Loading ...Arab Enclave in Michigan Grapples With Anti-Muslim Sentiment
DEARBORN, Mich.—For decades, this city of 96,000 outside Detroit has been a refuge for Arab-Americans, where women wear head scarves without fear of getting stares, signs are in English and Arabic and shisha smoke shops outnumber Starbucks.
But the bubble of acceptance here is increasingly under a microscope as Dearborn has become the focus of anti-Muslim ire from across the U.S., including campaigns by out-of-state proselytizers, at a time of rising concern about the threat of imported terror from Islamic State and al Qaeda.
An estimated 40% of Dearborn residents trace their history to the Middle East, including many Christians. On most days, many in the city say they generally feel secure in a community that is better off and safer than many of its neighbors, including Detroit. But residents see recent scrutiny of their ethnicity and faith as unwarranted.
This past week, tensions flared after it emerged that a plane tied to the Federal Bureau of Investigation flew over Dearborn last weekend. Local community leaders expressed dismay over the possibility of racial and religious profiling.
Dearborn officials say they regularly have to explain to outsiders that the city isn’t governed by strict Islamic code known as Shariah law. In 2011, Florida preacher Terry Jones announced his intentions to demonstrate against the alleged spread of Shariah in Dearborn.
This summer, a Christian group from Arizona conducted a “soul-winning” campaign here that organizers say sought out Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan because they are “going to hell in a handbasket.”
The longest-lasting impact has been the demise of the city’s Arab International Festival, which drew hundreds of thousands each year for nearly 20 years. It hasn’t been held since 2012, when protests by a Christian group sparked a mini-riot, driving up insurance costs.
Mayor Jack O’Reilly said he generally doesn’t worry about extremists, but his concerns grow when mainstream politicians misrepresent Dearborn, alleging it is a hotbed for terrorists or hosts “no-go” zones where only Muslims are permitted.
Local Islamic leaders were concerned about the alleged FBI overflights.
The plane, linked to an FBI program that aids terrorism probes, among other things, made at least seven flights over metro Detroit, including two long flights over the Dearborn area, according to public records analyzed by the Detroit News following a nationwide investigation by the Associated Press of similar flights in June.
“The use of a government aircraft to profile a religious or ethnic group without probable cause is unconstitutional and harmful to the entire community in Dearborn and everywhere,” the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee-Michigan said in a statement Wednesday.
Paul Abbate, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit field office, said in a statement Wednesday that the agency routinely uses aviation in investigations targeting specific individuals and sometimes in support of state and local law enforcement.
“Contrary to the suggestion of some recent media reporting, the FBI does not employ aviation assets to conduct mass surveillance nor to target specific communities,” Mr. Abbate said. He added that the Detroit FBI isn’t aware of any specific or credible threats within the area.
The city’s growing population of Arabs stretches back a century to the days when Henry Ford offered them jobs on his Detroit assembly lines. Many then followed him to Ford’s River Rouge plant in Dearborn, not far from the car maker’s current headquarters. Those fleeing wars in Lebanon and Yemen in recent years have bolstered the ranks.
None of the publicly disclosed prosecutions against alleged Islamic State followers in the U.S. include Dearborn residents. Federal agents have made terrorism-related arrests, including of a 22-year-old Dearborn man charged last year who authorities said intended to travel to the Middle East to fight Syrian rebels with Hezbollah.
“I think it’s a mistake to assume that the Muslim American community is the only place where ISIL recruits might come from,” said Barbara McQuade, the U.S. attorney for Michigan’s eastern district, using an alternate name for Islamic State.
Sam Hashem, 38, who helps run his family’s nut, coffee and spice store on Warren Avenue, worries it has become acceptable on television and in social media to bash Muslims and target those in Dearborn. “It’s sad to me I have to feel this way,” he said.
Muslim residents have filed lawsuits to stop border agents from asking them about their religious practices and to require bank officials to stop closing their accounts. Local law-enforcement officials say they don’t devote special attention to Dearborn because of its large Muslim-American population.
The cancellation of the Arab festival still rankles many.
Three years ago, a group from California known as the Bible Believers brought a pig’s head—seen as an insult to Muslims—to the festival and was forced to leave after the crowd pelted them with bottles. The Bible Believers sued Wayne County, but a three-judge panel of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against them, upholding a decision by a U.S. district judge.
In March, the Bible Believers won the rare right to have their case heard in front of the entire appeals court. A decision is expected this year.
Last year, as part of a separate settlement, Dearborn paid $300,000 to Christian evangelists arrested in 2010 and apologized on the city’s website.
Some in Dearborn wish the outsiders would just leave them alone. One of them is head-scarf-wearing Saja Sobh, who is studying this summer for her medical-school entrance exams between ringing up customers and pointing out Arab delicacies in her family’s tidy new convenience store.
“We’re not bothering you,” she said of those who she said helped end her community’s festival. “So why are you bothering us?”
Source: www.wsj.com