Federal officials met with Arab-Americans to assure them that laws protect them from racially motivated violence, but found participants more concerned with their civil liberties than slurs or assaults.
Tuesday's forum on anti-Arab violence prompted by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks gave way to a question-and-answer session on plans to interview Middle Eastern men as part of the nationwide investigation.
Imad Hamad, Midwest regional director for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, told the panel that the interviews "brought chilling concerns to the community."
Noel Saleh, an attorney for the Arab Community Center for Eco-nomic and Social Services, objected to the idea of singling out young Arab men for questioning.
"This is something that is profiling a certain portion of the Arab community," he told the panel.
Held at the public library in Dearborn, where about 20 percent of the 98,000 residents are Arab-American, Justice Department officials spoke first about how America's laws protect Arabs.
But many of the estimated 100 participants questioned how that was possible as authorities prepare to interview more than 5,000 visitors from Middle Eastern countries to try to determine if they have been recruited by Osama bin Laden's terrorist organization, al-Qaeda.
About 300,000 of Michigan's 350,000 Arab-Americans live in the Detroit area, according to the Arab-American Institute.
Just days after starting his job as US attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, Jeffrey Collins said his office would do "everything possible" to make sure racial discrimination does not occur.
Collins said it is a "fine line" trying to balance protecting national security interests and civil liberties. Arab-American leaders say the Detroit area has avoided anti-Arab violence since the terrorist attacks, although some say they've been subjected to ethnic slurs and threats.
Dean Hachem, owner of the Sheik Restaurant chain, said his business dropped almost 60 percent after an e-mail went out the day of the attacks falsely claiming people had been cheering at the restaurants.
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)