YAN
Our opinion
It is imperative for Dearborn residents to ignore the anti-Muslim provocateurs who are planning a protest at the City Council meeting on Tuesday, city leaders are stressing.
For your own safety and for the well-being of the community, do not attend the meeting unless you have business to bring up to the council.
“Here’s my direct ask of our residents: Please stay home,” Dearborn Police Chief Issa Shahin said in a video statement.
“These groups that are coming here are coming for one reason, and that’s to provoke a reaction and generate attention. If nobody shows up to react, they have nothing.”
Far-right activist Jake Lang is partnering with Detroit Pastor Lorenzo Sewell to organise a so-called “Christian Crusader March on Dearborn.”
For decades, Dearborn has been dealing with anti-Muslim activists who come to the city to protest and desecrate Islamic symbols.
The rise of social media has turned hate into clicks and clicks into profits. So when you engage these agitators – positively or negatively – you help them create content, manufacture controversy and make money.
These people are not there to make a coherent political statement. They may not even be ardent believers in their own anti-Muslim message.
They are not rational actors who can be convinced or charmed to drop their bigotry. So don’t argue with them. Don’t try to correct them. Don’t give them the attention that they seek to turn into dollars.
The protesters may also be looking to create a chaotic situation that would endanger the community to present themselves as victims.
This is not a theory. In the past, similar anti-Muslim activists have sued the city for damages after they were arrested during a scuffle with counter-protesters.
‘Refuse to give them an audience’
By acting like they don’t exist, you deprive them of that opportunity.
The police are well-equipped to deal with such groups to protect the community.
The best way to help the officers is to let them do their job and not make it harder.
Chief Shahin implored Dearborn residents to let the officers “do their job”.
“The most powerful thing that this community can do is refuse to give them an audience,” he said.
“If you have business before the council, you’re welcome, and you’ll be safe. We’ll make sure of it. But if you’re thinking about coming down just to confront these people, don’t. That’s exactly what they want, and it puts you at risk.”
Shahin added that Dearborn is stronger than bigotry and divisions. “Don’t let a handful of hateful outsiders define who we are,” he said.
City Council President Mike Sareini emphasized a similar message.
“People are coming to create problems. We don’t want to give them the opportunity nor the stage,” Sareini said.
“Please just keep in mind: Do not come out if you do not have to.”
Rise in Islamophobia
This protest comes amid a national uptick in Islamophobia when all eyes are on Michigan after the primary victory of Dr. Abdul El-Sayed.
Republicans are openly playing the Islamophobia card for political gains, using El-Sayed’s full name as if it is a slur.
President Donald Trump also attacked El-Sayed’s wife Dr. Sarah Jukaku, a practicing psychiatrist, for wearing the hijab.
So any commotion at the city council meeting could be cynically used at the national level to harm our community and paint Muslim Americans in a bad light.
Over the past 25 years, Dearborn has dealt with Quran burners, heavily armed anti-Muslim protesters, demonstrators with pigs’ heads on sticks and all sorts of hate.
There is only one way to deal with these provocations – to make them invisible by ignoring them.
At The Yemeni American News, we echo Shahin’s call: Please stay home.
