Happy as an Arab in Michigan

Detroit, the former automobile capital, and its region encompass an important Middle Eastern community, one that is prospering paradoxically in an economic disaster.

Dearborn, Michigan, Jan. 29: A dense crowd chants in both Arabic and English against President Mubarak In front of the town hall during a glacial cold, waving not only Egyptian flags but also Yemini and Tunisian ones. Dearborn, a stone’s throw from Detroit and hometown of Ford, is also the “Arab capital” of America. Eastern bakeries, halal fast food and Islamic supermarkets – an abaya goes for about $45.00 — are plentiful. This is where the largest mosque in North America is located. Here is also where the Arab American National Museum opened its doors in 2005.

It all begins at the turn of the 20th century, when Henry Ford chooses to bring the Christians from Lebanon and Syria to keep his auto factories. From there, other communities fleeing conflicts in the Middle East – Palestinians, Yeminis or Iraqis – came to join them. In all of Michigan, there are about 450,000 Arab Americans. “It has really become a Mecca,” says Osama Siblani, spokesman for the Arab community and founder of the Arab American News.

However, Detroit, the area’s economic center, is beat. Entire neighborhoods are in ruins. As a consequence of the slump in the automotive industry, the population has gone from 2.2 million to 700,000 inhabitants over the past 30 years. Now a dangerous and defeated city, Detroit is no longer plentiful; yet, Arab Americans seem to be thriving.

Due to the capital provided by their communities of origin – mostly Lebanese and Mesopotamian – the remaining Arab Americans have acquired an agglomeration of about 15,000 shops: gas stations, corner stores, liquor stores … The average income of an Arab American household is 22 percent higher than that of an ordinary American household. The story of Kenny Hanna, a 55-year-old Middle Easterner who arrived in the 1970s is a true success story. “I have always believed in Detroit,” he says. “I started out flipping burgers. Today, I own three liquor stores, pay my taxes and hire people.” In a city where the unemployment rate is around 30 percent, the highest in the country, Mr. Hanna is a godsend.

A Prime Target

Not all is idyllic in this case. Relations with the black community – 83 percent of the population – are sometimes strained due to the high prices of products sold by the Arab merchants. More worryingly, the community is a prime target for extremists of all kinds in a country where Islam is still seeking its place. In January, a man was arrested for attempting to blow up the mosque in Dearborn.

Despite the crisis, 20,000 migrants from the Middle East continue to arrive each year in Michigan. “We kind of have our own republic. … We have everything – mosques, churches, funeral homes, hospitals, medical centers,” says Siblani. Dearborn’s mosque even offers courses on “the secrets of a successful marriage.” In her bazaar on Warren Avenue, Lina, age 22, wears a hijab and Converses. She expresses the same feeling as Siblani: “Here, I live with my faith as I see it, people are respectful. I couldn’t live anywhere else.” She was born in Sierra Leone, into a Shiite Lebanese family.

The divisiveness that exists in the Middle East has little resonance here. “Shiites, Sunnis, Christians … It doesn’t matter. People mix. We are united.” Siblani embarks on a praise of Pan Arabism, which according to him is “a new idea” for which Dearborn could be used as the laboratory. On the desktop of this Hezbollah follower sits the photo of Gamal Abdel Nasser.

So, happy as an Arab in Michigan? In any case, Dearborn has never attracted the sirens of Islamist terrorism. On the contrary, the CIA recruits there every year. Return to Cairo? Anas Pasha, age 17, does not even want to hear about it: “Even if Egypt becomes more democratic, I have no future there.”