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http://www.detnews.com/2004/metro/0407/22/a01-219773.htm
Tension grows as Arabs move to Dearborn Heights
Many find political clout, acceptance difficult to attain
By Gregg Krupa / The Detroit News
John T. Greilick / The Detroit News
DEARBORN HEIGHTS --Ford Road is to Arab-Americans in Dearborn Heights what Eight Mile is to many Detroiters, a social and geographic line between striving and acceptance.
The road runs west out of Dearborn, where Arab immigrants have become Arab-Americans for more than 100 years, and runs through the middle of Dearborn Heights, whe
e the Arab population has grown by 400 percent since 1990. The 2000 census found there are 4,398 Arab-Americans here, or 7 percent of the total population.
It is a group that is continuing to grow,
r
and as it does, is striving for acceptance and influence. But it is
a group that feels it is being confronted by sentiment elsewhere in the community that Dearborn Heights should not become like Dearborn in terms of Arab-American culture and influence. Arab-Americans comprise almost 23 percent of Dearborn's total population.
Nonetheless, many Arab-Americans say they feel generally accepted and happy in Dearborn Heights. They also say Ford Road, however, is a clear demarcation line in the level of acceptance.
South of Ford Road in Dearborn Heights, they say they feel part of the neighborhoods and can assimilate. To the north, they say they are viewed as strangers and full acceptance is fleeting.
The division is especially clear when it comes to politics and the governance of the cit
y and its schools. Arab-Americans are striving, with some difficulty, to elect officials to represent their points of view.
Controversies in a local school district over a Muslim holiday and
the
serving of halal food to students helped drive a huge voter turnout for
the school board race in June. Halal food conforms to Islamic restrictions.
We live south in Dearborn Heights, south of Ford Road, said Albert Saad, whose wife, Wanda, was defeated in a race for the Crestwood school board last month. There's three or four Arab families on every block. Everyone gets along with everybody.
Over there, north of Ford Road --where there's just a few (Arab Americans) --they all look at us like we're strange people coming in, trying to take over, Saad said.
Gaining political power has not been easy.
What's going on in the city is change is taking place and human beings in general don't like change, said Jumana Judeh, a Palestinian-American who ran unsuccessfully for City Coun
cil in 2001.
Mayor Dan Paletko talks of how residents of Arab descent contribute to increased property values and to solidifying a business district. But Paletko, who is credited
with ca
sting diversity as a strength of the city, admits that
there are forces allied against change.
There is no elected Arab-American official in the city, although two people of Arab descent serve as department heads.
The election for the Crestwood school board last month is a pointed example, some residents and officials say. After feverish campaigning, 4,154 voters went to the polls, leaving workers to search for more ballots. That turnout is 500 percent larger than in the last school board vote.
Before the election, some of the most controversial issues concerned Arab-Americans.
The board and officials struggled over whether schools would be closed on the Eid al-Fitr holiday, marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Students of Arab descent make up 35 percent to 40
percent of the 3,300-student district and many stay home to observe the holiday, driving the district below mandatory attendance rates.
Dearborn long has closed school on Eid
al-Fitr. B
ut some parents and officials in Dearborn Heights openly vowed that thei
r city would not become like Dearborn.
Earlier last year, some parents asserted that students were sickened by the halal pepperoni served on pizza in the school cafeterias.
Comparable to kosher foods, halal refers to foods prepared consistent with dietary restrictions observed by many Muslims, including proscribed ingredients and the regulation of how animals are slaughtered.
With no Arabs or Muslims on the Crestwood board, many in the community united behind Wanda Saad in the election. But they fell 300 votes short to the incumbent school board president, Ronald Panetta.
Arab-Americans said they do not mean to appear like sore losers, but they feel the impact of ethnicity on the vote is clear.
The people
spoke, and they voted for him and he won, Saad said. Although I did not like the outcome, it clearly stated that the community is just not ready for an Arab-American.
<b
r>"t's nothing
we are making up or guessing at, Wanda said. "t's out the
re. It's said. At the polls, you'd try to greet people and their hand would go up and they'd say, 'Oh, no! Oh, no!'
Panetta said he rejects the theory that ethnicity and issues involving Arab and Muslims played a major role in the election.
We get people to come out and vote and you are finding some negativity in it, Panetta said. Why can't it just be that one person is more qualified and happens to gain the support of the community?
But Paletko said that issues involving Arab-Americans and Muslims clearly contributed to the heated campaign.
" have two daughters in the Crestwood School District and I think, to a large extent, the students handle things a lot better than the adults, the mayor said.
Campaign t
actics have been used against Arab-Americans before in the city.
After she was appointed to the City Council in 2001 to fill a vacancy, Judeh ran for election.
Within days of Sept
ember 11, residents received calls from a purpor
ted pollster who asked a series of questions concerning Judeh's ethnicity.
City Councilman Robert Constan said that a political consultant and advertising firm he hired for the race performed the so-called push polling.
" was not happy with the gentleman who did the survey, and I did not do any further work with him, Costan said. He was referred to me as someone who could get stuff done quickly. It was supposed to be a legitimate survey. I know Jumana still has some harsh feelings about that.
" don't mind losing, Judeh said. But I do mind when it's because I'm hit below the belt.
Arab-Americans say that their comparatively smaller numbers in Dearborn Heights make their political efforts more difficult. But they say that they will prevail.
We're not looking for sympathy. We're looking for engagement, an ability to have our concerns addressed and to have a voice, really, said Nasser Beydou
n, a resident of Dearbo
rn Heights and executive d
irector of the American-Arab Chamber of Commerce.
There is an underlying current of resistance to political acceptance of Arabs in Dearborn Heights. But, in the end, I think it is going to be a reality.
You can reach Gregg Krupa at (734) 462-2296 or
http://www.detnews.com/2004/metro/0407/22/a01-219773.htm
Tension grows as Arabs move to Dearborn Heights
Many find political clout, acceptance difficult to attain
By Gregg Krupa / The Detroit News
John T. Greilick / The Detroit News
DEARBORN HEIGHTS --Ford Road is to Arab-Americans in Dearborn Heights what Eight Mile is to many Detroiters, a social and geographic line between striving and acceptance.
The road runs west out of Dearborn, where Arab immigrants have become Arab-Americans for more than 100 years, and runs through the middle of Dearborn Heights, whe
e the Arab population has grown by 400 percent since 1990. The 2000 census found there are 4,398 Arab-Americans here, or 7 percent of the total population.
It is a group that is continuing to grow,
r
and as it does, is striving for acceptance and influence. But it is
a group that feels it is being confronted by sentiment elsewhere in the community that Dearborn Heights should not become like Dearborn in terms of Arab-American culture and influence. Arab-Americans comprise almost 23 percent of Dearborn's total population.
Nonetheless, many Arab-Americans say they feel generally accepted and happy in Dearborn Heights. They also say Ford Road, however, is a clear demarcation line in the level of acceptance.
South of Ford Road in Dearborn Heights, they say they feel part of the neighborhoods and can assimilate. To the north, they say they are viewed as strangers and full acceptance is fleeting.
The division is especially clear when it comes to politics and the governance of the cit
y and its schools. Arab-Americans are striving, with some difficulty, to elect officials to represent their points of view.
Controversies in a local school district over a Muslim holiday and
the
serving of halal food to students helped drive a huge voter turnout for
the school board race in June. Halal food conforms to Islamic restrictions.
We live south in Dearborn Heights, south of Ford Road, said Albert Saad, whose wife, Wanda, was defeated in a race for the Crestwood school board last month. There's three or four Arab families on every block. Everyone gets along with everybody.
Over there, north of Ford Road --where there's just a few (Arab Americans) --they all look at us like we're strange people coming in, trying to take over, Saad said.
Gaining political power has not been easy.
What's going on in the city is change is taking place and human beings in general don't like change, said Jumana Judeh, a Palestinian-American who ran unsuccessfully for City Coun
cil in 2001.
Mayor Dan Paletko talks of how residents of Arab descent contribute to increased property values and to solidifying a business district. But Paletko, who is credited
with ca
sting diversity as a strength of the city, admits that
there are forces allied against change.
There is no elected Arab-American official in the city, although two people of Arab descent serve as department heads.
The election for the Crestwood school board last month is a pointed example, some residents and officials say. After feverish campaigning, 4,154 voters went to the polls, leaving workers to search for more ballots. That turnout is 500 percent larger than in the last school board vote.
Before the election, some of the most controversial issues concerned Arab-Americans.
The board and officials struggled over whether schools would be closed on the Eid al-Fitr holiday, marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Students of Arab descent make up 35 percent to 40
percent of the 3,300-student district and many stay home to observe the holiday, driving the district below mandatory attendance rates.
Dearborn long has closed school on Eid
al-Fitr. B
ut some parents and officials in Dearborn Heights openly vowed that thei
r city would not become like Dearborn.
Earlier last year, some parents asserted that students were sickened by the halal pepperoni served on pizza in the school cafeterias.
Comparable to kosher foods, halal refers to foods prepared consistent with dietary restrictions observed by many Muslims, including proscribed ingredients and the regulation of how animals are slaughtered.
With no Arabs or Muslims on the Crestwood board, many in the community united behind Wanda Saad in the election. But they fell 300 votes short to the incumbent school board president, Ronald Panetta.
Arab-Americans said they do not mean to appear like sore losers, but they feel the impact of ethnicity on the vote is clear.
The people
spoke, and they voted for him and he won, Saad said. Although I did not like the outcome, it clearly stated that the community is just not ready for an Arab-American.
<b
r>"t's nothing
we are making up or guessing at, Wanda said. "t's out the
re. It's said. At the polls, you'd try to greet people and their hand would go up and they'd say, 'Oh, no! Oh, no!'
Panetta said he rejects the theory that ethnicity and issues involving Arab and Muslims played a major role in the election.
We get people to come out and vote and you are finding some negativity in it, Panetta said. Why can't it just be that one person is more qualified and happens to gain the support of the community?
But Paletko said that issues involving Arab-Americans and Muslims clearly contributed to the heated campaign.
" have two daughters in the Crestwood School District and I think, to a large extent, the students handle things a lot better than the adults, the mayor said.
Campaign t
actics have been used against Arab-Americans before in the city.
After she was appointed to the City Council in 2001 to fill a vacancy, Judeh ran for election.
Within days of Sept
ember 11, residents received calls from a purpor
ted pollster who asked a series of questions concerning Judeh's ethnicity.
City Councilman Robert Constan said that a political consultant and advertising firm he hired for the race performed the so-called push polling.
" was not happy with the gentleman who did the survey, and I did not do any further work with him, Costan said. He was referred to me as someone who could get stuff done quickly. It was supposed to be a legitimate survey. I know Jumana still has some harsh feelings about that.
" don't mind losing, Judeh said. But I do mind when it's because I'm hit below the belt.
Arab-Americans say that their comparatively smaller numbers in Dearborn Heights make their political efforts more difficult. But they say that they will prevail.
We're not looking for sympathy. We're looking for engagement, an ability to have our concerns addressed and to have a voice, really, said Nasser Beydou
n, a resident of Dearbo
rn Heights and executive d
irector of the American-Arab Chamber of Commerce.
There is an underlying current of resistance to political acceptance of Arabs in Dearborn Heights. But, in the end, I think it is going to be a reality.
You can reach Gregg Krupa at (734) 462-2296 or