Loading ...Dearborn cultural center hit with anti-Iraqi graffiti
A community center in Dearborn popular with the Arab-American community has been vandalized with graffiti painted in Arabic that’s anti-Iraqi and appears to be aimed at a local Muslim leader of Iraqi descent recently forced out of a mosque, said Dearborn officials.
The graffiti was discovered today at Bint Jbeil Cultural Center on Miller Road, named after a town in southern Lebanon where many Lebanese-Americans in Dearborn have roots. It hosts many religious, social, and political functions.
“This type of graffiti is totally unacceptable,” Dearborn Police Chief Ron Haddad told the Free Press. “We’re going to do our best to find the right person or persons responsible. It seems to be deliberate and personal.”
Haddad said police are working on getting an official translation of graffiti, which he said is “along ethnic lines.” The graffiti tries to rename the center, substituting “Bint Jbeil” with other words related to Iraq, Haddad said.
Some of the graffiti reads in Arabic: “Iraqi center” .. “Iraqi and Qazwini Center” … “The Iraqi Center of Baghdad.” On two doors, it was painted: Iraqi door. The center was painted with black graffiti in about a dozen areas on the outside of the building, on doors, walls, and near the entrance.
Imam Hassan Qazwini, the longtime leader of the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn who left this year, has been speaking nightly at the Bint Jbeil Cultural Center during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Qazwini is of Iraqi descent and the members of the board of the Islamic Center are of Lebanese descent; some on the board were in a dispute with Qazwini over finances that led to a split in the mosque.
After serving at the Islamic Center for 17 years, Qazwini left in May, saying that some board members were upset over Iraqi-Americans coming to the mosque.
Source: www.freep.com