As the Hamtramck mayoral race begins, Asm Kamal Rahman stands apart from other candidates in the field. While Mayor Karen Majewski, City Councilmember Mohammed Hassan and former city councilmember Cathie Gordon have prior years of political experience, Rahman is new to politics. “I want to make sure residents are being served properly and with respect,” Rahman told the Yemeni-American News via email. “I have both degree and experience with finance and it is vital to regain city’s control back from the state.”
By Eli Newman – Hamtramck – The Yemeni American News
Rahman, 48-years-old, was born in Bangladesh. He came to the United States in 1986, settling near Muath Bin-Jabal Masjid. As a teenager, he attended Hamtramck High School before going to Wayne County Community College, eventually earning a bachelor’s and master’s in finance from Walsh College. From there, Rahman worked a series of jobs before finding a position as an accountant at the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, where he’s been for more than two decades. Now managing the billing system, Rahman seeks to use his knowledge to improve the accuracy of Hamtramck’s water bill metering, as well as tapping into money set aside by the Great Lakes Water Authority for low-income residential assistance. “Detroit residents already used over $6 million from the program while Hamtramck keep refusing to offer the benefit to its residents,” Rahman said. “I worked with Detroit program to implement it and qualified residents are getting approximately one-thousand dollars towards their bills. This is a significant amount and I think over 70 percent of the Hamtramck residents can benefit from this plan.”
Rahman has roles in various community groups, including the restoration of Hamtramck’s NAACP branch and serving as vice president for Bangladeshi American Public Affairs Committee (BAPAC). “[Hamtramck’s] diversity is our biggest asset. We should market our diversity to attract people and customers to our business,” Rahman said. “I worked to obtain designation for Banglatown business district by the state and local authorities. We should do similar marketing campaign and designation for other business districts. We should take advantage of the downtown Detroit revitalization and improve Hamtramck.”
Rahman also aligns himself with various social causes. “In 1993 I served as the news and media liaison for the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) and also led the Bosnian Task Force of Michigan, a committee formed to raise awareness to the Bosnian War,” Rahman explains. “I worked with different communities to organize rallies both locally and nationally. I also actively participated in rallies against the war in Iraq, Gaza, West Bank [and] Kashmir.”
Rahman was also appointed to the board for the Michigan Coalition for Human Rights, a move that was met with some criticism from Hamtramck’s LGBT community. In 2008, Rahman worked to repel an anti-discrimination ordinance that included protections for gender and sexual orientation along with race, ethnicity and income. Rahman said the ordinance was poorly written, and would have forced religious groups to compromise their values. “The position of mayor represents a very diverse community. I respect everyone’s rights and do not support discrimination of any kind against anyone,” Rahman said. “Federal and State law covers any discrimination issues and the mayor has no enforcement authority.” Contrary to his statements, there are no discrimination laws protecting LGBT people on a
federal level, nor are LGBT people covered in Michigan’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act.
Rahman believes the biggest challenge facing Hamtramck moving forward is financial instability and crime. He believes a lot crime goes unreported due to poor communication between neighborhoods and government officials. “I will recruit resident volunteers from different ethnicity [sic] and work with the city to help the residents for a better city hall experience.” He’s also looking to mirror the Detroit Promise scholarship, which provides tuition free college in state for qualifying high school graduates. “Mayor Duggan offered his assistance and directed one of his staff member to work with me on this subject,” Rahman said. “I plan to work hard to bring this program to our community. I know first-hand how difficult it is to carry the burden of student loan and maintain a family.”
Ultimately, Asm Kamal Rahman sees the city’s newest communities as its biggest asset. “Hamtramck has come a long way and currently people from Yemen, Bangladesh, Bosnia, Ukraine filled the void left by the Polish community.”
