Rev. Khader El-Yateem at the rally outside Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn. (Photo by Jonathan Sperling via Brooklyn Reporter)

Rev. Khader El-Yateem, Arab-American candidate for City Council, and other local leaders and residents in Bay Ridge urged Tuesday that two Brooklyn streets be renamed rather than continue to carry the names of Confederate generals Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee, reports Jonathan Sperling in Brooklyn Reporter.

The streets are at Fort Hamilton Army Base in Brooklyn, and U.S. Rep. Yvette Clark (D. – 9th) and others have previously urged that they be renamed. The U.S. Army has declined.

“We cannot claim to be fighting wars overseas and promoting democracy, equality and defending human rights while on our Army base, right here in our own neighborhood, we have signs that honor people who fought to preserve slavery in America,” said El-Yateem, who is also a candidate for the 43rd District Council seat.

El-Yateem specifically called upon Ryan McCarthy, acting secretary of the U.S. Army, to recognize that General Jackson and General Lee “were on the wrong side of history.”

Both Jackson and Lee were stationed at Fort Hamilton prior to the outbreak of the Civil War. According to El-Yateem, a plaque honoring Lee that is currently affixed to a tree on the property of St. John’s Episcopal Church (located on the corner of 99th Street and Fort Hamilton Parkway) will be removed by the property’s new developer in the near future, pending court approval.

The rally came just a few days after white supremacists led violent protests against the removal of a statue of Gen. Lee in Charlottesville, VA.  Community organizer and South Brooklyn resident Aber Kawas, speaking at the Brooklyn rally, said “we’re rightfully and deeply disturbed by the events of this last weekend,” Brooklyn Reader reported. One woman died and several people were injured.

Read more comments from Kawas and others at the rally at Brooklyn Reporter.

(Photo by Humera Afridi via Open City)

Navigating life in a new country, especially at a time when the leader of that nation has shown animus toward your religion and your countries of origin, can be difficult. To help Muslim women who have recently immigrated from Arab countries, a group in Bay Ridge entitled the “Union of Arab Women” meets weekly at the offices of the Arab American Association of New York. The organization works to empower women to become activists, and to speak up on behalf of themselves, their families and their community members.

Writer Humera Afridi spent some time with Somia Elrowmeim, the founder of the women’s collective, to learn about her efforts and those of her colleagues to support mothers and grandmothers from Yemen, Egypt, Morocco, Syria and other Arab countries. Her interview with Elrowmeim can be found in an article in Open City magazine; her account of a presentation made to a group of women exploring “How to Raise Healthy Happy Arab-American Kids? A Guideline to a Safe and Sane Family Life” can be found in a second article in Open City.

Somia Elrowmeim, Adult Education instructor at AAANY and founder of the Union of Arab Women. (Photo by Humera Afridi via Open City)

Somia, a graduate of Physics and Mathematics from the University of Sana’a in Yemen, came to AAANY as a volunteer five years ago. It was a cherished goal of hers, she says, even while she was in Yemen, to support Arab women—a goal fueled by a personal story.  At the end of her senior year of high school, Somia was devastated to learn that her best friend, who had been admitted to “the biggest college in the city”, was forbidden by her parents to pursue further education. “It really impacted me. It’s not fair for one so smart to not go to college. From here I started,” she says. “I feel women have the right to study, to finish their degrees, to be someone, to be who she wants to be.”

For Somia, who exudes a can-do attitude, no challenge, it seems, is insurmountable. Describing the Union of Arab Women and the advocacy program at AAANY, along with the issues confronting immigrant women, Somia’s voice crescendos at critical moments.

“When I came to Brooklyn, I realized that a lot of people from Yemen in the United States don’t like their daughters to go to college—even in America!” she says, eyes wide with shock. “These young women finish high school, just sit at home, and get married!”

As Adult Education instructor, Somia has access to the older women in the community. “I started talking to them. I told them what was happening in the world. I noticed they were listening and agreeing, that they trusted me. ‘We are proud of you,’ they said. ‘You are also from Yemen and you help women!’”

Afridi writes about the “paradox of hijab in America.”

Hijab is a form of veiling that is meant to connote modesty and protect women from scrutiny by strangers in public. Yet wearing hijab in America actually places women in the limelight and on the frontlines of being visibly Muslim—easy targets for islamophobes.

One concern for some of the women is that the very fact they wear hijab ends up subjecting not only them, but also their children, to scrutiny.

The ACS workshop has been triggered by the concerns of AAANY members who’ve been reported to the agency by their children’s school. The mothers feel it’s racism, that the school is reporting them unfairly, just picking on them, Somia tells me.

Go to Open City to read what Elrowmeim and the other instructor advised the parents in attendance, and to read about the panoply of feelings and reactions expressed at the meeting.

Vorhand Shul (left), at 303 West 91st St. and Ridniker Shtiebel, at 309 West 89th St., are some of the shtieblach located on the Upper West Side. (Images via Google Street View)

A century ago, shtieblach – Yiddish for “little houses” – provided Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe a social gathering spot and house of worship where they could interact with others from their native regions. Over the years, as those congregants, who mostly came from Orthodox communities, passed away and their children and grandchildren moved on, the number of shtieblach dwindled.

Today, there appears to be a revival of the small synagogues on the Upper West Side, writes Batsheva Neuer in The Forward.

Demographically, the West Side is a hub for young Jewish professionals whose synagogue priorities are largely socializing and camaraderie—at the expense of commitment. The shtiebel fits that niche. Less structured than the large congregations, shtieblach offer a built-in community where everybody knows your name, but long-term expectations are low. The lack of structure also leaves space for millennials, many of whom feel overwhelmed in a larger space and bound to historical structures.

Go to The Forward for more on the return of shtieblach, including why “‘in many ways it’s a boys’ club’” and “not everyone is as enthusiastic about the shtiebel culture.”

#StompTheBan protest at Brooklyn Brough Hall (Screen shot via Brooklyn Daily Eagle video)

On the night of Oct. 16, two days before President Trump’s third and latest travel ban – which would halt the entry of travelers from Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen into the U.S. – was scheduled to go into effect, more than 100 activists from different backgrounds and religions came together at Brooklyn Borough Hall to protest the travel ban through dance.

Liliana Bernal writes for Brooklyn Daily Eagle:

Arab-American advocacy groups and art collectives came together to create, “Stomp Out the Muslim Ban,” challenging discrimination through the power of art.

“We are calling out the Islamophobia, the anti-immigration and the anti-refugee that is happening with this Muslim ban,” said Esraa Saleh, an event coordinator from the Arab-American Family Support Center (AAFSC).

With a backdrop of resistance-fueled dance, those affected by the ban energized the crowd with their stories.

Hear some of those stories, and watch the multicultural dances in a video of the #StompTheBan protest, at Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

The day after the protest, a federal judge in Hawaii temporarily blocked the travel ban while on the day the ban would have gone into effect, another federal judge in Maryland also blocked it.

Ticket stub for NJ concert given by Nassif Zeytoun earlier this year. (Photo via Feet in 2 Worlds)

Yarra, a young Syrian, left Damascus with her family four years ago. Having been granted asylum by the U.S., they settled in New Jersey and started a new life. For Yarra, now in college, the adjustment has been a difficult one. She misses home, she feels (despite being fluent in English) far more comfortable speaking Arabic, and she talks regularly with Syrian friends who have scattered across the globe.

In a wide-ranging podcast from Feet in 2 Worlds, Yarra describes the stresses of life here, and the occasional pleasures – such as when she and friends had the opportunity to hear Syrian singer Nassif Zeytoun at a concert in NJ earlier this year. Listen to Yarra talk about missing the flavorful shawarma of Syria, listening to the Lebanese artist Fairuz, and hear Yarra and her mother as they muse about the possibility of returning to Syria.

Just as Yarra was beginning to feel more comfortable, she felt targeted by Donald Trump. Nonetheless, Yarra says, the U.S. is “kind of becoming home.” Find out why in the podcast from Feet in 2 Worlds.

This video from BRIC TV presents a conversation between Nirmeen, who hosts a radio show where “young Arab woman from Brooklyn talk politics, culture and feminism,” and Zainab, who arrived in Brooklyn in the summer of 2015 from Yemen. Listen to them talk about politics, religious freedom, Islamophobia and everyday life.

The Jwan Kanj family in Bay Ridge. (Photo by Georgine Benvenuto via Brooklyn Paper)

The New Immigrants and Refugees Fund, launched by the Arab American Family Support Center in Brooklyn last July, has already helped 16 displaced families to resettle here, reports Julianne McShane in Brooklyn Paper.

The funds provided go toward helping to pay off airfare costs to the U.S. – all refugee families must refund the U.S. State Department airfare costs within three and a half years. Meanwhile, AAFSC also provides the families with mental health treatment services, English language courses, and job training. Said Rawaa Nancy Albilal, president of the support center: “These are people’s neighbors and future contributors to society…They have gone through so much and they deserve the best.”

The Jwan Kanj family, displaced persons from Syria who arrived after living in Turkey for more than four years, has benefited from AAFSC support. Now living in Bay Ridge, they have paid off a third of their airfare costs, according to Brooklyn Paper. They also have received financial assistance from the U.N. refugee agency.

The family left Syria in October 2012, and from Turkey they initiated plans to come to the U.S.

Trump’s election, and his subsequent “Muslim ban,” made them lose hope for a while about the prospect of entering the U.S.

After the ban, a lot of Americans think that all Syrians are terrorists,” he said.

Amina added that refugees are overwhelmingly innocent people who are trying to flee political strife, oppressive regimes, and dangerous living conditions in order to live in peace.

“Most of these countries need someone to help [refugees], because there’s a lot of people from these countries that deserve to leave,” she said.

And Albilal said that many refugees arrive in the U.S. with almost nothing but emotional wounds from tough journeys.

“Many fled overnight with just a bag and the clothes on their backs,” she said.

Go to Brooklyn Paper to read about the family’s odyssey following their departure from Aleppo, prompted by worries that now-24 year old Shirwan was in danger  because of his participation in university protests.

Honorees of the 2017 Ambassador Awards, presented by TimesLedger newspapers to Queens immigrants who have made a difference in our community in the fields of medicine, art, business, law and philanthropy. (Photo by Michael Shain via Times Ledger)

This month Times Ledger Newspapers of Queens awarded its second annual Queens Ambassador Awards “to honor 25 immigrants who have made an enormous difference in our communities.” Times Ledger writes about these “Queens heroes” in an editorial.

The honorees have come to Queens from four continents, but many share the same story of struggling against great odds after arriving here unable to speak much English and just a heart beat away from homelessness. The memories of those harsh times remain indelible for many and have been a driving force in shaping their contributions to the borough.

Among the people we salute is Carlos Humberto Cardona, an undocumented immigrant who fled Colombia after his brothers were murdered. The Jackson Heights resident, who is married to an American, suffered severe health consequences after volunteering for four months to clean up the debris at the World Trade Center after 9/11. The governor and a Queens congressman stopped him from being deported this year, but his immigration status is still not settled.

Also receiving awards were human rights worker and Nepali community activist Narbada Chhetri, and violinist and Children’s Orchestra Society director Yeou-Cheng Ma. Read more about them and others, and view photos of them, at Times Ledger.

Golnar Adili at her Clinton Hill home (Photo by Zainab Iqbal via Bklyner)

In a story for Bklyner, Zainab Iqbal profiles Iranian-American artist Golnar Adili who, from her home in Clinton Hill, uses art to make sense of her multicultural experiences: moving from the U.S. to Tehran at 4 years old, the separation of her family between two countries, and reuniting with her father in the U.S. at 18.

“Olduz and the Crows”: A print of a childhood vintage book from her father’s archive. (Photo via golnaradili.com)

A mixed media artist who works mostly with paper, her artwork revisits the themes of longing and separation – a common immigrant story, filling the walls of her apartment.

Displacement is one such collection of her work, “inspired by my father’s archive of photos, letters and travel documents meditating on diasporic longing.”

She spoke of what art does for her:

Through war, love, and family, art is what keeps her grounded.  “Art is something I do. I definitely define myself as an artist,” Adili said. “But it is a lot about processing and healing the past, and making sense of the present.”

In the full Bklyner story on Adili, read much more from the artist, including about her artwork, finding inspiration in the human body, growing up in Tehran, and how the city compares to New York.

(Photo via West Side Rag)

“P is for Palestine,” a book that teaches the alphabet to children using elements of Palestinian culture, has drawn the ire of Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue on the Upper West Side – specifically, reports Lisa Kava in West Side Rag, the page that says “I is for Intifada. Intifada is Arabic for rising up for what is right, if you are a kid or a grown up!”

“(…) But the immediate issue,” the rabbi told the publication, “is not about the author, it is between us and Book Culture.” The neighborhood bookstore partially funded the book and hosted a reading with local author Dr. Golbarg Bashi on Nov. 18. Hirsch recently emailed the bookstore co-owners asking them “to publicly rescind their support” of the book. If not, they will not be a part of the upcoming book fair at the synagogue’s preschool.

The Rabbi said: “The Intifada is about murder, killing of innocent Israelis not all Jewish, that makes it impossible to host Book Culture if they continue to sponsor this book. There are other more subtle issues with the book but the specific most egregious issue is the page about the intifada. This is a specific reference that promotes murder. We can’t take a book that is geared towards young children that has certain elements in it including the most offensive part of promoting the intifada, we simply can’t host either the author or the bookstore that has subsidized and supported the author in our synagogue during a Jewish book fair.”

West Side Rag reached out to Bashi.

She told us that her book is about empowering children of Palestinian background to feel good about who they are. She said that it is the first children’s alphabet book about Palestine written in English. She said it is not an anti Israel book and that she is not anti Israel. She also told us that she has had positive reactions to her book. “I have received letters from all over the world thanking me for writing (the book).”

When asked how she felt about Rabbi Hirsch’s letter to Book Culture she said, “I am dismayed that a religious institution would interfere with the freedom of expression of writers and publishers in this country.” (…)

The Book Culture co-owners plan to meet with the rabbi this week. One of them, Chris Doeblin, spoke to the publication:

Doeblin told West Side Rag that he believes it is essential to have books that portray the various ethnicities, genders and points of view in our community and that the store is open to promoting a broad range of opinions. He noted that difficult conversations are happening all over the country and said “there is a lot of shutting people out of conversation. The solution cannot be to shut down the other side left or right. Words matter. Words have the power to change people’s minds. We need to be able to listen to different viewpoints.”

He also described how he came to know Bashi and why he did not feel the need “to vet the book.” Read more from him, from Bashi on the page in question and whether both the author and Hirsch would willingly meet with each other, in the full story at West Side Rag.

Iranian-Americans and others gathered at Union Square Park on January 7. (By Micah Danney for Voices of NY)

Mohammed Tootkaboni was among 30 or so people at Union Square Park on Sunday to show solidarity with Iranians who recently began protesting against their government in Teheran and other cities. Post-traumatic stress disorder and a back injury serve as intimate reminders, he said, of how that government treats dissenters.

“They were trying to break me down,” said Tootkaboni, 33, of Brooklyn. He was attending the University of Tehran in 2009 and was active in political organizing when he was arrested for his activity. He spent the next three years in jail, he said, subjected to regular beatings during interrogations and left in solitary confinement for long periods of time.

Tootkaboni escaped to Turkey after his release and was granted asylum in the U.S., where he arrived in 2013.  The grievances that drove his activism are the same ones driving Iranian citizens to knowingly risk violent suppression from authorities, he said. It’s estimated that 20 people have been killed in the recent protests, which were sparked by unrest over sudden closing of unregulated financial institutions, while hundreds, many of them students, are said to have been arrested.

“One of the main slogans being repeated there and here is, ‘Bread, jobs and freedom,’” Tootkaboni said. Iranians have grown increasingly frustrated in the last decade as the government has failed to deliver on promised reforms, he said, and many families are struggling to feed themselves.

“We are talking about a very repressive regime that doesn’t tolerate any kind of opposition, so in this circumstance, people came to the streets and they set the banks or police stations on fire,” he said. “It means that they are very angry. They know what they have to expect after that.”

While demonstrations of solidarity were also held in Washington, D.C., and other U.S. cities over the weekend, Tootkaboni said the support should not be construed as a call for foreign intervention. The challenges are complex and change may need to happen over generations, he said, but it has to come from within Iranian society.

Manijeh Samimi, 54, and Mersedeh Rofeim, 52, traveled to the city from Great Neck, Nassau County, to express their solidarity.

“People are hungry,” said Samimi, who immigrated in 1984. “They are people who are very educated. They don’t have jobs. The fathers are crying – we see the videos, it’s heartbreaking. They don’t have money even to put food on the table and they’re crying that their kids go to bed hungry.”

A country with natural resources like oil and gold, she said, that received $1.7 billion from the U.S. in the Iran deal has no excuses for having children sleeping in its streets, as her friends there have reported. “They’re using the money to fund terrorism in other countries,” Samimi said. “Hezbollah, Hamas, Syria – that money should be going to the people of Iran, not Gaza or anywhere else.”

Rofeim said that Iran’s leaders want to milk the country, and use the feared Basij militia, a volunteer paramilitary group, to intimidate and brutalize ordinary Iranians who are protesting for basic rights. “God help them,” she said of the protesters.

At one point during the rally, a young woman arrived with a sign that said “Trump shut up, Iran rise up.” Rofeim objected to it, saying it was disrespectful. A rift developed as demonstrators shifted into two groups and faced each other. The primarily younger faction chanted the sign’s anti-Trump slogan and several members of the other group shouted support for Trump or chanted slogans supporting Iranian protesters. Other participants called for unity.

“This is about the Iranian people!” one man yelled.

Daniel Winter, 53, of Nassau County, is of Polish heritage but is friends with some of the demonstrators and wanted to support their movement. “But the leadership is coming from within the Persian community, and the voices aren’t 100 percent unanimous on what Trump is doing,” he said, though he stressed that all the demonstrators were there to support the Iranian protesters.

Another rally at Union Square Park is planned for this Saturday.

Sahadi’s co-owner Christine Sahadi Whelan and her husband Pat. (Photo via Brooklyn Reporter)

The James Beard Award-winning grocery store Sahadi’s will bring its famed spices, hummus, falafel, and other Middle Eastern food items to Sunset Park’s Industry City, where it will open its second location this year or in early 2019.

Co-owner Christine Sahadi Whelan spoke with Jaime DeJesus of Brooklyn Reporter about the expansion of Sahadi’s, which has been located on Atlantic Avenue, and family-owned, since 1948.

Sustaining a family business is difficult in the changing economic climate. Somehow Sahadi’s has managed to grow when most businesses have folded. Sahadi Whelan attributes that to dedication.

“We really are a family business. We’re all involved all the time,” she said. “We’re always on the floor. Our staff is part of a connected family. We are multicultural and we all genuinely love what we do. We try to change with the times and when we adapt, we also try to stay true to our roots. We are a Lebanese family, with a Mediterranean culture, but we are Brooklynites and we try to blend together that Lebanese hospitality and that Brooklyn feeling. We want the customers leaving here feeling good. Shopping shouldn’t be a chore. It should be an experience. I want you to come in and try something new that you haven’t had before.”

Why did Sunset Park seem like a good fit? How is the new location going to be different from the original store? Read more from Sahadi Whelan at Brooklyn Reporter.

In Brooklyn Paper’s coverage of the news, Julianne McShane describes the Sunset Park location as “a more-than-a-football-field-sized store with an open kitchen, bar, and event space.” She provided some history on the 70-year-old business.

Whelan’s grandfather, Wade Sahadi, founded the store in 1948 as a reincarnation of the Manhattan market his great uncle, a Lebanese immigrant, launched in 1895. Whelan’s father, Charlie, and uncle, Bob, later took over the shop, and oversaw the original location’s expansion in 1985. The pair expanded to a third storefront about 25 years later, and the duo handed the day-to-day operations over to Whelan and her brother Ron in 2016. The store has become a neighborhood institution during its decades in business, and even took home the coveted James Beard award for awesomeness last January.

Find out what is planned for the Sunset Park location, at Brooklyn Paper.

Naz Ahmad, 30, a Columbia University Law School graduate, is one of three lawyers working at CUNY CLEAR (Creating Law Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility), a project of the CUNY Law School which “aims to address the unmet legal needs of Muslim, Arab, South Asian, and other communities in the New York City area that are particularly affected by national security and counter-terrorism policies and practices,” as its website states.

The daughter of Pakistani immigrants, Ahmad and her lawyer colleagues supervise a group of 19 CUNY students who assist them in their work. Since 2009 CUNY CLEAR has represented more than 300 clients and facilitated more than 230 Know Your Rights workshops at nearly 100 different community sites across NYC.

Nisrine Sahla and Anne Alink of the University of Applied Sciences in Utrecht visited Ahmad and spoke with her about her work.

More than 150 Syrians living in the tri-state area gathered at Times Square on March 18 to commemorate the seventh anniversary of Syrian protests against the government. The event was announced on Facebook by five Syrian nationals based here.

The United States government, said Syrian activist Hamid Imam, “is not doing anything to stop the bloodshed in Syria.” He and others at the rally called on President Donald Trump to stop the Assad regime from committing more and more massacres.

Most of the protesters expressed their anger against the U.S. government, saying it has not done enough to solve the Syrian crisis, while Russia, a longtime ally of Syria, continues to provide President Bashar al-Assad with military support.

The U.S. should tell Russia “enough is enough, you can’t do this anymore. We are putting our foot down and we are going to go in and protect these (Syrian) people,'” said Dylan Connor, 42, a singer from Connecticut who has been married to a Syrian woman for 12 years.

“We are here to let the world know that we will never give up,” said Mariam Alzouabi, 16, a Syrian immigrant residing in New Jersey. “Syria, you are not alone, we are protesting for you. We are here for you.”

Alzouabi migrated to the U.S. in 2012 with her parents and eight siblings from the city of Daraa. It is there that protests against the Syrian government first ignited on March 15, 2011, when the government arrested some boys for writing graffiti that said, ‘The people want the fall of the government.’

The civil war has claimed more than 465,000 Syrian lives and left over a million injured. More than 6.5 million are internally displaced and more than 4.5 million Syrians have fled the country, triggering a major refugee crisis.

Anuz Thapa is a 2017 graduate of the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.

Arab-American lawyer Rashida Tlaib stated: “I will wear the traditional Palestinian dress and take my oath of office on the Quran if I win a seat in Congress. This is my promise to my parents – my Jerusalemite, Bet Hanina-born father and my mother, a farmer who was born in Beit Ur al-Fauqa – and to my Arab, Muslim, and Christian communities, and to members of my electoral district in Michigan.”

Tlaib’s announcement came during her meeting with Arab community leaders in the Arab area in Paterson, New Jersey, nicknamed “Little Ramallah.” The office of the Arab American Leadership Council, headed by Dr. Mahmoud Aql, invited Tlaib to the meeting, which was attended by more than 70 people from Arab, Palestinian, Christian and Muslim backgrounds.

Dr. Amal Al-Shrouf opened the meeting by welcoming Tlaib and the guests. She said, “Welcome Rashida, our Arab-American daughter. Rashida [comes] from us and we support her in the Congressional elections.”

Dr. Al-Shrouf added, “Rashida is from a hardworking family that consists of 14 members. She worked very hard until she became a famous and distinguished lawyer, defending freedom and citizens’ rights. She entered public service and obtained a seat in Michigan’s House of Representatives for three consecutive terms. Being young and attaining remarkable achievements, people encouraged her to run for Congress.”

Tlaib expressed her gratitude to the attendees, especially Dr. Mahmoud Aqel, Dr. Amal Al-Shrouf, Dr. Saleh Khaddash, Dr. Mazen Tinawi, and engineer Dr. Maher Abdel-qader for their efforts in making the meeting successful. She also thanked those who supported her financially and emotionally so that she can participate in the election battle on her way to Congress.

Tlaib expressed her joy and pride at meeting some of the distinguished members of the Palestinian community in the U.S., especially Abdel-qader, whom she met for the first time in the White House, during a meeting with high-ranking leaders of the Arab community in the U.S. She thanked Dr. Abdel-qader for organizing many of her visits to California, Florida, Chicago, Ohio, Washington, New York, Texas and New Jersey, and for raising funds and support for her campaign. She raised more than $200,000.

Tlaib added, “I am your daughter. In a family of 14 children and two immigrant parents from Palestine, I worked very hard to obtain a successful, honorable life. I have become a successful lawyer and a member in Michigan’s House of Representatives. Today, I am one of 10 Democratic candidates in Michigan competing for one seat in Congress to represent District 13.” She added, “Media polls show that Brenda Jones, [president of the Detroit City Council] and another candidate who’s running, and I are in the forefront of the election race. The candidate with the better chances will win the Democratic candidacy. The Democrats are the majority in District 13, and winning the party’s primary election makes winning the general election inevitable.”

She noted that the candidate’s ability to secure necessary funds, run a strong team that is able to go out and meet directly with the voters in the district, and to publicly announce their goals will enable the candidate to have a better chance of winning.

Tlaib continued, “I am running in the elections as the daughter of the Arab (Christian and Muslim) community and two immigrant Palestinian parents whose roots extend to the heart of Palestine. I have won the support of Arab community members of all ages and diverse political, economic, and social backgrounds. They helped me in all ways possible, financially and emotionally, and including on social media. They share my words so that they remain among the people, which encourages me to work persistently and increases my belief in my chances to win.”

At the end of the meeting, Tlaib thanked the attendees and asked them to continue their support for her so that she becomes the first Palestinian-American member of Congress. On behalf of her campaign and in appreciation of his efforts and support for her campaign, Tlaib presented a medal of appreciation to engineer Maher Abdel-qader, chairman of the board of the Arab American Association of Engineers and Architects, and former president of the Palestinian American Congress.

Borough President Eric Adams, protesting on Tuesday, said the travel ban has torn families apart. (Photo by Paula Katinas via Brooklyn Daily Eagle)

Yemeni bodega owners in Brooklyn closed their stores for one hour on Tuesday, April 24, to protest the “Muslim ban,” writes Paula Katinas in Brooklyn Daily Eagle. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard arguments on the legality of President Trump’s executive order restricting travel from eight countries including Yemen.

In Bay Ridge, the ban is personal. Shamgah Allahabi, owner of 80th Street Deli on Fifth Avenue, pulled down the gate of his store shortly after 3 p.m. in solidarity with fellow Yemeni merchants, but also to illustrate his own anguish.

His mother, Mahlia Allahabi, 66, fled war-torn Yemen for neighboring Djibouti, but the U.S. will not give her a visa to join her son here.

Allahabi said he talks to his mother on the phone, but his son hasn’t seen her in five years, half his life.

“I feel so sad. I miss her,” the boy, Mohamed, told the Brooklyn Eagle.

Borough President Eric Adams and local Council member Justin Brannan joined the demonstration outside Allahabi’s bodega. See their remarks, including Brannan’s on his immigrant grandparents, at Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

Yemeni owners organized a similar protest, for eight hours, on Feb. 2, 2017 against Trump’s first travel ban restricting visitors from seven Muslim-majority countries including Yemen.

(Photo by Zainab Iqbal via Bklyner)

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams joined members of the Arab community in celebrating their cultural heritage, the latest event in his “Embrace Your Hyphen” campaign to highlight the borough’s diversity, reports Zainab Iqbal in Bklyner.

Seven Arab Americans were honored for their contributions including attorney Tahanie A. Aboushi, a New York Civil Liberties Union board member who helped those detained at JFK after President Trump’s “Muslim ban” first went into effect in late January. Also recognized was NYPD detective Ahmed Nasser who started the Muslim Officers Society, “to pave the way for the approximately 1,500 Muslim officers in the NYPD.”

Adams spoke about the current atmosphere experienced by Arab Americans and other communities.

“We don’t realize we’re boiling away the American Dream and the American experience. We must have an internal thermostat that does not allow one degree of anti-any lifestyle in this country.”

“We say it’s just one incident, it’s just one swastika, it’s just one desecration of a mosque, it’s just one attack of a woman that wears a hijab, it’s just one statement… it’s just one person. It’s not one incident,” Adams said. “It’s the slow increase of the heat that will take away what makes this country great.”

His remarks stemmed from a comparison he drew between a frog in boiling water and “where we are as Americans.” Read what he said, as well as more on the honorees, at Bklyner.

“Egypt meets Haiti” on May 4 at Flushing Town Hall. (Photo by Allyson Escobar for Voices of NY)

Flushing Town Hall is once again buzzing with music, dance and cross-cultures.

Its popular Global Mashups series, combining two world cultures on one stage, started up last month. The series, inaugurated in 2013, has been held nearly every year since then at the historic town hall building in Flushing.

Global Mashups epitomize the organization’s mission of presenting multidisciplinary arts – performance, visual, dance, music, and education – as a way to celebrate and engage the diverse immigrant communities that make up New York City.

“The vision of this program is simply to do something unusual,” said Sami Abu Shumays, deputy director of Flushing Town Hall. “Global Mashups highlight a central aspect of the mission, which is cultural exchange. Bringing people together through the arts.”

For a ticketed price ($10 for Town Hall members and students, $16 for non-members, free for teens) participants can join with live bands for a cross-cultural extravaganza. There are three more concerts in the season.

Flushing Town Hall – a 156-year-old building which once held formal dress balls, jazz concerts, theatrical shows and speeches from figures including P.T. Barnum and Frederick Douglass – has become a suitable venue for Global Mashups.

The bimonthly Friday night programs, held in the Town Hall’s restored theater, begin with traditional group dance lessons set to live music, from Afro-Peruvian beats to contemporary Mexican banda.

Each band comes up to showcase their unique style onstage, with dancing welcomed from both performers and participants. At the end, the groups come together to perform. This year, the series has included world genres such as Latin Boogaloo, Afrobeat, Haitian kompa and traditional Egyptian music.

“Everyone is taking some sort of chance,” said Shumays, who is also the lead violinist and singer in the Arab folkloric band Zikrayat. “There are going to be some people coming there for the Haitian band who don’t know the music, and vice versa. So everyone will have some kind of new experience and learn something new that they can’t learn, quite like this, anywhere else in the world. It’s a great and accessible way to get to know a different culture, challenge yourself, and meet [the] community.”

At the May 4 “Global Mashup” at Flushing Town Hall. (Photo by Allyson Escobar for Voices of NY)

Alpana Patel, her husband Sanjay, and their 5-year-old daughter Zuni came to Global Mashups on May 4 for “Egypt meets Haiti.”

At least 150 people of diverse races and ages packed the hall for music and dancing – including electrified performances from Zikrayat, traditional belly dancing, and flavorful Haitian kompa from the Agoci Band.

By the end of the night, the lively crowd was dancing out of their seats, as the two bands came together to jam onstage.

“It’s such a fascinating concept to bring two different cultures and music styles together on one stage,” said Alpana Patel, who lives in Kew Gardens. “Music is a universal language. And being in Queens, the most diverse borough, you get a unique chance to be exposed to so much of the world.”

Patel, who plans to bring her daughter Zuni to more of the Flushing Town Hall family programs offered year-round, says it’s always important for people to interact and expand their cultural horizons.

“The more you step out of your comfort zone, the more open-minded you are, and it broadens your world view of things. Especially through the arts and performance, you learn at the end of the day how similar and human we all are.”

Flushing Town Hall’s Global Mashups 2018 series continues on May 18 (Mexico meets Guinea), June 1 (Balkans meets El Barrio), and June 15 (Texas meets Peru). For more information, visit the Flushing Town Hall website.

Allyson Escobar is a member of the 2018 class of the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.

(Photo courtesy of NYC911News LLC via Bklyner)

A demonstration in support of Palestine took place on the streets of Bay Ridge on May 14, reports Bklyner. The rally came on a day of violence at the border of Gaza and Israel in which Israeli soldiers fired at Palestinian protesters killing some 60 people and injuring more than 2,500.

The protests coincided with the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem after its relocation from Tel Aviv, on the 70th anniversary of the founding of Israel. Palestinians mark Nakba (catastrophe) on May 15 in honor of the hundreds of thousands who were expelled from their homes.

The theme of the rally, as described by organizers, was “to end 70 years of colonialism.” For video and photos, go to Bklyner.

Rev. Khader El-Yateem (Photo by Gabe Carroll for Voices of NY)

Rev. Khader El-Yateem, the Palestinian-born founder of the Salam Arabic Lutheran Church, will move to Florida at the end of May to serve as assistant to the bishop and the director of evangelical mission at the Florida-Bahamas Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He became the first Palestinian American to run for public office in the city last year when he entered the Democratic primary race for the 43rd district seat of the City Council. He came second to Justin Brannan, who went on to win the general election.

El-Yateem wrote on his Facebook page that he ran last year “for my community. A community that people told us ‘didn’t vote.’ We proved that assumption wrong, and then some.” To continue the political momentum his campaign generated, particularly among the Arab-American community, El-Yateem has started Yalla (“let’s go” in Arabic) Brooklyn, a political club “that will continue building the political voice of underrepresented communities, increasing voter turnout, and making political education accessible for all.”

In reporting on the new club, Brooklyn Reporter’s Paula Katinas writes:

The fledgling organization has already held its first meeting to elect the members of its executive committee. El-Yateem described the club members as “a diverse and talented group of immigrants, young Arab and Muslim leaders, and allies.”

For more on the club’s mission and El-Yateem’s background, go to Brooklyn Reporter.

Meanwhile, will El-Yateem ever return to Brooklyn? Find out at Brooklyn Paper.