Thread: This U.S. city has become the first to elect a Muslim-majority city council

Acts of Faith
This U.S. city has become the first to elect a Muslim-majority city council

By Sarah Pulliam Bailey November 5 at 1:58 PM


A man walks past voting signs displayed outside a polling station during the mid-term elections Nov. 4, 2014 in Hamtramck, Mich. (Joshua Lott/Getty Images)

Hamtramck, a historically Polish-Catholic enclave of Detroit, rose to national prominence more than a decade ago when its city council gave permission to a mosque to broadcast its call to prayer from speakers on its roof.

At the time, opponents were angered by what they saw as an intrusion of Islamic practice onto a public space. The city council’s approval of an ordinance to allow mosques to broadcast the Islamic call to prayer onto public streets made it one of the few cities in the United States to approve the practice, according to a 2004 story in the Detroit News. “This is about uniting our community,” Shabad Ahmed, the first and only Muslim member of the Hamtramck City Council, told the newspaper.

Fast forward to 2015, when the city of some 22,000 people physically surrounded by but politically separate from Detroit has elected a Muslim-majority city council, believed to be the first in the nation. On Tuesday, the city elected six city council members, four of Muslim faith.

Hamtramck was originally settled by Germans, but Polish-Catholic immigrants flooded into the area when the Dodge Brothers plant opened in 1914. At that time, Irish and German Catholics dominated the Detroit political scene, so Poles gravitated to Hamtramck.

But the Muslim population in Hamtramck has grown steadily due to immigration, said University of Michigan-Dearborn associate professor Sally Howell, who has written a book on Michigan and U.S. Muslims. Dearborn has many Arab-American immigrants, but Hamtramck likely became the first city to have a Muslim-majority population in 2013. She estimates that about 50 percent of the city is made up of Muslims, and the city has at least seven mosques, more mosques per capita than anywhere else in the country.

“The growth is taking place in these Muslim communities, and they are transforming the city scape,” Howell said. “It’s become much more visible in the last 15 years.”

The city’s emerging demographic is a striking contrast from the Hamtramck of the 1970s, when Polish-Catholics made up 90 percent of the city. As younger Poles fled to the suburbs for bigger homes, Hamtramck became a place for Asian and Arab immigrants to flock to, especially those from Yemen, Bangladesh and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Dearborn, which is part of the Detroit metro area, attracts most of the national attention over its Arab population, but its Muslim population is not as concentrated as Hamtramck.

Hamtramck has seen a number of political controversies in the last decade, Howell said. In the last decade, a group harassed Muslim candidates, associating at least one candidate with terrorism, and election workers have asked to see proof of citizenship from Bangladeshis who showed up at the polls.

“There’s a history of outside agitators coming in, but it’s not like Dearborn,” Howell said. “Dearborn is where people make a statement about Muslim Americans.”


Saad Almasmari, a 28-year-old Yemeni American, who became a member of Hamtramck’s city council. (photo courtesy of Saad Almasmari)

Saad Almasmari, a 28-year-old from Yemen who was elected to the city council with the most percentage of votes (22 percent), moved to Hamtramck in 2009 and received his citizenship in 2011. He is working on his bachelors in business from Wayne State University.

Almasmari said he faced some opposition when he ran for the primary when about half of his 100 yard signs were spray painted with an X in the summer. He said the new Muslim-majority city council is not about Muslim unity.

“Although we are Muslims, it doesn’t have anything to do with serving the community,” he said. “It’s not about religion. It’s not about Muslim unity. We are planning to work for everyone.”

Mayors of Hamtramck have been Polish for the past several decades. For instance, Mayor Karen Majewski, who could not be reached immediately for comment, is Polish. Dawud Walid, executive director of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said with more and more Muslims being elected to office, it’s becoming less unusual.

“What took place in Hamtramck is a very American endeavor,” Walid said. “It’s only a matter of time before we’ll see a Muslim mayor.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...-city-council/

This is only the beginning..Obuma & your flunkys, your masters Soros and Rockerfeller, ROT IN HELL!

About Hamtramck;

Islamic Call To Prayer Sounding Sweeter In Hamtramck: Crossing The Lines
April 30, 2014
By Quinn Klinefelter

http://www.alipac.us/f19/mi-islamic-...eakers-311632/

Hamtramck,MI: Sharia Sanctuary City

I posted on this the other day. Here's Schlussel's weigh in on it. We have to remember Sanctuary cities protect illegals other than Mexican illegals.

September 10, 2007
Hamtrackstan, Sharia Sanctuary City: What Happens When Muslims & Dhimmis Run an American Town

By Debbie Schlussel

http://www.alipac.us/f9/hamtramck-mi...ry-city-76542/

From 2007. They just keep chipping away,

MI:Hamtramck fails to pass anti-profiling ordinance

I just came across this article from 12/15; as some of you might recall Hamtramck is the first City in the US to allow the Muslim call to prayer to be broadcast in the streets.

Hamtramck fails to pass anti-profiling ordinace
By Khalil AlHajal
Saturday, 12.15.2007, 07:23pm

http://www.alipac.us/f9/mi-hamtramck...dinance-90337/

Take your veil off in court

May 13, 2008, 12:09PM
Judge dismisses case of woman who says veil cost her claim


© 2008 The Associated Press

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DETROIT — A federal judge in Detroit has dismissed the case of a Muslim woman who sued a judge for demanding she remove her veil in court.

The judge ruled Monday against Ginnnah (ZHIN'-nuh) Muhammad's claims that her rights to freedom of religion and court access were violated.

Judge Paul Paruk (per-ROOK) requested she remove her veil during a 2006 hearing in the town ofHamtramck (ham-TRA'-mick). She was contesting a $3,000 charge from a rental-car company to repair a vehicle she said thieves had broken into.

Paruk told her he needed to see her face to judge her truthfulness and gave her a choice: Take off the veil or have the case dismissed. She kept it on and sued the judge last year alleging he violated her religious and civil rights.


http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/ ... 75813.html

http://www.alipac.us/f12/take-your-v...-court-108510/

Muslim twist on fighting Immigration Law Enforcement

I would have put "Muslim Occupied City fighting law enforcement on the subject line if it would have fit! This city used to traditionally be populated by Polish Catholics. It was the place you went to buy fresh Paczki (poonch-key) for Fat Tuesday (the last pig out before Lent). Even if you weren't Catholic you'd look forward to Paczki day.

You may also remember Hamtramck as the first city to allow the MUSLIM CALL TO PRAYER to be broadcast in the streets. The Muslims have taken over the city and complained about the church bells playing. They demanded the Muslim call to prayer be allowed to be broadcasted there and they got their way! Hamtramck is a suburb of Detroit in close proximity to Dearborn. If there was ever a place that terrorists would congregate it would be in this area!!!

Friday, September 07, 2007


Velvet S. McNeil / The Detroit News

Dr. Abdul Algazali of the Hamtramck City Council is pushing an ordinance that would restrain police investigations of immigrants.

Immigration issue heats up in Hamtramck

City wants to forbid police from questioning status

Jonnelle Marte / The Detroit News


Hamtramck, a diverse town where 26 languages are spoken at its schools, has drawn national attention before on immigration issues.
Velvet S. McNeil / The Detroit News

http://www.alipac.us/f9/muslim-twist...rcement-76100/

Refugees cause worry in Mich. economy

News
07/25/2007 07:47:36 EST Paul Sancya/AP Photo

Refugees Cause Worry About Mich. Economy
By JEFF KAROUB
Associated Press Writer

The area in southeast Michigan where 2,000 Iraqi refugees are expected to resettle already has 169,000 people out of work. Some fear the influx will push the state's unemployment rate even higher.

http://www.alipac.us/f12/refugees-ca...economy-69617/

Michigan being investigated for fraudulent licenses

http://www.middletownpress.com/site/new ... 0856&rfi=6

04/08/2006
Michigan being investigated for fraudulent licenses
By ELISABETH STRILLACCI , Journal Register News Service

NEW BRITAIN -- The Michigan secretary of state’s office, which oversees driver’s licensing in that state, clammed up Friday about an investigation into fraudulently obtained Michigan licenses.
The improper licenses came to light in Connecticut following the arrest of Newington resident Lukasz Olko for vehicular homicide in March.

Olko, who came to the United States several years ago, obtained a Michigan license in 2005, despite living in Connecticut. The address he gave, 2717 Edwin Ave., Hamtramck, is apparently also the registered address for at least 29 other drivers. However, an investigator who went to the address found only a vacant, two-family house.

http://www.alipac.us/f12/michigan-be...icenses-19738/

It is amazing re drivers license fraud - it used to be so strictly enforced. I've read of people able to obtain multiple false licenses online in Pennsylvania and it seems this is conveniently part of the scam/agenda.

The depressed areas taken over by "refugees", "illegals" coincide with our manufacturing jobs removed from within the USA. It is a takeover that benefits global corporations only as does the pending trade agreements. Speak out - apply pressure to the politicians collecting a salary and pension to represent our citizens to reject these harmful trade agreements while you can.

Look at Europe today - that is the future of the USA if this nonsense continues. It is a timeless story - good vs. evil. Be prepared.