Some Arab leaders in southeast Michigan have heard enough from Vice President Kamala Harris and are now encouraging their community to throw their support behind former President Trump.
“Just look where we’re at right now and look where we were before,” Dearborn Heights Mayor Bill Bazzi told reporters during an online call Monday.
Bazzi’s comments represent a growing sentiment among some Arab leaders in Michigan, where there has been increasingly negative sentiment around the Biden administration’s handling of the conflicts in the Middle East.
In Dearborn, a suburb of Detroit with the largest per capita Muslim population in the U.S., a movement bubbled up earlier this year to “Abandon Biden” during the state’s Democratic primary. While President Biden was still able to secure the nomination, leaders of the campaign against him hailed its success, noting that over 100,000 people failed to support the president and arguing they would continue to use their influence as the general election drew near.
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Former President Trump. (Andrew Leyden/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The Democrats’ disconnect with many Arabs and Muslims in Dearborn has failed to improve since, even after Biden’s decision to drop out of the race and Harris’ quick ascent to the top of the ticket, leaving Democrats with a possible large hole in their typical coalition of support in a state that could make or break their chances at winning this year’s election.
However, questions remained whether members of a community who have traditionally voted Democrat for so long and where Trump was deeply unpopular could suddenly turn around and support his latest bid for the White House, something Bazzi is now encouraging them to do.
“I can tell you, a lot of people are actually swaying to voting for Trump because they really don’t like what going on,” Bazzi said. “They think their future doesn’t look bright with the administration and the way they’re heading.”
Bazzi was joined on the call by Hamtramck, Michigan, Mayor Amer Ghalib, who leads the nation’s only Muslim-run city and made waves last month by announcing his endorsement of Trump.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at UAW Local 652 during a campaign event in Lansing, Michigan, on Friday. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
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“The current administration has done nothing, and the war is expanding to other countries, and it could be a regional war and maybe even World War III,” Ghalib said. “President Trump keeps saying that he will end the chaos in the Middle East, and I talked to him personally, I told him ‘your strength is that no wars happened during your term, so we want it to stay that way.’”
While Ghalib acknowledged that some of Trump’s past rhetoric offended those in the community, his outreach since has made a difference. That outreach has worked, the mayor argued, noting that there is a “portion of the community that’s considering supporting Trump, and historically, those people used to vote Democrat.”
One of those people is Dearborn’s Karbalaa Islamic Educational Center founder and Imam Husham Al-Hussainy, who told reporters on the call that he is now leaning towards support for Trump.
“I lean towards Mr. Trump because I found him closer to the Bible, the Torah, and the Quran. Because I support peace, no war,” he said, adding that the country “deserves to have a strong leader where he can bring peace in this world.”
Activists with Workers Strike Back and the “Abandon Harris” campaign hold an event endorsing Green Party candidate Jill Stein at the Bint Jebail Cultural Center in Dearborn, Michigan, on Oct. 6. (Dominic Gwinn/Middle East Images/Middle East Images via AFP)
Meanwhile, Ghalib had a message for those in his community thinking about voting for a third party or sitting out, arguing that nothing could be worse than keeping Democrats in power.
“Some people are trying to vote for a third party because they predict that President Trump may do the same thing or even worse,” he said. “What could be worse than what’s going on now? There’s nothing worse.”
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MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee Recreation held its Partnership for the Arts and Humanities Showcase Friday at North Division High School, bringing together students and community organizations to celebrate arts education in Milwaukee.
The event featured performances, visual art, and cultural programming from a range of partner organizations that work with Milwaukee students before and after school, on weekends, and during the summer.
Ariana Holmes, a recreation supervisor with Milwaukee Recreation, said the showcase highlights the breadth of arts and humanities programming available to young people across the city.
Watch: Milwaukee Recreation hosts youth arts and humanities showcase
Youth Arts and Humanities showcase underway
“This is one of our programs out of many, many at Milwaukee Recreation, but it centers a celebration of arts and humanities in our before and after school programming,” Holmes said. “All of the partners that you see here today, they run programs with Milwaukee students after school, on the weekends, during the summer, making sure that every kid in Milwaukee has access to really wonderful arts and humanities education.”
Organizations represented at the event included Bembe Drum and Dance, Woodland Pattern, All Hands Boat Works, and Running Rebels, among others.
“We have such a wonderful range that really celebrates the diversity that is the arts and humanities,” Holmes said. “We have Bembe Drum and Dance, they’re drumming for us and dancing on stage right now. We have Woodland Pattern, who does poetry with young people in Milwaukee. We have organizations that help build boats with young people, All Hands Boat Works, really just an incredible range.”
Students can sign up for the programs through Milwaukee Recreation, which connects them with partner organizations that run programming both in schools and at their own locations. Holmes said an arts internship for high schoolers is planned for the summer.
“This summer, we’ll be doing an arts internship for older kids, high schoolers to be engaged in arts, so it really is just like a really wonderful diversity of experiences,” Holmes said.
Information about Milwaukee Recreation programs is available through the organization’s printed guides, which are mailed to Milwaukee residents. Residents are encouraged to pick up the guides and explore opportunities for their children to get involved.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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Quincy Street isn’t just at the center of Art-A-Whirl, it’s at the heart of the Arts District in northeast Minneapolis. The road itself, however, is falling apart. And the only thing bumpier than the exposed brick is the reaction to the city’s plans to fix it.
“It’s known as like the most quirky, cobblestoney, potholey street,” said Kristin Olson, owner of Studio Q.
She and others working along the street have come to appreciate its crumbling characteristics. It forces cars to drive slowly, which is helpful given the amount of foot traffic in the area.
It’s also the very reason city leaders want to remake it.
Recent project renderings include adding sidewalks and trails to improve accessibility. Putting in a new road will help fix drainage issues. The city even wants to use bricks instead of asphalt to retain the area’s image.
“Totally hear that and understand it and we also want that, but the rest of the street is working as is,” said Olson.
Her studio has three private parking spots that her clients rely on.
The road project would convert private parking along Quincy Street into public parking, a major sticking point for artists needing direct access to their vehicles outside their studios.
“We save those for people who have mobility needs or people who are bringing in a lot of equipment,” said Olson.
Many of her clients have multiple vehicles for photoshoots at her studio.
“If we as a studio don’t have access to these three spots for our teams, those clients are going somewhere else,” she said.
The fight to keep Quincy Street’s character has been going on for a few years, with the pushback ramping up as the 2027 construction date nears. The latest renderings include loading zones for the businesses along the street, but artists like Charlie Haumersen don’t feel it’s enough.
“Just having access to the building is really important,” Haumerson said.
He, and many of the tenants on the block, also worry the city’s desire for change will have ramifications beyond just the road.
“We think of it as sort of a form of cultural erasure. Even though we’re just building a street, it might pave the way artists to have to leave,” he said.
Olson is hopeful that the city will slow down its plans and continue to come up with solutions that find a middle ground with the neighbors. It’s unclear if the city plans to make further changes to its latest redesign.
Tonight, on Beyond the Bricks with Jake Query and Mike Thomsen, they look back at the 1972 Indy 500, featuring record speeds and Jim Malloy.
In the second segment, they continue to look back at the 1972 Indy 500 with the Mystery Eagle and the misfortunes of Wally Dallenbach.
Then to wrap up another edition of the show, they continue to look back at the 1972 Indy 500 with Mark Donohue taking the win.
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