![]() She says it frustrates her when she hears people accuse Arab-Americans of not speaking out against terrorist attacks. She is also the first Muslim woman ever elected to the Michigan legislature. GONYEA: Rashida Tlaib runs a campaign called Take On Hate, which confronts prejudice and misconceptions about Arab-Americans nationally. And after you realize that we are the land of the free, you sort of make the connection that, after what Trump is saying, does not make any connection to what we are saying every day. MOLOUK HARP: We do the Pledge of Allegiance every single day. GONYEA: The three girls attend Fordson High School in Dearborn, where Molouk Harp describes how the day begins. Like, they automatically assume that, because I'm a Muslim, I'm a woman, I'm a hijabi, that I'm this terrorist. I always have to have a smile on my face. SAFA KHALIL: I feel like, especially after Trump, I always have to be extra nice in public. GONYEA: The Kalil sisters, both wearing the traditional Muslim head cover, the hijab, came here with their family from Syria eight years ago. Muslims and Arabs are a virus to America. They say they feel themselves being judged every day. GONYEA: At another table, we find 16-year-old Marwa Kalil, her 17-year-old sister, Safa, and their 15-year-old friend Molouk Harp. Trump that I'm not a threat to this country. I don't know what else I would have to prove to people like Mr. I served this country as a police officer for 32 years. GONYEA: Amen is a Vietnam veteran and a former police officer and says he'll put his all-American family story up against anyone's.ĪMEN: I was born, raised in America. RON AMEN: My one grandfather immigrated to the United States in 1890. He's is a gray-haired example of the long history of Arab-Americans here. GONYEA: Seventy-year-old Ron Amen works in the city's economic development department. He should not.ĪHMED: And make no mistake, he's not the only one. You could hear some laughter there, but his message was dead serious.ĪHMED: There should be no place for people like him in this country. GONYEA: That's Ismael Ahmed, the former head of Michigan's Department of Human Services. ISMAEL AHMED: I'll give a shout out to Donald Trump, as well. Much of the talk that evening was about the presidential campaign, especially Donald Trump. NPR's Don Gonyea traveled there to get reaction to this week's political rhetoric about Muslims.ĭON GONYEA, BYLINE: In Dearborn this week, Arab-American and Latino activists gathered to share a meal and discuss ways they can work together. Arab-Americans make up 40 percent of the city's population. Visit the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, and it becomes immediately clear that you're in one of the largest Arab-American populations in the country.
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