Loading ...Arab America's Rising Leaders Kicks off Arab American Heritage Month
By: Issa Hosari / Arab America Contributing Writer
On March 30th, students from Wayne State University, University of Michigan Dearborn, and Detroit Mercy organized an event to kick off National Arab American Heritage Month at Fairlane Town Center Mall in Dearborn, Michigan. This event featured a performance by the Maple Drummers, dabke lessons, a cultural fashion show, authentic Arabic cuisine, and fresh Yemenicoffee from the Qhawah House. The event was in collaboration with multiple ethnic student organizations such as the Arab Student Association, Lebanese Student Association, Students for Justice in Palestine, Yemeni Student Association, and Iraq American Union. Arab America was proud to sponsor this event led by students in the heart of the Arab American community.
The event was planned by the leadership committee including Issa Hosari, Rana Abdelkhaliq, Sandra El Dairi, Mohammed Hider, Yousef Altmeemi, and Jana Deaibes who are part of Arab America’s new Rising Leader Program, which is an initiative to connect young Arab Americans across the United States.
This event marks a sign of a bright future with communities engaging with their youth to create impactful change. It is one of the first events to show a collaboration between students and local community businesses to recognize Arab American Heritage Month and is inspiring other students to do the same in their communities.
Fairlane Town Center Mall, Wayne County’s largest enclosed shopping center, hosted this event to honor the diversity and flourishment of the local community.
Rana Abdelkhaliq, the marketing director at Fairlane Town Center gave her remarks after the event saying “we are very appreciative of Arab America for promoting the event across the state and Wayne State’s student organizations who helped show everyone the true definition of an Arab at the cultural fashion show. This community event was also being hosted to introduce everyone to Arabs’ customs and traditions as well as welcome the holy month of Ramadan as a united front. The environment we live in is very diverse, and it’s very important that we celebrate our identity, not just during Arab American Heritage Month, but every day. We must take pride in being Arab American. Through this networking event, we were also able to build stronger ties with different community members from various backgrounds.”
In attendance at this momentous event was State Senator Sylvia Santana; State Representative Tenisha Yancey; Dearborn Heights Mayor Bill Bazzi; Former State Senator Harvey Santana; Denzel McCampbell, Communications & Political Director for Congresswoman Rashida Talib; Saif Alensad, Inkster Mayor Executive Assistant and State Representative Candidate Bilal Hammoud.
The festivities began with the Maple drummers, a group of elementary students from a nearby school, performing 5 sets of their authentic middle eastern drumming utilizing the Arabic tabla. The highlight of the evening was a cultural fashion that displayed a few traditional clothing items from various Arab countries. Local Middle Eastern cuisine shops Shatila and Qahwa house offered complimentary sweets and coffee, and a live performance from Thowra, a local dabke troupe ended the evening.
The event brought together both Arab Americans and non-Arab Americans through culture and heritage. This event was a great opportunity for people to see Arabic culture through an unfiltered perspective and destigmatize Arab American Culture.
The leadership committee for this event was very proud of the success of this event and we’re proud to be part of a historic event that is bringing attention to Arab American Heritage Month. “This was an amazing event for Arab Americans to come together and celebrate their heritage with the support of local community businesses, organizations, and leaders,” said Mohammed Hadir, the Marketing Chair of Wayne State University’s Lebanese Student Association.
Identity and involvement are essential aspects of understanding the Arab American culture, and this event truly showed that unity is as simple as watching and tasting the rich traditions of other cultures. This event showed that Arab American pride is strong and present among many individuals from all generations and is the beginning of a very prosperous collaboration.
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