Loading ...Metro Detroit Arab, Muslim events push for social change
As an Arab American who works in public policy and backs civic efforts, Ghida Dagher pays attention to the issues affecting her community as well as Metro Detroit.
Recently, the 26-year-old from Dearborn Heights has noted a host of incidents in the media and elsewhere — including concerns about immigrants from the Middle East and a flier asking voters not to support Muslims on the Hamtramck City Council.
That’s partly why she decided to attend the Arab American Summit in Dearborn this weekend. Themed “From Marginalized to Organized” and convened by the National Network for Arab American Communities, the symposium aims to address such issues and strategies to surmount them.
“I think there’s a lot of untapped potential and people need to realize what their potential roles are for the avenues for involvement,” Dagher said. “It’s going to help tell the narrative of this community and its population that I don’t think otherwise has been told.”
Speaking out and mobilizing anchor the summit as well as another event at Cobo Center in Detroit this weekend. The Islamic Organization of North America’s 11th annual convention, “Living the Faith: Challenges and Opportunities,” includes acclaimed speakers and guests examining what Muslims in Metro Detroit as well as nationwide face.
At a time when Arabs and Muslims grapple with others’ misconceptions about their identities and renewed tensions, participants in both gatherings hope they spark significant action.
“It’s important to discuss, hopefully hear some new solutions and inspire our community towards greater heights,” said Dawud Walid, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Michigan chapter, who is speaking at the IONA convention.
More than 1,000 people are expected to attend that function, which is visiting Detroit for the first time, executive director Ahmed Ismail said.
The program revolves around sessions tackling topics such as anti-Muslim sentiment, mental health, violent extremism, raising families and more, organizers said. The aim is to identify priorities, find resources and organize teams to develop plans “to help our community really be a better community,” Ismail said. Eventually, he said, the goal is “to be able to build a book, a template that can be taken to any state or even outside the U.S., any ethnic group or any religion… to say: ‘How you will find issues among the community and how will you create teams to work with them?’ ”
Among the scheduled speakers is Walid, who plans presentations on countering Islamophobia and addressing structural racism. “The fight against bigotry must be at the front of the Muslim agenda, especially in this age, for two reasons. One is that there is an unprecedented amount of Islamophobia in the sociopolitical discourse — even worse than in the last two presidential election seasons. We have major candidates who are making overtly Islamophobic comments and implicitly bigoted comments about Muslims, and it’s not just happening even on the national level,” he said. “We’ve seen what just took place in Sterling Heights recently with some very hateful mosque opposition. So this is a very timely issue.”
Social issues also guide this weekend’s Arab American Summit, which organizers call the first of what is expected to become a biennial conference.
Sessions during the two-day event expected to draw more than 250 activists, students and professionals from across the country cover major matters such as voting rights, responses to hate crimes, community organizing and building the political power of Arab American communities. Two scheduled forums focus on civil rights for Arabs and Muslims as well as supporting Middle Eastern refugees resettling in the U.S.
“We wanted to make a call for all activists to come in and think together in terms of how we build our ability to respond to these challenges as an Arab American community,” said Hassan Jaber, executive director of ACCESS, the Dearborn-based human services nonprofit that heads the National Network for Arab American Communities.
Amid a “very fragile time for us as a nation when it comes to civil rights and race relations,” he said, the goal is to advance an agenda for advocacy and activism as well as strengthen community-based efforts. “We want to be part of this dialogue, to be part of this struggle, to regain our balance as a nation.”
Source: www.detroitnews.com