With all the anti-Arab bashing we see in the news every week, Arab America is determined to expose those who discriminate against our community. We will recognize those who vilify the positive influence and contributions Arabs have made to the fabric of American society. And we will use hummus as our weapon. By naming those … Continued
Three Egyptian immigrants who saw a demand for Halal food in New York City started the Halal Guys street food carts serving up hot halal meats, pita brea, and sauces. They went from having one cart, to 355 throughout the country, and even one in the Philippines. From their franchise, they began a scholarship fund … Continued
by Vrushali Mahajan
NewsGram
Despite all the hoopla over tolerance versus intolerance, USA continues to be the land of freedom of speech, justice and multiculturalism. Hamtramck- a town in Detroit area elected its first Muslim-majority city council. A town that was predominantly Polish Catholic in 1970s is today a Muslim -majority place.
That was in the first week of November of 2015. We profile one of the new councilman, Saad Almasmari.
Winning the majority of votes in Hamtramck City Council, Saad Almasmari described his excitement and experience about the race to it. “I am a social guy, I like helping my community, my city” says Almasmari.
Among three American-Muslim candidates on the ballot, Yemen born Saad Almasmari was one of them. All three received the most votes in a town that has the largest percentages of foreign born citizens in Michigan. “This is the city that has distinguished itself among others that the majority of the people on the city council are Muslims” Osama Siblani, publisher of Arab American News. But this news made a bigger remark due to its timing. “While presidential candidates are trying to prevent Muslims from coming to this county, they are becoming majority in one of the cities. I think this is the news” he adds.
Hamtramck was unhappy to know Mr. Donald Trump’s statement to ban Muslims from coming to America. “We have about 27% of Yemenis in Hamtramck, 22% Bengalis and about 11% Brazilians who are all Muslims” says Almasmari. From a Polish Catholic auto workers’ settlement, to Muslim American shop owners and businesses Hamtramck has been a case study for changing demographics by recent immigration. “Yes, it has all been quite surprising, all these national and international attention” Karen Majewski, Mayor- Hamtramck.
But this attention couldn’t last longer. When Almasmari attended his first general city council meeting in January, only two media organizations were present to record the moment. “In the council, I am an American before I am a Muslim. One of the newspapers asked me if I was able to meet Mr Trump, would you? I said yes I have no issues in meeting him. And then three days later, I received an email from their campaign asking if I can meet him for like 15-20 mins.”
If he ever meets Mr. Trump, he wouldn’t talk about his faith, but helping Hamtramck which is in financial trouble and has highest poverty rates in the state of Michigan clears Saad Almasmari.
Source: www.newsgram.com
The Lebanese box office sensation What About Tomorrow – consisting of old 8mm footage of performances of legendary singer/writer Ziad Rahbani’s play of the same name ̶ will make its U.S. premiere during the Arab American National Museum’s 2016 Arab Film Festival, part of the Cinetopia International Film Festival June 3-12, 2016, at venues throughout southeast Michigan. Leyla Bouzid’s … Continued
The New York Times
Good morning on this drizzly Tuesday.
You’ve probably heard of Little Italy. But Little Syria?
Travel back in time, New York.
From the 1890s to the 1920s, Washington Street from Rector Street to Battery Place was the heart of New York’s Arab world, filled with thousands of immigrants from Greater Syria — roughly present-day Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Many left their homelands because of troubles like starvation, lawlessness and religious intolerance.
Others came for economic opportunity, said Matthew Jaber Stiffler of the Arab American National Museum, in Dearborn, Mich.
Many of those involved in Greater Syria’s silk industry, for example, took their talents to New York, where they became renowned for making kimonos and women’s undergarments, Mr. Stiffler told us.
The streets of Little Syria were also vibrant with smoking parlors, cafes whipping up Turkish coffee and shops brimming with everything from rugs and brass lanterns to pistachios imported from the Middle East.
But the bustling neighborhood began to dwindle after the Immigration Act of 1924, Mr. Stiffler said.
And the Little Syria that remained was demolished when construction for the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel began in the 1940s.
You won’t catch a whiff of the hookah and spices there anymore, but look closely at Washington Street today, and you can still see traces of the quarter’s Downtown Community House and St. George Chapel.
You can learn more about Little Syria and its legacy at an exhibit by the Arab American National Museum that opens tomorrow evening at the Department of Records and Information Services on Chambers Street.
Source: www.nytimes.com
By Fabian Van Onzin
Fight Back! News
Houston, TX — On May 21, right-wing groups attempted to intimidate the Muslim community in Houston by holding an armed rally outside of the Islamic Daw’ah Center. The fifteen white supremacists displayed racist symbols, including the confederate flag, and chanted racist and anti-Muslim slurs. However, scores of people came out to fight back and confront the white supremacists’ message of hate and fear.
Over eighty people showed up to protest the white supremacists Islamophobic hate speech. Arab-Americans, Chicanos and progressive white activists joined together to defend Muslim Americans. The activists guarded the Islamic Daw’ah Center so that the Islamophobes could not get near the building. A huge line of cops stood between the white supremacists and the protesters. The chants of the Center’s defenders could be heard for blocks, “When Muslims are under attack. What do we do? Stand up fight back!” and “Islamophobes go home!”
Angelica Hernandez with the Freedom Road Socialist Organization said, “Wall Street, Trump, and his fascist supporters promote Islamophobia at home in order to wage their imperialist wars abroad. They create fear of the Muslim community in order to get the public to support their wars. These wars have one purpose, and one purpose alone: to expand US imperialist hegemony in the Middle East and gain access to new markets. To oppose Islamophobia is to oppose US imperialism and stand with oppressed peoples in their struggle for liberation”.
Ian Cox, with Students for a Democratic Society, said, “Islamophobia is designed to strengthen the State of Israel, which only exists so that the US can continue its wars and domination in the Middle East. These fascist crooks across the street are no different than the Zionists in Israel who create fear of the Palestinian people in order to legitimate their occupation.”
Source: www.fightbacknews.org
U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders applauds fellow panelist Linda Sarsour, Executive Director at Arab American Association of New York, during a discussion at the First Unitarian Congregational Society in the Brooklyn borough of New York April 16, 2016. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson America’s Arab and South Asian activists are redefining whiteness BY Zahir Janmohamed Newsweek … Continued
Susan Greene PNN/ Oakland Arab Resources Organizing Coalition (AROC) and Art Forces on the 68th Nakba day presented George Jackson in the Sun of Palestine; a multimedia cultural event that expresses the interconnections between current and historic struggles against colonization from Palestine to the streets of Oakland. The event displayed posters that came from the original exhibition that … Continued
BY: Fred Shwaery/Arab America Contributing Writer Last month, we signed off for a few weeks as not much was going to happen until the conventions. Well, like just about everything else in this election, the expected didn’t happen and the unexpected did. Here we are, two months before the conventions and the Republicans have … Continued
AANM-Arab American National Museum: press release 85+ images from Dearborn and across the U.S. illustrate common threads binding humanity First-ever AANM exhibition to occupy both rotating galleries Since 2003, more than four million Iraqis have left their homes and relocated in hopes of creating a better future for themselves and their families in a setting … Continued
By W. JACOB PERRY
New Jersey Hills
A federal lawsuit challenging the Planning Board’s denial of a proposed mosque drew legal support last week from two national advocacy groups representing 34 religious and civil rights organizations.
Meanwhile, the township initiated legal maneuvers with its insurance carrier to ensure maximum liability coverage.
The two advocacy groups joined the plaintiff, the Islamic Society of Basking Ridge (ISBR), in asserting that community prejudice against Muslims was behind the Planning Board’s Dec. 8 denial of the ISBR’s plan to build a mosque in a residential section of Liberty Corner.
The ISBR filed its suit against the board and the township in federal court on March 10, claiming the denial violated the Religious Land Use lnstitutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) of 2000.
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a non-profit public interest law firm based in Washington, D.C., filed a supporting legal brief on Wednesday, May 11, on behalf of 18 civil rights and religious groups. The coalition included evangelical, Baptist, Jewish, Sikh and Islamic organizations.
Muslim Advocates, a legal and educational advocacy group based in San Francisco, followed with a legal brief on Thursday, May 12, on behalf of itself and 15 civil rights and religious groups. Among them were the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and black, Jewish, Asian-American and Arab-American organizations.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of New Jersey, is also investigating whether the township violated RLUIPA.
Differing Reactions
ISBR President Ali Chaudry, a former township mayor, issued statements of gratitude after each filing.
“I came to America almost 50 years ago with a firm belief in the values that America represents, including freedom of religion before the law,” Chaudry said after the Becket Fund filing. “The mosque is part of my American dream.”
After the Muslim Advocates filing, Chaudry said, “We are deeply moved to see this unprecedented and historic list of 34 organizations standing together to support ISBR and challenge the actions of Bernards Township. We look forward to the day when we can welcome them all to a mosque in Bernards Township.”
Mayor Carol Bianchi viewed the situation differently.
“The groups who seek to file amicus briefs know nothing about the facts of the case, as is evident from the absence of any reference to the specific land use issues before our Planning Board,” Bianchi said in a statement on Friday. “It is very disconcerting that organizations like these would jump into a controversy without any interest in the facts.
“It points out a real concern for me that, in America, laws intended to protect individuals against true discrimination are being abused, and organizations which purport to protect against discrimination are fostering division in our country,” she added.
Bianchi said the legislative history of RLUIPA “makes it clear it was meant to be a shield to protect against religious discrimination, not as a sword to bludgeon planning boards into approving flawed land use applications.”
The ISBR sought to raze a house on 4.3 acres at 124 Church St., located roughly opposite the Liberty Corner Firehouse, and build a 4,250-square-foot facility for up to 140 worshippers. There were to be 107 parking spaces.
At the time, houses of worship were a permitted use on residential tracts of three or more acres. But with the site located between two homes, and the mosque to have five daily prayers and a Sunday school, residents voiced concerns about the impact on their neighborhood.
After 38 hearings spanning more than three years, the plans were denied and faulted as failing to provide adequate buffering and screening next to a home, having inadequate storm water management plans, having an unsafe traffic circulation plan, and failing to meet traffic safety standards.
‘Misuse Of Power’
In their legal briefs, the Becket Fund and Muslim Advocates each linked the denial with acts of discrimination against various religious groups.
“It is a gross misuse of power by the local Planning Board to deny this house of worship simply because it is a mosque,” said Hannah Smith, senior counsel of the Becket Fund. “The town cannot arbitrarily apply different standards to any religious group … merely because protestors disapprove of religious beliefs that are new and different.”
The Becket brief singled out parking requirements that were applied to the ISBR.
Initially, the ISBR proposed 50 parking spaces based on a town requirement of one stall for every three pew seats. But after Chaudry testified that virtually all ISBR worshippers are adult men who presumably drive alone, the board, using planning standards for mosques, required 107 stalls.
The ISBR filed a motion on May 6 saying no other house of worship had ever been asked to provide more parking than the town requirement. It said that while the ordinance allowed the board to apply different standards, doing so based on religious affiliation was unconstitutional.
The Becket brief said “such unequal treatment of the mosque” represented “a potential threat” to other religions “and is an affront to our nation’s commitment to religious liberty for all.”
The brief filed by Muslim Advocates was similarly critical. It said applications by the Muslim community “are often denied on the basis of suspect studies and standards” that “are a mask for anti-Muslim discrimination.” It called the ISBR denial “the latest in a long line of animus-based zoning denial cases.”
“Sadly, this case represents the struggle Muslim communities across the nation are increasingly facing due to anti-Muslim bigotry,” said Madihha Ahussain, Muslim Advocate staff attorney.
Insurance Lawyers
In a related matter, the Township Committee voted on Tuesday, May 10, to hire legal counsel to deal with its insurance carrier on liability coverage for the suit and the U.S. Attorney’s investigation.
Michael Faul Jr. and Robert Donaher of Herold Law of Warren Township were hired for a fee of up to $17,500 through Dec. 31 at hourly rates of $195 for attorneys and $100 for clerks or paralegals.
Township Attorney John Belardo said the move was in response to a letter in which attorneys for the township’s insurer, QBE Specialty Insurance of New York, listed exclusions from coverage.
Faul and Donaher were hired to protect the township’s rights and ensure it is offered “the maximum amount of coverage allowed under the policy,” he said.
Belardo stressed that the lawyers will not be arguing the ISBR case, which is being handled by Roseland attorney Howard B. Mankoff on behalf of the insurer.
In another letter to the township, dated May 10, attorneys for QBE said it was willing “to participate in a potential mediation, in an effort to reach a global resolution to the claims asserted by the (ISBR) and Dr. Chaudry.”
Settlements with other towns involved in similar lawsuits have been sizable, including a case in neighboring Bridgewater Township after a proposed mosque was denied there.
In December 2014, Bridgewater reached a settlement with Al Fatah Center that cost $7.75 million. Al Fatah, which was denied approval to build a mosque on Mountaintop Road, was given a 15-acre tract between Routes 202-206 and 287 that Bridgewater agreed to buy for $2.75 million.
Also, Bridgewater’s insurer agreed to pay $5 million in damages.
Source: www.newjerseyhills.com
National Network for Arab American Communities – Press Release DETROIT—A group of 400 community volunteers and students from eight Dearborn and Detroit high schools teamed up for a major renovation of Detroit Public Schools’ Cody High School for National Arab American Service Day on May 14, 2016. Several classrooms at the Detroit Institute of Technology … Continued
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