisance." The city played a key role in...
May 5th, 20170DETROIT — Arab Americans are typically not regarded as a subset of immigrants with a history tied to labor movements.
However, Arab American involvement in labor movements is interwoven within the greater framework of workers' protests in the United States.
This renders Arab American history in the U.S., via its political...
