Author's Posts
Hamtramck City Council candidates answer critical questions on urgent city issues
October 26th, 20210 HAMTRAMCK — The countdown to the general election is one week away and six City Council candidates are in the running for three open seats on the Nov. 2 ballot. The Arab American News reached out to all of the candidates to provide the community of Hamtramck more insight into individual City Council hopefuls and their responses to...
Years after 9/11 and Pulse, Arab Americans in Metro Detroit continue to challenge stereotypes
September 23rd, 20210 This article also appears in Metro Times Detroit through a partnership with the Race and Justice Reporting Initiative and the Detroit Equity Action Lab at the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights. It has been edited for style. DEARBORN — Dave Serio, a third-generation Sicilian Lebanese American, came to better understand his Arab...
The Arab American National Museum gears up for upcoming virtual music festival, JAM3A
September 9th, 20210 DEARBORN — The Arab American National Museum (AANM) is drawing closer to the much anticipated lineup for JAM3A , a four-day virtual music festival on September 23-26, celebrating Arab talent, community and identity. The eclectic lineup includes audience favorites as well as names new to the AANM (virtual) stage, including...
Amid public backlash, Esthi Queen Beauty Spa granted land use variance after special ZBA meeting to reconsider
August 6th, 20210 HAMTRAMCK — On Monday, following growing publicity and several protests, members of the Zoning Board of Appeals convened and unanimously voted to approve a use variance zoning clearance for Esthi Queen Healing Spa to continue operating. This about-face decision overturned the ZBA’s original vote to deny the zoning request made...
Black-owned Hamtramck spa owner alleges racial discrimination after denial of zoning clearance request
July 23rd, 20210 HAMTRAMCK— After only two months in operation, Esthi Queen Healing Spa, one of the city’s few Black-owned businesses, is facing a threat from the city to shut down after being denied a special land use zoning request in a decision the owner, Tiara Boyd, strongly believed was racially motivated. “I’m hurt about this,” Boyd...
Frustrated Dearborn residents demand accountability from city government, quicker relief and long-term solution
July 2nd, 20210 DEARBORN — In the aftermath of severe flooding in Wayne County last weekend, residents are still picking up the pieces in frustration at the slow response and demanding accountability from local and national government officials and agencies. “We lost just about everything in the basement" — Samia Hamid, a local resident...
The fresh debut of INDKNA, experimental Yemeni and Yemeni American band, for Pride Month
July 1st, 20210 DEARBORN — INDKNA, a refreshingly new music band of Yemeni and Yemeni American immigrant women and gender-nonconforming artists, kicked off a virtual debut at the Arab American National Museum’s virtual Pride Concert + Talk Back event. Closing out Pride Month, the museum and YallaPunk collaborated this year for the first time to...
Tom Tafelski is campaigning for mayor again, questions O’Reilly’s health and criticizes his absence
June 27th, 20210 DEARBORN — Former long-serving City Council member and 2017 mayoral candidate Thomas Patrick Tafelski is again throwing his hat in the ring for the seat of Dearborn mayor in this year’s election. In 2017, Tafelski ran a campaign for mayor of Dearborn against incumbent Jack O’Reilly and lost, earning 42 percent of the votes to...
Local Iraqi American Noor Alesawy named Nu Rho Psi National Outstanding Neuroscience Student of the Year
June 18th, 20210 DETROIT — At 20-years-old, Noor Alesawy is already a rising star in the field of neuroscience study in the U.S. and receiving praise back home in Iraq as a symbol of national pride. Alesawy is an undergraduate student who recently transferred from Wayne State University to the University of Michigan in pursuit of dual bachelor's...
Owner of local coffeehouse apologizes for past derogatory comments about Shi’as
June 11th, 20211 DEARBORN — The owner of a popular new cafe, Haraz Coffee, has sparked outrage for previous derogatory comments he made against Shi'a Muslims over social media. An Instagram profile named HAR*Z COFFEE posted screenshots Thursday of past posts made by Hamzah Nasser disparaging Shia's, who are a large segment of Metro Detroit’s...
Detroit pizzeria Pie-Sci hosts Palestinian Youth Movement specialty pizza fundraiser
June 11th, 20210 DETROIT- Pie-Sci, a popular pizzeria near Wayne State University, has collaborated with Palestinian activists to create a delicious new pizza special for the week, the “Musak It To Me.” Pie-Sci also collaborated with renowned Detroit pastry chef Lena Sereini for the special. On Wednesday afternoon, Pie-Sci hosted a "Pizza and...
“Block the Boat-Detroit” protest held at ZIM shipping facility, BDS calls against Israeli company
June 10th, 20210 ROMULUS — A "Block the Boat-Detroit" protest was held by some 100 Palestinian rights activists outside the ZIM American Integrated Shipping Services, LLC office on Tuesday. Sahar Faraj, one of the main organizers with the Palestinian Youth Movement of Detroit, was joined by a line up of speakers from seven other organizations...
Two local protests held in ongoing support of Palestinian liberation, drawing crowds in Wayne and Macomb Counties
May 24th, 20210 SOUTHEASTERN MI — Two “Free Palestine” rallies and marches were held last Sunday, May 23, by some 2,000 residents of Wayne and Macomb Counties at Warren City Hall and in Downtown Detroit. These are the latest in a series of protests held within the last two weeks as local resistance efforts continue to organize against the...
Three thousand protesters mobilize in downtown Ann Arbor, demand “Free Palestine”
May 23rd, 20212 ANN ARBOR — Some 3,000 protesters rallied and marched in downtown Ann Arbor last Saturday, May 22, to demand justice for the ongoing state-sanctioned attacks by Israel on the Palestinian people. Despite a ceasefire declared between the Israeli Occupation Forces and Hamas leaders, Israel immediately violated the armistice when the...
Local CINA Radio show host terminated for “Palestine protest” comments on air
May 21st, 20210 DEARBORN — After co-hosting the locally broadcast weekly radio show, “Talking Real Estate” on CINA Radio (102.3 FM) for two years, local attorney Ali Dagher claimed his contract was wrongfully terminated Wednesday. Dagher said this was due to general comments he made on air regarding the local community protests for Palestine he......
Protests persist in response to Biden visit to Dearborn and Palestine’s call for “Day of Action”
May 18th, 20210 DEARBORN — On Tuesday, more than 3,000 local activists and protesters returned to the streets for three separate rallies and marches throughout the day in response to President Biden’s planned visit to the Ford Motor Company’s electric vehicle plant in the city’s Southend. The protests arose in reaction to Biden expressing...
“We are seeds”: More than 10,000 local residents protest murderous Israeli campaign against Palestine
May 17th, 20210 DEARBORN — More than 10,000 local residents and activists gathered last weekend in protest of the latest Israeli ethnic cleansing campaigns in occupied territories of Palestine over the weekend. The Israeli government has sanctioned tactics of attacks aimed at the dispossession of residents from their homes, recently targeting the...
Community activist Samraa “Sam” Luqman announces bid for Dearborn City Council
May 8th, 20210 DEARBORN — Longtime resident and social activist Samraa “Sam“ Luqman is seeking one of seven open seats in this year’s election for Dearborn City Council. “As an active Dearborn resident, I have been advocating for years for my neighborhood of the Southend to be heard,” Luqman said. “To put it simply, I decided to run...
Khalil Othman announces “Dearborn Residents First” campaign in bid for seat on Dearborn City Council
May 1st, 20210 DEARBORN— In late February, Khalil Othman was among the first of 19 candidates to announce his bid for a seat on the Dearborn City Council. “I can best serve the Council because I come from a problem-solver mindset and experience,” Othman said. “Every single issue we have here, I will be advocating for as a core principle I......
Metro Detroit Arab community struggles to assess COVID impact due to “White” census classification
April 17th, 20210 Since Governor Whitmer declared a state of emergency last March, Dr. Zafar Shamoon, chief of emergency services at Beaumont Hospital-Dearborn, has witnessed first-hand the precariously rising cases of COVID-19 in the community. “Dearborn has been hit very hard," Shamoon told The Arab American News. "This is one of the busiest, if...
Arab American family continues to seek help for second terminally ill son
April 16th, 20210 ANN ARBOR — Ten days after an Arab American teen, Haitham Breadiy, passed away in October 2019 after battling Lafora Body Disease, his younger brother, Gehad “GG” Breadiy, began to experience symptoms of the same terminal illness. Their mother, Azeza Kashem, continues to seek help from community support and to raise awareness of......
