Detroit News featured a much deserved and favorable video regarding the city of Dearbornand its Muslim residents Monday. While the suburb of Detroit has the highest population of Arabs in America living outside of the Middle East, there has never been any incidents of Islamic radicalism or extremism that plague the news or community.
Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images
Emmy winning broadcast journalist Paula Tutman begins the video segment by stating, "I think it would be naive to think there aren't people in every corner of Michigan, some who are plotting evil deeds and it has nothing to do with religion or ethnicity but because of the population of middle easterners, that the world is coming here to find out what this community is doing right."
The reporter interviews Greenland Markets owner, Haider Kaussan, a Lebanese native who runs the successful grocery franchise in metro Detroit with his family. Kaussan is recorded as saying any negativity he has encountered since immigrating to the United States has been "from one ignorant person, not a system", acknowledging that he came to America because he believed in the American dream.
Tutman brings attention to the fact that the Islamic Center of America, located on Ford road, is only a few yards away from both Warrendale Community Church and an orthodox catholic church nearby, "all holy houses supporting each other". Perhaps this fact is one reason the Islamic Center has been playing host to journalists and governments from all over the world that come to Dearborn asking why there are no issues with extremism or radicalism there in the Muslim community.
The answer is simple:
Radicalism and extremism attract the disenfranchised and feeling like an outcast is not an Islamic problem, it's a human problem. And when you feel like you don't belong, you do anything you can to belong. 30% of the fighters on the side of ISIS are not Arabs, they're carrying books like Islam for Dummies. You know what? I think the easiest way to sum this up, talk about the Islamic Center of America and the two words they use to describe words against extremism: Don't ostracize. You've got the different centers and churches here. And if that is not proof of tolerance, then nothing is.
Check out the full video and transcript here Dearborn Islamic Community is Model for Fighting Extremism
