Page 19 - Pakistan Link - November 19, 2021

COMMUNITY NOVEMBER 19, 2021 – PAKISTAN LINK – P19

The US City Run by Muslim Americans 9/11 attack, he faced an uphill battle.

“There were flyers all over the
city saying I am the 20th hijacker
that didn’t make it to the airplanes,”
the Bengali American said. After he
lost the election in 2001, Mr Ahmed
knocked on neighbors’ doors to in-
troduce himself. He was elected two
years later, becoming Hamtramck’s
first Muslim city official.
Since then, support for the Mus-
lim community has grown in the city.
In 2017, when the Trump ad-
ministration imposed the entry ban,
residents came together to protest.
“In a way it mobilized and uni-
fied a lot of people because every-
body knows that in order to live in
Hamtramck, you have to respect oth-
er people,” said Razi Jafri, co-director
of documentary film “Hamtramck,
USA”.
Nationally, Muslim Americans
have also become more politically
visible. In 2007, Minnesotan Demo-
crat Keith Ellison became the first
Muslim congressman. The current
US Congress has four Muslim mem-
bers.
On Hamtramck election day
this month, dozens of residents gath-
ered in front of a polling station to
greet each other, many showing off
their Election Day souvenir, the “I
voted” sticker.
Immigrants were excited to par-
ticipate in democracy, Ms Jaczkows-
ki said. “It’s a very American thing to
be able to bring people together”.
But as with the rest of the coun-
try, intense cultural debates are tak-
ing place in the city.
In June, when the city govern-
ment approved flying a gay pride flag
n By Zhaoyin Feng in front of the city hall, some resi-
Michigan doughnut. Winning 68% of the vote, Amer from some that a Muslim-controlled dents were incensed. Several pride
“It’s not unusual to see some Ghalib will be the first Yemeni- city council might impose Shariah flags hanging outside of private busi-
with miniskirts and tattoos and some American mayor in the US. law. nesses and homes were torn down,
walk down the main street in burqas walking on the same street. “I feel honored and proud, but “In Hamtramck, people roll including one outside of a vintage
in Hamtramck, Michigan, This is all about us,” said Zlatan Sa- I know it’s a big responsibility,” Mr their eyes at that kind of talk,” said clothing store downtown owned
A feels like a tour around the dikovic, a Bosnian immigrant who Ghalib, 41, said. Ms Majewski. by Ms Majewski. “That sends a re-
world. owns a café in downtown Ham- Born in a village in Yemen, he She was “gratified” that Ham- ally alarming message to people,” she
A Polish sausage store and an tramck. moved to the US when he was 17, tramck has been a welcoming com- said.
Eastern European bakery sit along- first working in a factory making munity, she said, and it’s “natural” for Marijuana has also become a
side a Yemeni department store and A stone’s throw outside Detroit, plastic car parts near Hamtramck. new residents to vote for those who source of controversy. Three dispen-
a Bengali clothing shop. Church bells which partly envelops the city, Ham- He later learned English and received understand their experience and saries opening in Hamtramck have
ring out along with the Islamic call to tramck was once part of the epicen- medical training, and now works as a their languages. prompted dismay from some in both
prayer. ter of America’s automotive industry, healthcare professional. The US Census Bureau does not Muslim and Polish-Catholic com-
“The world in two square miles” dominated by the General Motors Rather than being a “melting collect information about religion, munities.
- Hamtramck lives up to its slogan, plant that straddled its border with pot” or “salad bowl”, Hamtramck but the Pew Research Center think Other residents are concerned
with around 30 languages spoken ‘Motor City’. The first Cadillac Eldo- is more like a “seven-layer cake” tank estimates that there were about about a lack of women’s political par-
within its 5 sq km area. rado rolled off the assembly line in where different groups retain their 3.85 million Muslims living in the US ticipation in conservative Muslim
This month, the Midwestern Hamtramck in the 1980s. distinct cultures while closely co- in 2020, making up about 1.1% of the communities.
city of 28,000 has reached a mile- Over the course of the 20th Cen- existing with each other, said city total population. By 2040, Muslims On election night, Mr Ghalib,
stone. Hamtramck has elected an all- tury, it became known as “Little War- councilmember-elect Amanda Jac- are projected to become the second the mayor-elect, was surrounded by
Muslim City Council and a Muslim saw”, as Polish immigrants flocked in zkowski. “People are still proud of largest religious group in the US, af- a jubilant Yemeni-American crowd
mayor, becoming the first in the US for the blue-collar jobs. The city was their culture specifically, whereas if ter Christians. in a post-election party serving bak-
to have a Muslim-American govern- one of the stops of Polish-born Pope it’s assimilation, we would lose the Despite their growing presence, lava and kebabs. More than 100 sup-
ment. John Paul II’s US tour in 1987. In uniqueness.” Muslims in America have often been porters were there, all of them men.
Once faced with discrimina- 1970, as much as 90% of the city was “When you live this close to subjected to prejudice. Women participated in his cam-
tion, Muslim residents have become of Polish origin. each other, you are forced to over- Twenty years after the 9/11 at- paign, Mr Ghalib said, but segrega-
integral to this multicultural city, However, that decade saw the come those differences,” Ms Jacz- tack, Islamophobia still haunts Mus- tion of the sexes remains traditional,
and now make up more than half its beginning of the long decline of US kowski, 29, said. lims and other Arab Americans. even as it is being challenged by
population. car manufacturing, and younger, But Hamtramck “is not Disney- Close to half of Muslim-American younger generations who have be-
And despite economic challeng- wealthier Polish Americans began land”, said Karen Majewski, the out- adults told Pew in 2016 that they had come more “Americanized”, he said.
es and intense cultural debates, resi- moving to the suburbs. The change going mayor who will have served personally experienced some form Hamtramck also faces chal-
dents in Hamtramck from different made Hamtramck one of Michigan’s in office for 15 years before stepping of discrimination, when the then- lenges common to Rust Belt cities,
religious and cultural backgrounds poorest cities, but the affordability down. “It’s just a small place. And we candidate Donald Trump proposed from decayed infrastructure to lim-
coexist in harmony, making the city a attracted immigrants. do have conflicts.” a ban on immigrants from Muslim- ited economic opportunity. Heavy
meaningful case study for America’s Over the last 30 years, Ham- Friction arose in 2004 following majority countries entering the US. rains over the summer overwhelmed
future of rising diversity. tramck transformed again, to be- a vote to broadcast the Islamic call Researchers also found that among the city’s sewers and flooded many
But will Hamtramck be an ex- come a landing pad for Arab and to prayer in public. Some residents all religious groups, Muslims still homes. High levels of lead were
ception or a rule? Asian immigrants, notably those have argued that a ban on bars near face the most negative views from found in city drinking water samples,
The arc of Hamtramck’s history from Yemen and Bangladesh. A sig- mosques hurts the local economy. the American public. garnering national attention. Nearly
from beginnings as a town of Ger- nificant portion of the city’s residents Six years ago, when it became More than half of Americans half of the city is below the poverty
man settlers to the modern day - it today - 42% - are foreign born. More the first American city to elect a say they do not personally know line. These are just some of the press-
was America’s first majority-Muslim than half are believed to be practic- Muslim-majority government, press any Muslims, but those who person- ing issues that the new city leader-
city - is etched in its streets. ing Muslims. from all over the world descended ally know a believer are less likely to ship would have to grapple with.
Storefronts display signs in The newly elected government’s upon Hamtramck. Some media re- think that Islam encourages violence “What does democracy look
Arabic and Bengali, embroidered makeup reflects the changing de- ports at the time painted a picture of more than other religions. like in a Muslim majority city? Like
Bangladeshi garments and Jambiyas, mographics in Hamtramck. The a “tense” town with an influx of Mus- Hamtramck is a living example everywhere else, messy and compli-
a type of short curved blade from city council will include two Bengali lims. A national TV anchor asked of how personal knowledge curtails cated,” said the documentary film-
Yemen, are seen in store windows. Americans, three Yemeni Americans whether Ms Majewski was afraid of Islamophobia. maker Mr Jafri, “So when the novelty
Muslim residents queue up to buy and a Polish-American convert to being mayor. When Shahab Ahmed ran for wears off, the work needs to be done.”
paczki, a kind of custard-filled Polish Islam. There was even speculation city councilmember shortly after the - BBC
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